Three Fishbourne teams are in line for promotion after the club’s most successful summer season of tennis yet in the LTA’s Portsmouth & District League.
Of Fishbourne’s seven teams competing, both the men’s number one team (captain Tom Craddock) and the ladies’ doubles team (captain Kate Gurl) topped their groups and have been crowned champions in their respective divisions, with promotion a certainty.
Also in line for promotion is the mixed doubles team, led by Cressida Williams, after it finished the season as runner-up to The Avenue, though tied in second spot with two other clubs. Luke McEwen’s mixed team, already in Division 1 of the Masters tournament, also finished in the runner-up spot, just behind Chichester but ahead of Ryde Lawn.
There were many other fantastic results among the other teams; see below for the final placings.
With the P&D summer league out of the way all eyes turn to the start of the winter league with the first matches scheduled to start at end of September. Fishbourne is fielding more teams than ever – eight in total – with four in the main tournament and four in the Masters (weekday matches, over 45 women, over 50 men).
Full details of the teams, the captains and what to do to join them will be emailed to all members shortly. Meanwhile a date for the winter try-outs has been set – 10.00-12.00 on Sunday morning, 23 September – when all members, including recently-joined members, who are keen to join a team will be welcome to come to the club for an informal hit so the captains can ascertain which tea will be best for them.
LTA PORTSMOUTH & DISTRICT SUMMER LEAGUE 2018 RESULTS TABLES
Captain’s report: Somewhat mixed results this year – played eight, won three, lost four, drew one. This left us sixth out of nine in the table. Our highlight was taking a point from Southsea 2, the runaway division winners. We were the only team to take any points from them! Players for our team were: Andre Rogers, Derek Norden, Luke McEwen, Bernie Lingard, Bob Murray, Phil Tite, Joe Daborn, Simon Fallon, Lewis Minett and myself. My thanks to everyone who contributed. We have quite a large pool of players, but my aim is a balance between winning and giving everyone an opportunity. We now face perhaps a more testing time over the Winter, having been promoted to division 4! Dick Nicholson
