SUFFOLK'S senior county teams will be competing in the nationwide LTA Inter-County Cup competition from Monday through to next Friday.The event is staged at grasscourt centres up and down the land, including Felixstowe.

SUFFOLK'S senior county teams will be competing in the nationwide LTA Inter-County Cup competition from Monday through to next Friday.

The event is staged at grasscourt centres up and down the land, including Felixstowe. Both the men's and women's sides have met with selection problems, and for a number of reasons it seems that Suffolk yet again are unable to field their strongest teams, and it looks like being a really testing challenge for all the players.

The men will be hoping for plenty of support as they are competing at nearby Cambridge, where they are based in Group 5 with Middlesex, Northumberland, Lincolnshire, Herefordshire and Worcs, and the home county, Cambridgeshire.

Acting captain Richard Daynes hoped to face a tough campaign with a preliminary squad of himself, Chris Daynes, Oliver Haldenby, James Yates, Oliver Sutton, Jeremy Cowley, Jack Hazelwood, Ben Roberts-Law, Ashley Watling and Matthew Hough, with James Trotman, James Rose and Stephen Lockwood all unavailable.

Both Ollie Haldenby and Jeremy Cowley, deservedly awarded their County Colours at the 2006 Suffolk LTA Awards Evening, are available from Tuesday onwards, and Ipswich Sports Club player James Ashton could well be a useful addition to the squad.

The team certainly comprises a good mixture of experience and youth, but Richard Daynes is understandably cautious when he says: “It looks like a tough group on paper, including a local derby with Cambridge, but I am hopeful that we can achieve the third promotion in three years.”

Suffolk Ladies travel further afield to Cheltenham to compete in Group 6 against Durham and Cleveland, Shropshire, the Channel Islands, the East of Scotland and Cornwall.

Loyal servant Louise Rogers is a temporary replacement for retired captain Kerry Quirk, and she has had to work very hard simply to find a squad capable of at least achieving survival. It was certainly very disappointing news when it was discovered that 2006 “Senior Player of the Year” Andrea Cooper would not be returning as expected from her travels abroad.

Quirk has thankfully made herself available to play, with Emma Elsom, Olivia Campbell-Lamerton and Rogers very much the backbone of the side. Also invited to join the squad were Katie Bull, Peri Daniel, Lysette Fulcher, Sarah McDonaugh, Amy Robinson, Laura Mee and Sally Turner, and it may well be that further juniors will have to be given invaluable experience when the availability picture has been clarified.