Spa duo gain vital experience from Bromfield debut

The event at Westfield Table Tennis Centre, Wellingborough, attracts the top junior girls’ league teams, with five outfits battling it out in a round-robin format.

Leamington opened up against Bournemouth with Bradshaw going down in four to top-ten-ranked cadet Amy Blagborough.

However, Fletcher showed no signs of nerves on her step up to a higher level of competition, beating Chloe Cass 11-4, 11-8, 13-11 to level the match at 1-1.

Bournemouth restored their advantage with victory in a top-turvy doubles which went to five sets before the reverse singles saw defeats for both Bradshaw (3-1) and Fletcher (3-0).

Leamington’s second match pitted them against number one seeds Derby who comprised top ten junior Amy Humphreys and Lativan Diana Rusinova.

The Leamington debutants went the way of all their rivals, losing 5-0 to the eventual champions.

A further whitewash was suffered in their third match at the hands of Hull, whose star player Gauri Duhan had recently reached the semi-finals of the under-13 National Championships.

However, Fletcher won sets in both her singles losses while Bradshaw went down in a decider to the rapidly improving Alice Rice.

Following a break in proceedings, Leamington enjoyed a change of fortunes in their final encounter, winning the coin toss against Kettering and choosing to be the home team.

Fletcher was first up against top junior Nicole Bird, going down 3-0, but Bradshaw, having loaded up on Mars Bars, produced her first singles win of the day, beating Sidney Wright 11-7, 11-4, 11-6.

Having levelled the match, Leamington knew the doubles would prove crucial and were involved in an epic struggle with the first four sets being shared.

But, despite a few rushed shots, the Leamington duo held their nerve to win 7-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6 and open up a 2-1 lead.

Fletcher now knew a repeat of Bradshaw’s victory over Wright would give Leamington their first-ever Bromfield Trophy win and she duly produced an 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 success.

Bradshaw went down 3-1 to Bird in the dead rubber but it failed to take the gloss off Leamington’s maiden victory.

The win put Leamingotn level on points with both Bournemouth and Kettering, but after countback it was Bournemouth who took third, with Kettering fourth and Leamington in fifth.

However, the experience gained and their dramatic last-match win meant Bradshaw and Fletcher were more than happy with their afternoon’s work.