Team Captain: Tam Curnow
Contact numbers: Email: tamara.curnow@physiol.ox.ac.uk

Winter 2009/10 Stage II Report

After a slightly disappointing first half to the season, the Oxfordshire ladies' county side did not make the promotion weekend for the first time in several years. Instead, we travelled to Exeter for the March weekend. Our squad numbers were slightly depleted by those poorly committed team members who had fallen pregnant during the season but we still managed to field a full team - a credit indeed to the dedication of those involved in the junior scene in the last few years. Our first match was against the home side, Devon. We welcomed Laura Callaghan for the first time to our team. She played at 5 and put in a stirling effort, losing, but in 3 tight games 12-14, 8-11, 10-12. Holly Cox at 4 had the closest match of the weekend. After winning the first 17-15 she lost the next two games but came back to take the 4th 14-12. Unfortunately, it was her opponent who found form in the 5th, winning it 11-3. Rachel Donald at 3 and Kerri Lancaster at 1 both had comfortable wins and Katie Quaterman at 2, also joining us for the first time, managed to drop only 12 points in winning 3-0 as well. Overall: Oxfordshire beat Devon 3-2. The second match was against Hertfordshire who we seem to have met several times in recent years. They could only field a team of 3 and so we won at 4 and 5 by default. Kerri and Katie again secured comfortable victories 3-0 and after a small blip in the first, Rachel managed to win the next 3 games as well so overall: Oxfordshire beat Hertfordshire 5-0. With the promising talent shown by this year's side then we will hopefully do better in the first weekend of next year and challenge for the promotion spot once again.

Winter 2005/6 Stage 2 - Match Report

After narrowly losing all our intercounty matches 3-2 in November, the Oxfordshire county ladies side went to Gloucester on 11th March to climb out of the Division 1 relegation group. Several of our promising young juniors and two of our more experienced players were unavailable but we nonetheless managed to find 5 willing volunteers for each match. First on Saturday, we faced Devon. Just to prove maternity leave does not exist for County squash, we left 15 week old Lucy McGrath watching the rugby and dragged her Mum, Helen away to Goucester. Helen beat Caroline to the court to play at number 5 and demonstrated unequivocally that you don't forget how to play squash after having a baby - she dropped only 3 points in her 3 games. Next on court was Julie Peachey from Witney at 3. After a tense start, Julie settled down well and despite sleeping for several points in the 4th, she came through and won the 5th. Caroline McGahey (Hithercroft) playing at 4 battled hard through the first 3 extremely tight games to go 2-1 up. However, her opponent came back well to take the 4th. Even the promise at 2-2 of a beer if she won the 5th wasn't enough and Caroline just lost 3-2. Rachel Donald (Esporta) at 1 played a tricky badminton player. None of us were envious of the lobs and drops Rachel tried to retrieve on a cold court. She fought hard but lost 3 close games. With the score tied at 2 matches each, Tam Curnow (Morris) went on last at 2 against a nervous opponent. Tam won the first two games comfortably and despite snoozing in the 3rd she came through in the 4th. Oxfordshire beat Devon 3-2 (16-9) Rachel Donald 0-3 Betty Blair 5/9, 6/9, 6/9, Tam Curnow 3-1 Val Moulten 9/1, 9/2, 6/9, 9/3 Julie Peachey 3-2 Jan Hazell 8/9, 9/8, 9/3, 4/9, 9/1 Caroline McGahey 2-3 Sylvia Ripley 8/10, 10/9, 10/9, 2/9, 5/9 Helen McGrath 3-0 Karen Bealley 9/0, 9/1, 9/2 After admiring the Irish and Scottish rugby teams, we returned to the courts to play a young Gloucestershire side. Caroline at 5 made up for her earlier lapse by comfortably winning 3-0 and Julie at 4 soon added to our tally, with another convincing win. Kelly Scott (Morris Motors) at 3 joined us with bruises from her hockey match but they didn't stop her taking advantage of her opponent's rather erratic play and Kelly kept her composure to win 3-1. Tam played the twin sister of Kelly's opponent at 2 and also capitalised on her opponent's errors to win 3-0. Rachel at 1 had lost to the Gloucestershire captain on their previous meetings and Rachel's lack of match practice due to work for her forthcoming finals did not bode well. Nonetheless, Rachel worked hard to go 2-1 up before the heat and difference in training regimes eventually favoured her oppponent. Oxfordshire beat Gloucestershire 4-1 (19-4) Rachel Donald 2-3 Jenny Tamblyn 2/9, 9/7, 9/3, 3/9, 4/9 Tam Curnow 3-0 Sophie Parker 9/3, 9/5, 9/4 Kelly Scott 3-1 Hannah Parker 9/3, 6/9, 9/5, 9/5 Julie Peachey 3-0 Vicki Omerod 9/5, 9/3, 9/4 Caroline McGahey 3-0 Laurna Brinscombe 9/4, 9/4, 9/3 Rachel and Tam lost the Pub Cricket on the way back to Oxford (possibly due to Caroline's intrepretation of the rules) and we dropped Julie off just in time to go to her friend's 18th party. We returned bright and early in the snow on Sunday morning to take on Hertfordshire who had also won both their matches the previous day. Pam Eagles (North Oxfordshire) stepped in to help us out and like Helen, she also claimed the number 5 spot from Caroline. Pam went 7-0 down in the first and despite getting it back to 8-8, narrowly lost 10/9. Pam had got her momentum though and she won the next 3 games playing some of the most accurate squash we saw that weekend. Kelly at 3 won 3-0 in a friendly game but Caroline at 4, stiff from the unaccustomed squash of the weekend lost 3-0. Rachel did better than in November against the Herts number 1 but still didn't manage to get a game. Tam played the Herts captain at 2 and despite serving out a little too often and putting shots in the tin 5 rallies in a row (thanks to Sal for counting!) managed to take the tie for Oxfordshire. Oxfordshire beat Hertfordshire 3-2 (14-7) Rachel Donald 0-3 Zoe Durbach 1/9, 4/9, 4/9 Tam Curnow 3-0 Isobel Smith 9/7, 9/2, 9/5 Kelly Scott 3-0 Elke Rubsham 9/2, 9/5, 9/4 Caroline McGahey 0-3 Mette Veitch 7/9, 2/9, 6/9 Pam Eagles 3-1 Laura Taylor 10/9, 9/6, 9/6, 9/4 So all in all a good result has meant my year's captaincy hasn't been a total failure! We'll be back up in Division 1 next year when hopefully we'll have another crack at the promotions weekend. Final result 1. Oxfordshire 49 2. Hertfordshire 45 3. Devon 28 4. Gloucestershire 22 Tam Curnow

Winter 2005/6 Stage 1 - Match Report

On the 20/21st November, Oxfordshire women's team travelled to Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire. The squad was suffering a distinct absence of Helens with Helen Knowles off travelling around Africa and Helen McGrath very pregnant with her first child. However, we were delighted to welcome Rosie Hamilton (Esporta) making her debut for the squad and Kelly Scott Morris Motors) returning to the team after many years' desertion.   Julie Peachey (Witney) opened this year's campaign against the Herts number 5. Julie showed great resilience, twice coming back from a game behind but unfortunately her opponent crept through in the 5th. Rosie, playing at 4, quickly and efficiently disposed of her opponent. Jacqui Kennedy (Racquets) at 3, lost the first game 9-4 but focussed well in the next two and was unlucky to lose them 10-8, 9-7. Tam Curnow (Morris Motors) at 2 was rather slow to wake up, losing the first two games convincingly and going 7-1 down in the 3rd before stepping up a level and winning 3-2. With the matches at 2-2, it fell to Rachel Donald (Esporta) at 1 who unfortunately came across a very strong, intimidating opponent to whom she lost 3-0. Final score Oxon 2, Herts 3.   After jacket potatoes, we went into the afternoon tie against Staffordshire. Julie went on at 5, determined to show that her morning result was a mere blip and after the first game, she convincingly won the next three. Buoyed on by her morning victory, Rosie enthusiastically buried her opponent, dropping only 4 points. Unfortunately, Jacqui, Tam and Rachel all met strong opponents and were unable to compete with their clinical play. Final score Oxon 2, Staffs 3.   After a relatively sober night, we returned on Sunday to play Essex for the third tiome in three years. We arrived at Bishop's Stortford to discover that one of the Essex players had dropped out an hour earlier. That gave us a win at 5 which (for administrative reasons) was credited on the score sheet to young Laura Callaghan - we expect to see many more victories in future Laura! Julie at 4, played even better than on Saturday and with only two concentration lapses won comfortably. Jacqui at 3 was a little nervous and despite a valiant effort, lost 3-0. Rachel at 1 came up against Rebecca McCree and the two noteworthy aspects of the match were (a) the one point that Rachel won (hooray!) and (b) the good grace with which Rachel played and the dignity that Jacqui had in marking it. It fell to Kelly at 2 to save the match against Lauren Selby. Both players had similar games - accurate with great touch play (I'm not jealous). Lauren took the 1st game but Kelly took the 2nd. The third was tightly poised with Lauren sneaking it 9-8 but Kelly again stormed back in the 4th so it went to a 5th where Lauren's accuracy proved just too much. Nonetheless, a great return to county squash for Kelly. Final score Oxon 2, Essex 3.   Well done to all the team. Now that we've got rid of our early season nerves I'm looking forward to some superb performances in the second round in March. Finally, many congratulations from all of us to Helen and Kieron on the birth of Lucy. We look forward to seeing her in our junior county squads soon!   Tam   Full results:   Oxon 2 Herts 3 Rachel Donald   0-3  Zoe Durbach         1/9  2/9  3/9 Tam Curnow      3-2  Isobel Smith        4/9  3/9  10/8 0/9  3/9 Jacqui Kennedy  0-3  Maureen Morrison    4/9  8/10 7/9 Rosie Hamilton  3-0  Emma Abegglan       9/4  9/2  9/3 Julie Peachey   2-3  Elke Rubsham        7/9  9/7  2/9  9/7  2/9   Oxon 2 Staffs 3 Rachel Donald   0-3  Gayle Kerrison      4/9  5/9  6/9 Tam Curnow      0-3  Tracey Shenton      1/9  4/9  2/9 Jacqui Kennedy  0-3  Anna Vaughan        5/9  6/9  0/9 Rosie Hamilton  3-0  Ria Kennerley       9/2  9/0  9/2 Julie Peachey   3-1  Anna-Marie Brettnal 5/9 10/8  9/6  9/4   Oxon 2 Essex 3 Rachel Donald   0-3  Rebecca Macree      0/9  1/9  0/9 Kelly Scott     2-3  Lauren Selby        5/9  9/7  8/9  9/3  4/9 Jacqui Kennedy  0-3  Lorraine Harlow     6/9  1/9  0/9 Julie Peachey   3-1  Kathy Kemp          9/2  8/10 9/2  9/6 Laura Callaghan 3-0  W/O

Match Report

Following promotion to Division 1 South B last year, the ladies team played their first stage matches over the weekend of 20/21 November at Racquets Fitness Centre in Thame.   The first match was a particularly close one against Norfolk. Both Caroline McGahey and Jacqui Kennedy won their games 3-0 at 5th and 4th string respectively. Playing at 3rd string, Rachel Donald, who returned to Oxfordshire for the weekend from Birmingham University, recovered from a 2-0 deficit to draw level at 2-2 but was unfortunately not able to take the final game and lost 9/5 in the 5th. Helen Knowles won the first game against her opponent but eventually went down 3-1 and Helen McGrath was unable to make any impact on her 1st string opponent, losing 3-0. Match 1: Norfolk beat Oxfordshire 3-2 (14 points to 9)   The second match saw us face Essex, who had won their first match against Gloucestershire 5-0. Once again, we started very strongly with Jacqui Kennedy in excellent form playing at 5th string and beating her opponent comfortably 3-0. Rachel Donald had her second 5-game battle of the day but this time managed to close out the 5th game to her advantage, 9/3. Helen Knowles, playing at 3rd string, came up against a very talented opponent, whose skill and touch proved to be just too good and Helen lost 3-0. At 2nd string, Helen McGrath managed to pull some top form out of the bag to beat her opponent 3-0. Finally, playing at number one and after a lunch-time hockey match in High Wycombe, Tam Curnow came up against a player ranked number 14 in England! Suffice to say, there was no major upset to the national rankings! Match 2: Oxfordshire beat Essex 3-2 (14 points to 8)   By Sunday morning all the teams had won one and lost one match so the competition was still wide open. Our final match was against Gloucestershire and Rachel and Caroline started very strongly, both winning their matches 3-0. Helen Knowles had a tremendous battle against her young opponent and was very unlucky to lose the match 10/8 in the fifth game. Helen McGrath had a very tight 3-0 tussle (10/8, 10/9, 9/7) but unfortunately did not get a game off her experienced opponent. With the outcome of the whole match weighing on the shoulders of Tam Curnow, she fought extremely hard and finally overcame her nationally ranked (under 19, no.5) opponent in 5 games (9/7 in the 5th!) Match 3: Oxfordshire beat Gloucestershire 3-2 (16 points to 8)   After a weekend of extremely tight and very hard-fought matches, the final positions were as follows: 1st        Essex 2nd        Oxfordshire 3rd        Norfolk 4th        Gloucestershire   The Stage II matches will be played over the weekend of 12 & 13 March 2005.