The meeting with Devon, who were a point ahead of Jersey at the foot of the table, should have taken place in February, but had been rescheduled after fog meant the original fixture had to be called off.And as a result of the rescheduling, which was arranged at fairly short notice, more than half the team were absent due to prior commitments, leaving Jersey with a team in which only two players over 20 years of age were present.However, they did have the services of England U17 squad member Mariana Agathangelou, and she duly performed, winning her singles match, and the doubles and mixed doubles with partners Kim Ashton .and Chris Cotillard respectively.Jersey’s only other win came from the men’s doubles pair of Clive Dunford and Chris Agathangelou, but Devon 2nds won overall, 11-4, and maintained their place in Division II.Just seven days earlier, playing at home against Berkshire, Jersey had managed a vital 8-7 win to keep them in contention – and their 10-5 win against Devon 2nds in their first meeting earlier in the season, gave them reasonable grounds for optimism.The Berkshire fixture began well, with wins for Mariana Agathangelou and Ashton in both the singles and doubles.
The other ladies’ pairing of Natalie Spooner and Tracy Hudson lost their first match but came back strongly to upset Berkshire’s top pair in their second – crucial – game.
The men found the going harder with only Gavin Carter and Dunford winning, although the efforts of junior pairing Colin Hardwidge and Michael Stock was commendable.Tied 6-6, the mixed doubles would decide the outcome.
Hudson and Hardwidge played impressively and won comfortably; Dunford and Spooner eventually lost a deciding set and it was down to Carter and Mariana Agathangelou – who won in straight games and took the final match scoreto 8-7.Said Dunford: ‘We are all pretty disappointed to have been relegated – but we have had our strongest team out only once this season and that has obviously had a bearing on the relegation.’He said that several who had played in the Guernsey Island Games had dropped out of the team afterwards.’We have a lot of new faces in the team, in fact the team is all relatively new, which is a good basis for building on in future, but it takes time to gel.
Overall we are reasonably optimistic that we can move straight back up to Division II next season.’Before that, the needle Gilson match against Guernsey takes place the weekend after next, and there is the Guernsey Open and a handicap tournament to come, but for now the county season is over.
