Purloined from the CURTC Instagram page.

It was hot… Even at 8:30 when we arrived at Newmarket to take on the hosts in the first round of the East Anglia Cup. The EAC is a round robin between the four East Anglia Clubs, each match comprising two Singles and a Doubles with Charles Norbury & Miles Hember doing the Singles and myself and President Vix doing the Doubles. Newmarket is a tough court to play on as it is a bit bigger and just a bit different form CURTC. Having assured everyone to be prepared for a low bounce, the balls proceeded to bounce around in an almost Blue Court fashion.

First up was Charles with the smallest of his handicap disadvantages for the day, 9. Taking a bit of time to suss out the court and forget my bounce advice, Charles got going to get to 5-all before just falling short. There was no stopping Miles, in fact there was no stopping Miles all afternoon! This meant the Doubles would decide the match (and perhaps more). Well things went Cambridge’s way and we then had a two hour wait before taking on Prested which did not go so well, Miles excepted. A more convincing display against Hatfield meant it all came down to the last match. Newmarket needed a sweep, Prested a win with the other possibility meaning that three teams would be equal on points and the dreaded games count back would be needed..

It was now even hotter and we were struggling just watching from the Dedans. Newmarket came agonisingly short in a comeback in the first Singles but Jon Fistein made sure the result would come down to the final Doubles. The first games were traded before John Burnett started scampering around like someone half his age giving Newmarket a convincing win and a search for calculators.

Apologies for using Sunday’s scoresheet

Many thanks to Rodger East and Newmarket for hosting and we look forward to the trip to Prested for the 2026 East Anglia Cup!