Link 1 (Dennis Millman's TTN Article)

Northants by Dennis Millman                  28th October 2008

This years Top 10 events for both boys and girls were sponsored by J&K Transport which will also sponsor Northants County coaching for the next three years.

A depleted boys event went very much to form and after four rounds Jordan Dainty, Jack Coleman and Nathan Thompson remained undefeated, while Sam Wildman had lost only once when beaten in five ends by Rob Griffin.

Round five brought the top four together with Dainty getting the better of Thompson in four ends and Coleman a straight game winner against Wildman. Opponents were reversed in round six with Dainty fully extended by Wildman before scraping through 11-9, 11-5, 11-13, 10-12, 11-8. Coleman had no such problem against Thompson emerging a clear 11-1, 11-5, 11-9 winner.

The final round featured Dainty against Coleman for the title, while Thompson and Wildman contested third place, a battle won by the later in four ends.

Rothborough’s Dainty hit top form in the final and though Coleman could have taken the second game, Dainty stood firm to become the boys top 10 champion.

Final placings: 1. Jordan Dainty  2. Jack Coleman  3. Sam Wildman  4. Nathan Thompson  5. Rob Griffin  6. Dominic Barker  7. Miles Chan  8. Leon Chan

The girls event produced some intriguing clashes with no player emerging unscathed, but from the start four girls looked potential winners and they safely negotiated the first two rounds. However in round three Jordan Wood repeated her County Closed girls singles win against last seasons Ladies Champion Charlotte Binley while newcomer Gemma Deeley also went down to Rachel Thompson who came from two games down to win in the fifth.

Deeley didn’t allow this setback to affect her performance in round five showing her true ability to beat Wood in straight games. Thompson was now the only unbeaten player but this quickly changed as Wood shrugged off her beat to beat Thompson without dropping an end and leaving all four girls level with five wins each.

Round seven came and went with all four girls still in contention.. However if Deeley could beat Binley in round eight and then win her final match she would take the title.

Binley soon ruled out this possibility winning 11-9, 12-10, 5-11, 11-7 to leave Wood in pole position, level with Binley and Thompson but having beaten them both in earlier rounds. As anticipated Wood made no mistake in her final encounter to make sure of the title while Binley beat Thompson in four ends to take second place.

Final placings:  1. Jordan Wood  2  Charlotte Binley  3. Rachel Thompson  4. Gemma Deeley  5. Gina Stedman  6. Rachael Brown  7. Nicole Bird  8 Bethany Tyler  9. Lauren Armstrong  10. Lucy Budworth

Andy Trott, men’s county champion on eleven occasions made his Veteran debut for Northants Firsts a spectacular one when he won all eight singles matches, with only one requiring a deciding end. Dave Welshman wasn’t far behind with a single defeat, but for once the mixed doubles wasn’t Northants strong point.

The weekend began with a draw against Leicestershire 2nds but with three of the opposition's wins coming late in fifth ends Northants were a shade unlucky. Trott and Welsman shared five wins between them.

Northumberland proved no match for Northants in match two with their solitary point coming in a men’s doubles. Steve Silk and Margaret Welsman remained unbeaten in singles and doubles.

Local rivals Bedfordshire provided tough opposition levelling three times after Trott, Silk and David Welsman had put Northants ahead. Northants finally got a grip on the game to take the remaining four rubbers.

          Against Norfolk 2nds, Northants came from behind to win seven three and so complete a rewarding weekend.