Hampshire managed to pick up the duty of hosting another inter-county weekend and, thankfully, Lee-on-Solent were kind enough to allow us the use of their courts. Playing a home fixture gave the Men’s Team the flexibility of having a squad allowing players the chance to rest – this was thought to be the best chance of making the promotion group against some stiff opposition – Essex, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Drawn against what looked like the strongest team, Essex, Hampshire started well with Gary Harris (4) winning comfortably and Ben Thornton (5) racing to a 2-0 lead. Mike Elford (1) took to the court to face a very strong Daryl Selby. Mike lost in straight games at the same time as Ben had the match snatched away from him. Gary Harris was on fire and destroyed his opponent in a very short space of time, which left the match at 2-2. Matt Holland (2) faced Paul Allen with everything to play for. A searching drop forced Paul to aggravate a groin injury and hobble round the court for the rest of the weekend. Matt secured the victory and a vital win for Hants.

In the other match, Herts beat Oxford 4-1.

The second round saw Stuart Summers come in at number 3 but, despite a blistering performance in the second and third games, he lost 3-2. Thornton, still aiming for a 15 game weekend, this time came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2. Harris did not start well and lost in straight games. A tired Elford dropped one game in his victory at number 1, which left Holland with everything to do again. This match was not going to be easy and went right to the wire. After losing the 4th game 10-9, Holland won without a shadow of doubt 10/9 in the last to give Hants their second win. Essex narrowly beat Oxford making the Sunday morning fixtures quite interesting.

Oxford started on the back foot, missing their number 1 and 4. Summers won comfortably, as did Thornton. Harris made up for his last match. Holland was not troubled by the early start and joined the other three by winning 3-0. The last match on was the closest. Jon Foster, stepping in at number 2, had a closely contested match. Despite fighting hard and mounting a come back, lost 3-1. Essex had a very tight win over Herts, which left them level on points. As Essex (35) beat Herts (35) they joined the overall winners Hants (50) in the Div 2 promotion playoff group on 12th-13th March.