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COUNTY CLOSED 2013

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EBS (UK) LTD NORTHANTS COUNTY CLOSED 2012 (REPORT BY DENNIS MILLMAN)

Northants County Closed produced its usual quota of thrills, spills and skills with the standard of play as high as ever.

Following his impressive performances on the national circuit Andy Trott put his reputation on the line but emerged unscathed winning all five events in which he took part.

His success in the Men's Singles came without dropping a game and brought his tally to thirteen. Polish newcomer Przemek Sikorski, one of Poland's top fifty players, was expected to take him close but lacking Trott's dexterity the challenger went down in three hard fought ends.

In the other half of the draw John Fuller progressed to the final after an easy semi-final against Roumen Stefanov, who had earlier knocked out Dawid Przybysz in five fluctuating ends. In the final Fuller's defensive skills and his rapier like attacks were greatly appreciated by an enthusiastic audience, but after a pulsating encounter it was Trott who took the honours.

A chance meeting with Brian Harradine who hadn't played for thirty years led to Trott persuading Harradine to return to the game. The outcome was a new doubles partnership that went through to the final in which they were fully extended by Gary Deacon and Gary Webb before scraping home in the decider. It was Trott's eleventh success with eight different partners.

Trott also had a new partner in the Mixed Doubles and he and Charlotte Binley took the title without being extended.

Trott added the Over 40 Veteran Singles after surviving a semi-final 12-10, 16-14 start against Richard Elliott. Then in the corresponding doubles event Trott and Gary Deacon made no mistake against the Elliott/Kevin Bird partnership.

In earlier group matches Stefanov eliminated Steve Silk, Carl Leeson lost to Aaron Moore but still progressed on countback, while Alex Ramsden won Group 5 after getting the better of Damian Koscik and Sam Wildman.

It was Ramsden, easily the youngest player surviving to the later stages, who produced the best performance of the tournament. Trailing by two games to one and 9-7 in the fourth to Elliott he took four points in a row to square the match. The No 4 seed then called on his vast experience to establish a 10-3 lead in the decider. Ramsden threw caution to the wind, attacking brilliantly and defending unerringly to take nine points in succession and so eliminate Elliott. Ramsden's energy spent he became a Sikorski victim in the following round.

Earlier Ramsden had dominated the junior events winning both the Under 15 and Under 13 Singles and then combining with Ben Tombs, his beaten finalist, to take the Under 15 and Under 13 Doubles.

FINALS NIGHT

On Finals Night Ramsden again excelled this time in the Under 18 Singles. Aiden Smith had started impressively to build up a big lead in the opening game but Ramsden's suberb defence enabled him to fight back to win 11-9 and from that point onwards he was always going to take the title.

Earlier Ramsden and Smith had teamed up to take the corresponding doubles though taken to five close ends by Aaron Lee and the talented Ben Tombs, who reached five finals and was rewarded with two titles.

On the women's scene Jordan Wood had her perennial battles with Charlotte Binley winning in the singles to qualify for a final against Nicole Bird, another young player with a future. This scintillating final went the distance with Wood adapting her game to take the crucial points and so retain the title. The Wood/Rachel Thompson pairing proved too positive for Binley and Clem Little in the Women's Doubles, while Binley was also on the losing side when she met Sam Wildman in the final of the Rod Marchant Memorial Trophy.

One of the tournament's surprise results came in the Under 18 Girl's Singles where after losing the first game 11-1 to Nicole Bird, Zuzana Bakusova won the title with the aid of two marathon ends 15-13 and finally 13-11.

Other promising performances in the junior events came from Bhavika Mistry, and Owen Morris who got the better of William Shepherd 13-11 in a decider.

At super veteran level it was the returning Ray Kingston and Brian Harradine who made the headlines, Kingston with two titles and Harradine with three doubles successes.

In the Banded events Gerald Henson, Paul Nichols, Jonathan Edlund and Lauren Ainsworth worked hard to beat large entries in the singles. Nigel Metcalfe, another player coming back to the game, helped Harradine to the doubles. To give the five times champion the last word, he became only the second player to win both the Men's and Veterans' title in the same year, with Dick Ingle previously achieving the feat in 1962.

2010 MEN'S SINGLES CHAMPION

MILES CHAN

Congratulations to Miles Chan on becoming the youngest ever winner of the Men's Singles

2009 Men's Singles Champion

Steve Silk

2008 Mens Singles Champion

Andy Trott

Andy Trott has won more county honours than any other player in the county's history. These include:

Mens Singles

1989, 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999,2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008

Junior Singles

1985, 1986

Junior Doubles

1985, 1986

Mens Doubles

1989, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2008

Mixed Doubles

1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008

Vets Doubles

2009

2008 Ladies Singles Champion

Charlotte Binley

At the age of 15 Charlotte Binley has won all the Women's Singles competitions in the County she has entered, those of the County Closed, Wellingborough, Northampton and Kettering. This feat, which has probably never been achieved before, comes as a result of the very hard work she puts in, training hard, working on her fitness, receiving one-to-one coaching and regular match practice. In addition she travels the tournament circuit to play in Junior and Senior Open events as well as representing the County Junior First team in the County Championships. She has now broken into the England Top 100 Junior Girls at No 91 with three more years to go in this age group. On this showing she will soon be moving up the National Rankings. Charlotte is hoping to go to University to take a degree in Sports Science.

Supporting her in all this are her dedicated parents Jon and Louise, her mother being Secretary of the County Association. At a time when we are looking for ever more commitment from the County Squad, Charlotte represents an excellent role model especially to young girls with sporting aspirations.

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