FOUR teams representing their respective leagues played in the first round group series in the Wilmot Cup at the Dome, Ipswich.With North Middlesex the favourites and fielding the strongest side, the question was which team from Ipswich, Norwich or Cambridge would join them in the next round?Ipswich and Cambridge played a thriller in round one, this went to the deciding match as both Martin Gray and Andrew Dosher had remained unbeaten until this stage, Gray having beaten both Ian Brown and Andrew Warner in straight sets, while Dosher had done the same over Kevin Gray and Luke Dryden.

FOUR teams representing their respective leagues played in the first round group series in the Wilmot Cup at the Dome, Ipswich.

With North Middlesex the favourites and fielding the strongest side, the question was which team from Ipswich, Norwich or Cambridge would join them in the next round?

Ipswich and Cambridge played a thriller in round one, this went to the deciding match as both Martin Gray and Andrew Dosher had remained unbeaten until this stage, Gray having beaten both Ian Brown and Andrew Warner in straight sets, while Dosher had done the same over Kevin Gray and Luke Dryden.

What emerged was considered by the players as the match of the day. Dosher blocked the attack of Gray to take the first and after

leading in the second lost out at deuce, the third saw Gray in charge but Dosher hung on to take the fourth at deuce again. The action throughout was breathtaking, some of the rallies were lasting over minute. In the end it was the Cambridge player who won at five in the decider to break the hearts of Ipswich, giving Cambridge a 5-4 win.

Norwich, along with Cambridge and Ipswich, went down 5-1 to the London side, who had Jimmy Walsh in their team, with only Martin Gray extending him to five. Kevin Gray became the only player to beat Middlesex's Chris Marlow, who had earlier stunned Dosher winning 3-0.

Ian Brown along with Norwich's David Henderson both beat the attacking play of Robert Hammond, who distinguished himself with a win at deuce in the fifth over Martin Gray.

Matches between the East Anglian teams were all cliff-hangers, and Norwich had Alan Clitheroe as undoubtedly the star of the day as he won all his games in these matches, including a three straight win over Martin Gray.

Clitheroe, before the weekend, has always been in the shadows of more illustrious players, but he included the scalps of both Dosher and Andrew Warner (both deuce in the fifth) plus Kevin Gray and Andrew Holmes.

His two maximums gave Norwich victory 5-3 over both Ipswich and Cambridge, to see the Norfolk side through to the next round.