First team clinches promotion to top flight
THE senior first team fixtures for 2019/20 season were arranged for one very busy weekend at Westfields TTC, Wellingborough, writes John Bowness.
With eight teams in the division, this meant playing all matches on two tables from noon to 6.30pm on the Saturday and 10am-7am on Sunday.
For the three matches on Saturday, Leicestershire were represented by Jared Patel, Chris Rogers, Georgios Briskolas, Karen Smith and Rebecca George, making her first team debut.
Leicestershire started well with a 6-4 victory over Cheshire, while the second was a 5-5 draw with Lancashire.
The final match on Saturday was a comfortable 8-2 win over Lincolnshire.
On Sunday, the men were joined by Jack Rogers, also making his first team debut, and Daria Dzierbicka played instead of George.
Jack Rogers opened proceedings against Buckinghamshire and showed no signs of nerves with a solid four-game win.
Patel and Smith added two wins each and Briskolas and Dzierbicka one apiece for a 7-3 victory.
Norfolk were the next opponents and the match pretty well mirrored that against Lancashire, with all the team winning a match each for a 5-5 draw.
Jack Rogers replaced Briskolas for the penultimate match against Bedfordshire and matched the rest of the team with two good wins in a comprehensive 10-0 victory.
The final match was against Warwickshire, who were alongside Leicestershire at the top of the table on 10 points. Lincolnshire were third on nine.
Warwickshire’s superior sets difference over both Leicestershire and Lincolnshire meant they only needed a draw to take the title, while a Leicestershire win would earn them the title.
As Leicestershire took a 5-4 lead, the destination of the title lay in the final match between Chris Rogers and Warwickshire’s Adrian Pilgrim.
A close opening game went to Pilgrim 11-9, but after that Rogers took control and won the next three games 6, 6, 7 to complete a 6-4 win and put Leicestershire at the top of the table and promoted to the Premier Division for next season.