Shropshire tennis teams to have home advantage in LTA Winter County Cup

The county men’s team, having been promoted last year, will play in Group 4B at Ellesmere College, while Shropshire’s ladies side are in Group 5B at The Shrewsbury Club.

The annual event, which features 44 counties, runs from Friday through to Sunday.

Group winners will be promoted, with teams finishing at the bottom of the groups relegated.

Shropshire’s men’s team opponents will be Cambridgeshire, North Wales and Somerset, while the county’s ladies side will face North of Scotland, Suffolk and Wiltshire.

Holly Mowling, the captain of Shropshire’s ladies team, said: "We are looking forward to playing at home at the Shrewsbury Club. Our team is a great mix of youth and experience and I feel we have our strongest team out for the event.

"Lauren McMinn is returning to the team after not being able to compete for us since 2017 through injury and we look forward to having her back.

"Our juniors have been performing well this year and I am excited to see them back on court after some impressive play in the Summer County Cup at Felixstowe, with Tamzin Pountney, Imani Shah and Clara Hill all taking part.

"Our experience comes from myself, Cheryl Evans, Chloe Hughes and Hanna Cadwallader, who have been an important part of this team for many years.”

Men’s captain Alex Parry, who will be joined in the Shropshire team by Mo Morsi, Luke Henley, Matthew Jones, Matt Lee, Ed Gibbs and Tom Loxley, said: “We had a good run last year and it’s now all about trying to keep the momentum and trying to keep that winning feeling going.

“There are some very good world ranked players and domestic players playing for the other counties, but I’m hoping that we can hold our own.

“It’s nice that we’re playing locally at Ellesmere College. It doesn’t mean a long drive this time across the country, but we do have some of our team members travelling from other parts of the country to play, so it will be good for them to come home.

“Hopefully we can have some home support. Division four is high quality tennis and one of the highest divisions that we’ve played in."

Fiona Jones, chair of Tennis Shropshire, sent her best wishes to both teams ahead of representing Shropshire in the prestigious event.

She added: “It’s lovely to have both our senior county teams playing locally.

"They always give their utmost when they’re playing for the county. I’m sure that they will enjoy playing at home and will have some really great matches.”

Pictured: Shropshire’s men’s team, led by captain Alex Parry, gained promotion in the LTA Winter County Cup last year after winning Group 5A.