The team sheets for the mens and womens county cups have been released and include:
Aljaz Bedene, Richard Bloomfield, Liam Broady, Ed Corrie, George Coupland, Evan Hoyt, Josh Milton, George Morgan, David Rice and Dan Smethurst
Emily Arbuthnott, Jasmine Asghar, Harriet Dart and Charlotte Pearce
plus some up-and-coming juniors and a few previously ranked retired players.
No guarantee that they will all turn up but usually most on the team sheets do play. The event is at Bath University, spectators are welcome, and there is usually a terrific atmosphere. If you live in the area, reckon there could be some good matches to watch.
There are 6 singles matches and 3 doubles matches between each county in the box. For singles, players are ordered by LTA rating ( so the highest rated from Team A will play the highest rated from Team B etc). Doubles pairs and order of play is at captain's discretion. Not sure what the max no of players is in a team, think 10 or 11.
Summer County Cup
3 doubles matches between each county in the box. Usually 3 ties per day. Think it's max of 10 or 11 in a team again.
See last years winners Herts, which is where I play my tennis:
played wins Winter County Cup 2013 Other Local Events in 2013 5 5 Aljaz Bedene None 6 5 George Coupland Indoor Premier League, Middlesex Doubles League 6 4 Neil Bamford Aegon Team Tennis National (Surrey) 5 3 Neil Roskilly Herts Doubles League (4) 5 3 David Rice None 3 2 Dominic Ross-Hurst Herts Doubles League (1) 3 2 Thomas Corrie Indoor Premier League, Aegon Team Tennis Regional (Herts), Herts Doubles League (2) 1 0 Lewis Roskilly Aegon Team Tennis Regional (Herts), Herts Doubles League (1)
Imagine you introduced a rule that every winter county cup player had to play in at least two local doubles league or aegon team tennis matches in their county. This would only make three of last years winners eligible for selection! Do people think this would encourage a higher standard of player in local leagues or just mean the county cup standard deteriorates?
-- Edited by Born2WinTennis on Thursday 20th of November 2014 09:45:08 AM
I've no idea, Born2WinT, although I find it all very interesting. . . .
But to tell you how it works in France, in case that's relevant in any way:
There is no minimum matches required, so in a team event which has quali rounds and then the final draw, you can bring your best players into the final draw if you wish.
BUT those best players HAVE to be on your initial team inscription list, AND you will be put in a division in your quali rounds based on the rankings of your top 4 players.
So if you put the big names on the list, and then dont play them, you seriously run the risk of not qualifiyng at all because you have been put in a division that is too high for you.
Equally, by putting the second tier guys on the list for the top team (coz you assume the big names will only play later), you now prevent them from playing for team 2. So if in fact the big guys decide they will play some of the earlier rounds for the top team, the second tier guys will be furious as they won't get any matches now coz they can't play for team 2, and, in fact, the third tier guys are having a great time, in team 2 and the second tier guys would far rather be there. And end up changing clubs at the end of the year coz they think they got short-changed.
Team tennis takes quite a bit of political skill, as well as logistical and strategic planning, in my experience. . . .
Players are selected by the County Office/ Captain. In all honesty apart from those maybe in Group 1, captains would struggle to have the maximum number of players they are allowed so selection really isn't an issue. Players usually get hotel and dinner provided and sometimes travel and a lunch allowance.
If you made entry criteria such as playing local leagues, the standard of the competition at the top end would drop and the leagues not noticeably improve. The top teams are made up of professional players, retired pros, strong older juniors and often older strong club doubles pairs. As you move down the divisions (6 divisions, the lower 5 of which are split into 2 boxes) the professional players rarely appear and even quite young juniors are drafted in. Any juniors in a team really benefit IMO from the mix of players and playing pressurised matches (unusually for the UK, supporters are encouraged to be noisy!). At the lower levels, many more players will be playing local club and league events.
The competition exists in almost the same format for 18&U, 14&U, 12&U and I believe has recently been extended to 10&U. I think it fair to say that team selection in the younger age groups is far more contentious as some counties have many more players to choose from.
Lancs won the men's title and I've seen a picture of the Lincs women's team with Jade Windley in. Did she play?
Played 3 x dubs partnering Charlotte Windley who I assume is a relation. Won all 3 but Lincs were in the bottom division ... will be promoted one rung for next year.
