Rose Bowl

The finals of the J M Rose Bowl, were held at the Draycott Table Tennis Centre in Derby on 22^nd May. Cambridge were one of eight teams taking part in this keenly fought event and on one of the hottest days of the year they met tough opposition. Cambridge were represented by Mandy Mills, Maria Boulton and Caroline Wright. They were drawn in a group with North Herts, Derby and Hastings and had to play North Herts, represented by sisters Sandy Harper and Janice Laing, potentially the strongest team in the competition, in their first match. Maria Boulton had a heart-stopping game against Janice Laing, coming from two sets down to win the remaining three sets in her first match, which levelled the score 1-1, but the sisters who had years of experience playing together, proved unbeatable in the doubles. Despite Mandy Mills and Maria Boulton going to a deciding fifth set in each of their remaining singles and only losing by 2 points in their final sets, North Herts came out winners 4-1. In the next match against Derby, Mandy Mills didn't get the start she wanted in her first singles losing the first two sets, but following shrewd advice at the change of ends from Martin Gray, the Cambridge team coach, she turned the game round and romped through the remaining three sets for the loss of only 9 points. However, this turned out to be Cambridge's only win against Derby and resulted in another 1-4 defeat. The final group match was against Hastings and once again Cambridge won the first singles when Maria Boulton came out on top. Although the doubles pairing of Maria Boulton and Caroline Wright began to improve on their scores, they were outplayed by the Hastings pair and after losing the final two singles matches, once again Cambridge suffered a 1-4 defeat. Cambridge's final match was a play off for 7^th/8^th place against Watford. The Cambridge team at last gained some consolation for their efforts, with Mandy and Maria winning their singles to give them a winning 3-1 lead which was enough to give them 7^th place in the competition. The North Herts team deservedly won the competition.