After a long weekend taking in 7 matches Glamorgan Seniors have finally managed to gain promotion to the Premier Division of the County Championships, remaining unbeaten throughout the entire weekend.
Saturday consisted of 4 matches and with solid performances from all Glamorgan players we finished the day joint 2nd with Hertfordshire and Warickshire all on 7 points having attained 3 wins and a draw. Leading the way were Kent who fielded such luminaries as Sule Olaleye (5 time African Champion, twice Olympic player and world cup quarter finalist) and Lewis Gray and they remained unbeaten on the 1st day.
The second day was D-day and saw Glamorgan facing Hertfordshire, Warwickshire and, the team to beat, Kent. Imagine our surprise on Sunday morning when arriving at the venue and realising that Kent had replaced Lewis Gray due to a prior commitment.....but the smile was short-lived as we realised Lewis had been replaced in the Kent team by Kazeem Adeleke (Nigerian International player and has played professionally in Portugal)!!! This was going to be tough!
The day started with a convincing 8-2 win over Hertfordshire. With Warickshire losing there 1st match of the day this left us in a clear 2nd place, with unbeaten leaders Kent 1 point ahead. To get us into first place we HAD to beat Kent, a draw was not enough, and with the two Nigerian internationals in there midst we theoretically started the match 4-0 down!! We had no option other than to win every remaining game for a 6-4 win! Games went to form in the main the Nigerians won there 4 singles as expected, although we did put up some resistance. With some great performances and over 2 hours of play we found ourselves in sight of the winning post, 5-4 ahead with the final womens singles game remaining, Stevie Grech vs Emma Tovey....we HAD to win. A close first game went to Emma, we found ourselves 1-0 down, the pressure was building and it was starting to show....the whole hall knowing the importance of this one game had stopped play to settle back an watch. After a nip and tuck 20mins Stevie found herself 2-1 down, this was looking a case of so near but yet so far, but Stevie used all her experience to scrape back to 2-2!.....a tense final game ensued and to the delight of her teammates Stevie prevailed 11-8 in the 5th!!!.... having won 6-4 we were now one point in front of Kent, and with a better sets average only required a draw against Warickshire to win the division and gain promotion to the County Premier Division. Going 2-0 down was not the start we expected.....was it to be a case of "done the hard work...but let it slip?".....Kent looked on, quietly hoping for the match to slip away from us.....but it was not to be. With assured performances from all players Glamorgan took the match 7-3 and with it the 1st Division County Champs title.
A great weekend with assured performances from all players who were Wiktor Dzonkowski, Dean Cundy, Martin Gunn, Neil Wright, Stevie Grech, Claire Flannagan and Anna Labuz. I feel a special mention should go to both Anna Labuz, who remained unbeaten throughout the weekend 12/12....great performance Anna and some fantastic wins....but in particular, to Stevie Grech who, when faced with theoretically the match to win or lose the title and under great pressure showed her class and kept it together to bring home the title.
This now means Glamorgan have a senior team, junior team and cadet team in the Premier division of their age group.
Well done to everyone!!!
