Orkney Inter-County - Season 2000-2001

Contents:- -Home-|-Away-

Home Match

Both Caithness teams went into the return match against Orkney knowing it was going to be an up-hill struggle to try and rotate the scorelines.
The 'A' Team were down 8-4, but because there was no Shetland trip involved in this leg and, they were all sober and feeling lively - they felt things could be swung in their favour.
The 'B' Team went into this match with a strong team and although Orkney had a 9-3 lead, Caithness had every confidence that they could swing the scoreline.

How did it go......? See below....

'A' Team - FINAL SCORELINE - CAITHNESS 'A' 6 (10) - ORKNEY 'A' 6 (14)

1st Ladies

Disaster struck the double Ortak champions (KC and Carole), when Casey (eBIG'H') injured her leg diving to retrieve a shot. It was later diagnosed as a ligament problem, which may put her out for the rest of the season. This made the match a walkover - giving the points to Orkney.

Caithness 'A' Team

Back:- Sam-|-Benji-|-David-|-John-|-Mark-|-James-

Front:- Pam-|-Alison-|-Casey-|-Carole-|-Marion-|-Jane-

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Orkney 'A' Team

Back:- Trevor-|-Eoin-|-Ross-|-Ronald-|-Stuart-|-Calvin-

Front:- Lynne-|-Caroline-|-Moira-|-Elaine-|-Kitty-|-Cath-

Pictures provided by photographer - M Luciani

2nd Ladies

Caithness Badminton was delighted to see the return of Marion McCoustra after a series of back injuries.
Marion and Jane previously played together before her injury and were unlucky to lose a close match 2-0 to the Orcadians, whose experience of playing with each other over the last few seasons pulled them through.

3rd Ladies

Pam and Alison were unlucky not to get a game out of this match against Kitty and Cath with both games being won by Orkney, by a couple of points.

1st Men

With Sam and Mark returning any efforts hit at them by Calv or Eoin, there was only ever going to be one winner in this match.

2nd Men

The Silver Fox and Ross went home to Orkney on Saturday, with their heads in their hands, wondering how the hell they had lost the match against 'e Bird and Davie.
After winning a close first game and going well infront in the second (13-5) the Orcadians' dreams were starting to come true, of beating 'e Bird. But...... Davie and Bird held on to take the second, with the games hall erupting with cheers of delight in the Caithness camp. With the Orcadians' confidence battered the Caithness men ended the match with a 2-1 win.

3rd Men

Benji and John seemed to have won this match after easily taking the first game but the stubborn Orcadians had other ideas and seemed to find there feet in the following two games to win the encounter, very closely 2-1.

1st Mixed

Bird and Jane have started to become coupled together in all competitions, at the moment, and this partnership proved too strong for the younger Orcadians who battled to try and break the barrier, both at the front and rear of the court.

2nd Mixed

With the cat like manoeuvres of 'Ratter' and good finishing by Marion, this was too much for Elaine and Calvin to handle but some good retrieving by both, gave the crowd a good game to watch.

3rd Mixed

Sam and Pam strolled to an easy first game win, but after relaxing to much the Orcadians returned to take the second in the same style. The Caithness pairing then showed their experience of being a partnership for the last few years, and got their act together, to win the third 15-6.

4th Mixed

John 'Text Book' Durrand and Carole had a hard fought first game against Slater and Kitty but with John's power and Carole's finishing at the net, they managed to walkaway with the second game, quiet easily.

5th Mixed

With Casey now unable to play, Davie Nicolson was partnered by Pauline Gunn - who was a reserve for the 'B' Team but, fortunately, came prepared with all her CBA and 'Bedini' equipment, in the case of an emergency. Well Done, Pauline.
The Orcadian couple proved too strong, overall, winning in three sets but Pauline played some neat net shots and Davie managed to retrieve well for some long rallies.

6th Mixed

This was Benji and Alison's first match together and by no means disgraced themselves by losing a tight three set match.
The Caithness partnership managed to win the first game and after the Orcadians 'sneaked' a close second there was no turning back for them to win the match 2-1.

	Caithness	who won	Orkney	Score
1st Ladies	C Mowat / C Sangster	lost to	E Gray / M Nicolson	w/o
2nd Ladies	J Grant / M McCoustra	lost to	C Vendy / L Cursiter	0-2
3rd Ladies	P Mackay / A Henderson	lost to	K Work / C Bremner	0-2
1st Mens	M Mackay / S Campbell	beat	E Ballintine / C Reid	2-0
2nd Mens	J Henderson / D Nicolson	beat	S Slater/R Groundwater	2-1
3rd Mens	J Durrand / B Mackay	lost to	T Kinghorn / R Thompson	1-2
1st Mixed	J Henderson / J Grant	beat	E Ballintine / C Vendy	2-0
2nd Mixed	M Mackay / M McCoustra	beat	C Reid / E Gray	2-0
3rd Mixed	S Campbell / P Mackay	beat	R Groundwater/M Nicolson	2-1
4th Mixed	J Durrand / C Mowat	beat	S Slater / K Work	2-0
5th Mixed	D Nicolson / C Sangster	lost to	T Kinghorn / L Cursiter	1-2
6th Mixed	B Mackay / A Henderson	lost to	R Thompson / C Bremner	1-2

'B' Team - FINAL SCORELINE - CAITHNESS 'A' 9 (12) - ORKNEY 'A' 3(12)

1st Ladies

The Orkney pairing of Elspbeth and Katie proved to much to handle for the debut partnership of Lyndsey and Hilary, winning 2-0.

2nd Ladies

After winning the first set 15-3, the Caithness pairing of Jill and Helen seemed to relax a bit too much, allowing the Orkney ladies to capitalise on their weaknesses, but the girls pulled their socks up and 'scraped' a 15-13 win to take the game 2-0.

Caithness 'B' Team

Back:- Donald-|-Sean-|-Scott-|-Ian-|-Russell-|-Davie-

Front:- Lyndsey-|-Helen-|-Hilary-|-Jill-|-Amy-|-Gillian-

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Orkney 'B' Team

Back:- -Graham-|-Marti-|-Mark-|-Trevor-|-Steven-|-Calvin-

Front:- Katie-|-Lisa-|-Lindsey-|-Fiona-|-Elspbeth-|-Susan-

Pictures provided by photographer - M Luciani

1st Mens

Raz and Daz should have finished this match in the second game. But the Orcadians fought their way through a tie-breaker in the second and continued in the third, to win the match 2-1.

2nd Mens

A tight match saw Donald and Ian lose out to the Orkney pairing of Foubister and Lee.
The Caithness pairing took the first match 15-9 but the Orcadians battled well in some long rallies to take the following two games, both 15-12.

With Caithness having to win all the mixed double matches for a draw, there was a definite sign of excitement, pressure and nervousness being shown around both the Caithness and Orkney camps, within Thurso Games Arena.

1st Mixed

Raz and Jill managed to keep a 100% percent record against Orkney, with a steady performance comprising of some nice 'tippie-tappie' shots which killed off the opponents in two sets.

2nd Mixed

The Orcadians Mark and Elspeth started off strong in this match taking the first game - but after the Caithness pairing found their feet there was no turning back managing to take the next two games 15-10 and 15-7.

3rd Mixed

Although, Donald and Hilary lost the second game of this match - they managed to win the other two games convincingly to win 2-1.
Donald has just returned from an operation on his knee but pulled all the stops out to win the match with Hilary.

4th Mixed

The youngsters of the senior part of the 'B' team showed that they can mix it with the rest in this encounter.
Helen and Ian went down to the Orcadians in the first game but managed to get through a tie-breaker in the second to finish off 2-1 winners, overall.

Juniors

Without putting the Orkney Juniors down in any way, who have shown improvement since being coached by the Silver Fox and Ross Groundwater, the all new Caithness 'Brat Pack' proved to strong and managed convincing wins over their opponents, in all games.

	Caithness	who won	Orkney	Score
1st Ladies	L Calder / H Geddes	lost to	K Foulis / E McLennan	0-2
2nd Ladies	J Turner / H Richards	beat	F McNab / S Thompson	2-0
3rd Ladies	G Cameron / A Simpson	beat	L Anderton / L Johnston	2-0
1st Mens	R Craigie / D Swanson	lost to	M Flett / M Clouston	1-2
2nd Mens	D Mackay / I Nicolson	lost to	R Foubister / T Lee	1-2
3rd Mens	S Henstridge / R Scott	beat	G Norquoy / S Walls	2-0
1st Mixed	R Craigie / J Turner	beat	M Flett / K Foulis	2-0
2nd Mixed	D Swanson / L Calder	beat	M Clouston/E McClennan	2-1
3rd Mixed	D Mackay / H Geddes	beat	R Foubister / F McNab	2-1
4th Mixed	I Nicolson / H Richards	beat	T Lee / S Thompson	2-1
5th Mixed	S Henstridge / G Cameron	beat	S Walls / L Johnston	2-0
6th Mixed	R Scott / A Simpson	beat	G Norquoy / L Anderton	2-0

Presentation

John Durrand, 'A' team captain, thanked Orkney for an excellent contest and handed over the trophy to the Orkney captain Eoin Ballintine.
Russell Craigie, 'B' Team captain congratulated the Juniors on winning all their matches and handed the trophy over to Katie Foulis, Orkney captain.

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Away Match

Intro

Orkney played host to the Caithness county badminton team in this first leg tie of the annual inter-county match. The seating at the Pickaquoy Centre was being used for the first time in a Caithness match and proved popular with players and especially spectators alike. This hopefully will be the norm from now on.

The Caithness 'A' team had travelled to Shetland the previous day to play their annual county match which Shetland won (10/2). During this match Alastair Young from Caithness sustained an injury which forced him to miss the game with Orkney - get well soon Alastair! Also on the recent injury list is Luke Thornton from the Orkney junior team who badly injured his ankle while trying to trap a ball with his foot-if only it had been a football and not a netball you might have been OK Luke! Seriously though hope you get better soon from all at the OBA.

Report kindly given by Calvin Reid - Orkney Badminton Association.

'A' Team - FINAL SCORELINE - ORKNEY 'A' 8 - CAITHNESS 'A' 4

Back to the match now and first up for Orkney was the 3rd Ladies pairing of Lynn Cursiter and Cath Bremner. They wasted little time as they had a convincing win against Jane Grant and Isobel Mackay winning 15-3/15-2. Orkney's 3rd mens pairing of Trevor Kinghorn and Ronald Thompson also secured a good win taking victory with a scoreline of 15-3/15-7. Caroline Vendy and Kitty Work had a shaky start against Pam Mackay and Alison Henderson losing the first set 15-9. The second set saw the Orkney ladies come back strongly winning the set 15-3. They continued the good work in the third and deciding set and eventually won the match with a scoreline of 15-9. Stuart Slater and Ross Groundwater knew they would have to play well in their testing match to beat the strong pairing of Sam Campbell and Davie Nicolson. To their credit they passed with flying colours winning with a scoreline of 15-2/15-11. Orkney's reigning ladies champions Elaine Gray and Moira Nicolson playing at first ladies had an excellent two set win over the strong pairing of Casey Sangster and Carol Mowat. The first set saw the home team get off to a flying start building up a big lead though credit must go to their opponents as they managed to claw their way back into game to within a couple of points. Elaine and Moira managed to get the return of serve and hold out for 15-11 win. This spurred them on and they went on to win the second set 15-9

Caithness &Orkney 'A' Teams

Back:- Calvin-Sam-Trevor-Bird-Ross-John-Silver Fox

Middle:- KC-Kitty-Ratter-Ballintine-Eric-Moira-Davie-Ronald

Bottom:- Pam-Lynne-Isobel-Caroline-Ally-Elaine-Cath-Jane

It was time for Caithness to roll out the big guns now as thier first men's pairing of James Henderson and Mark Mackay took on the home pairing of Eoin Ballantyne and Calvin Reid. The local lads dug in deep and tried hard but too many unforced errors didn't help their cause as the Caithness pairing duly won their team's first game of the night winning 15-8/15-10. Scoreline after the doubles was 5-1 in Orkney's favour.

The mixed doubles started well for the locals as Cath Bremner and Ronald Thompson secured victory in their match with a good two set win - the scoreline being 15-8/15-11.

Orkney had an important win in their next match as Moira Nicolson and Trevor Kinghorn came through a close three set match against Carol Mowat and John Durrand. This win was well earned as Carol is probably the strongest woman player that Caithness have and the home team were a bit surprised to find her playing at fifth mixed. Moira and Trevor narrowly avoided defeat in the second set tie-break and came through strongly in the deciding match to make the score 7-1 in Orkney's favour. The Caithness team started to make a comeback now as they won the next two games which gave their players a boost.

Their first win in the mixed doubles was at fourth mixed as the dependable and consistent pairing of Casey Sangster and Davie Nicolson secured a good set win against the local pairing of Lynn Cursiter and Ross Groundwater. The next match was a very close affair and could have gone either way but it was the Caithness pairing of Pam Mackay and Sam Campbell who secured a 15-13/15-13 win over Kitty Work and Stuart Slater. Orkney fought back in the next match as Elaine Gray and Calvin Reid played well to win a three set match against Jane Grant and James Henderson. After winning the first set 15-8, Elaine and Calvin struggled badly in the second set losing 15-3. In the deciding third there was a complete reversal in their play as they started strongly and maintained this throughout the set winning 15-5. The final match of first mixed was won by the Caithness mother and son pairing of Isobal and Mark Mackay who defeated the Orkney pairing of Caroline Vendy and Eoin Ballantyne. This was a fast and hard game which saw Caithness get off to a big early lead but the Orkney pair finally started to claw back the defecit but this was not enough as Caithness took the first set 15-11. Both pairings played well in the second set but it was the Caithness pairing who took the match winning the second set 15-9.

	Orkney	who won	Caithness	Score
1st Ladies	M. Nicolson / E. Gray	beat	C. Mowat / C. Sangster	2-0
2nd Ladies	C. Vendy / K. Work	beat	P. Mackay / A. Henderson	2-1
3rd Ladies	L. Cursiter/ C. Bremner	beat	J. Grant / I. Mackay	2-0
1st Mens	E. Ballantyne / C. Reid	lost to	M. Mackay / J. Henderson	0-2
2nd Mens	S. Slater / R. Groundwater	beat	D.Nicolson / S. Campbell	2-0
3rd Mens	R. Thompson / T. Kinghorn	beat	J. Durrand / E. Livingstone	2-0
1st Mixed	C. Vendy / E. Ballantyne	lost to	I. Mackay / M. Mackay	0-2
2nd Mixed	E. Gray / C. Reid	beat	J. Grant / J. Henderson	2-1
3rd Mixed	K. Work /S. Slater	lost to	P. Mackay / S. Campbell	0-2
4th Mixed	L. Cursiter/R. Groundwater	lost to	C.Sangster/D.Nicolson	0-2
5th Mixed	M. Nicolson / T.Kinghorn	beat	C. Mowat / J. Durrand	2-1
6th Mixed	C. Bremner / R. Thompson	beat	A. Henderson / E Livingstone	2-0

'B' Team - FINAL SCORELINE ORKNEY 'B' 9 - CAITHNESS 'B' 3

Quite often in Inter-county matches against Caithness the home side wins their leg of the tie but in the 'B' match this trend is even more evident and usually by big margins so it was vitally important that if Orkney were to win the trophy outright they would have to get a big lead to take away to Caithness in Febuary. To their credit this is what the home team managed to do by winning the match by nine game to three.

Caithness & Orkney 'B' Teams

Back:- Richard-Graham-Davie-Mark-Raz-Steve-Lynsey-Rae

Middle:- Amy-Steven-Ian-Calum-Martyn-Fiona-Sean-Elspeth

Front:- -Susan-Jill-Lindsey-Helen-Lisa-Pauline-Katie

The match started well for Orkney as the junior pairing of Lisa Johnston and Lindsey Anderton had a solid win over their opponents with the scoreline being 15-6/15-2. Orkney's third men';s pairing of Steven Walls and Graham Norquoy did not have such a good result as they struggled to find their best form losing in two sets. The 'new' pairing of Susan Thomson and Fiona MacNab showed no signs of Inter-county nerves as they played well Lisa Johnston and Steven Walls during their close three set match which was eventually won by their opponents Amy Simpson and Shaon Henstridge from Caithness to beat Pauline Gunn and Lindsay Calder by two sets to nil.

Good to see Callum Flett playing County again as he and regular county player Mark Clouston had a good two set win at second men's. Orkney's first ladies pairing of Katie Foulis and Elspeth McLellan had an excellent start to their match as they romped the first set without dropping a point. To their credit their opponents came back into the match in the second set but the home ladies still secured the win by winning the set 15-10. On to first men's now and what a night for the re-juvinated Stevie Harvey as he and fellow 'youngster' Rae Slater had an excellent two set win against 'B' county stalwarts Russell Craigie and David Swan.

Fiona MacNab, partnered by Mark Clouston serving in her first Inter-county for Orkney. The first of the mixed doubles saw a hard earned win for the Orkney junior pairing of Lindsay Anderton and Graham Norquoy, winning in two close sets 15-12/15-13. The other junior pairing of Lisa Johnston and Steven Walls just lost out in an enthralling three set game having just nearly won the match in the second set. Susan Thomson and Callum Flett had a convincing 15-1/15-11 win at fourth mixed. Another hard earned win was fought out at fourth mixed as Fiona MacNab and Mark Clouston were the eventual winners in a see-saw match against Helen Richards and Ian Nicolson. Elspeth McLellan and Stevie Harvey came back well from behind in the second set to secure a good two set win. The first mixed match was a very good game as Katie Foulis and Rae Slater narrowly lost out in the third set against Jill Turner and Russell Craigie. The home pairing won the first set quite convincingly and nearly won the match in the second set tie-break, just losing out 17-15. The third set was also close but credit must go to the Caithness pairing as they held out for a 15-13 score in the final set.

	Orkney	who won	Caithness	Score
1st Ladies	K. Foulis / E. Maclellan	beat	J. Turner / H. Richards	2-0
2nd Ladies	F. MacNab / S. Thomson	beat	P. Gunn / L. Calder	2-0
3rd Ladies	L. Johnston / L. Anderton	beat	A. Simpson / L. Sinclair	2-0
1st Mens	R. Slater / S. Harvey	beat	R. Craigie / D. Swanson	2-0
2nd Mens	C. Flett / M. Clouston	beat	I. Nicolson / R. Scott	2-0
3rd Mens	S. Walls / G. Norquoy	lost to	S. Henstridge / M. Cook	0-2
1st Mixed	K. Foulis / R. Slater	lost to	J. Turner / R. Craigie	1-2
2nd Mixed	E. Maclellan / S. Harvey	beat	P. Gunn / D. Swanson	2-0
3rd Mixed	F. MacNab / M. Clouston	beat	H. Richards / I. Nicolson	2-1
4th Mixed	S. Thomson / C. Flett	beat	L. Calder / R. Scott	2-0
5th Mixed	L. Johnston / S. Walls	lost to	A. Simpson / S. Henstridge	1-2
6th Mixed	L. Anderton / G. Norquoy	beat	L. Sinclair / M. Cook	2-0

OBA would like to thank the Caithness team for an excellent nights' badminton and to all spectators for coming along to cheer on the teams.

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End-of-Document