**Image courtesy of Alan Spink

ICT saw an increase in teams entered in 2023 to 28 teams meaning that the competition returned to its 4 day format. After finishing 20th out of a possible 22 last year, Gloucestershire were keen to rise up the table.  In the first round Gloucestershire were handed a favourable draw of Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Cumbria.  Lots of unknown facets with these opponents as we have not competed against any of them in the shires league. Gloucestershire had a tough start taking a heavy 9-1 defeat to Nottinghamshire who were exceptionally strong on the girls side.  Needing to bounce back we played staffs in the evening match, Gloucestershire showed a few frailties succumbing to a 7-3 defeat…a match that coaches and players feel they could have won. Undeterred the team came out positively Tuesday morning beating Cumbria comfortably 8-2.Round 2 put Gloucestershire in against the Isle of Man and Derbyshire (who beat us narrowly in 2022). Gloucestershire were getting in to their groove beating the Isle of Man 7-3 and beating Derbyshire 8-2 respectively.Tired bodies starting to show the players had to find some energy for round 3. We ended up with surprise opponents Surrey along with Wiltshire and Lancashire. A 9-1 loss to Surrey on Wednesday afternoon was not a true reflection of the match, we fought hard but ultimately came up a long way short. Like the staffs game on day 1, we knew that if we could everyone on top form for Lancashire we would had a chance. Some nervy moments cost us key games in the singles and mixed doubles leaving us on the end of a 6-4 defeat. After another shock loss in the coaches vs players pool game the players had some final night pizza to help in preparations for the big local derby Thursday morning. It worked, Gloucestershire came out firing winning 6-4 …much to the dismay of the Wiltshire coaches.A 17th place finish is a great result. This shows the work Gloucestershire is putting in is working, hopefully we can climb even higher next year. Thanks to everyone who supported on the journeyICT TEAMRex YeungRex Rocco – DevoySam SzczurekAdam WaltonAyush IyengarAnnie LyuChinmayi KiraniAbigail BarnardEmma MilneTilly MannPlayer of the tournament – Annie LyuRunner up – Rex YeungCoaches –Sol GriffithsRebecca PantaneyHannah Mutlow