By Pippa Field

He may not have been able to get his hands on the trophy at Sunday’s National Badminton League finals day, but Orpington’s Carl Baxter insisted he could still hold his head up high.

The five-time national singles finalist and 2010 Commonwealth bronze medallist no longer plays as a professional, although this season has seen him offering his services to Surrey Smashers in the first-ever NBL campaign.

And it has certainly proved a worthwhile experience for the former England number one with Surrey Smashers topping the table to reach the play-offs at K2 Crawley on Sunday.

Unfortunately they were unable to write their name into the history books as the first-ever winners of the competition after suffering a 5-0 defeat to Loughborough Sport with Baxter losing 3-0 in the men’s singles to London 2012 Olympian Henri Hurskainen.

But despite the disappointment Baxter, who works full time as an insurance broker, insisted he could still be proud of his efforts against the Swede.

He said: “It was just pride really going out there, we had already lost the match as we were 3-0 down. 

“But there are a lot of people who paid money to come and watch so you just want to go and win a match for those people who have come and support you.

“I don’t play professionally anymore and 90 percent of the people out there are full time players including Henri.

“He’s won medals at Europeans and he’s training full-time.”

Baxter added: “I was always going to struggle to win that one but I think I played well.

“Obviously I’m disappointed that we’re out but my own match, I did alright.

“We still finished top of the league so we can still have that in our mind and still be proud of that.

“It’s a shame that we didn’t have a better shot but it is what it is.”

Surrey Smashers came into the NBL finals day full of confidence of going all the way after winning four of their five regular season games.

However, they had to do without England’s mixed doubles specialist Gabby Adcock on Sunday due to international duty while a number of players returned from Indonesia the day before the competition.

And Baxter conceded all these factors may have contributed to their 5-0 drubbing, with Team Derby instead left to celebrate taking the title.

The Orpington man explained: “We needed to win the men’s doubles if we wanted to win the semi.

“But there’s Gabby who’s not here, Soraya De Visch Eijbergen is injured, so she’s playing doubles and not singles.

“Eefje Muskens just arrived back from Indonesia on Saturday, as did Chris Langridge.”

Baxter added: “It’s a bit of a perfect storm weekend. It’s a bit of a shame that we played so well during the season.

“If it was a different weekend, we probably would have had a better shot.

“We’ll see what happens next year. I might play one more year. It’s hard.

“I’ve got a full time job which isn’t badminton, it’s tough keeping your level high and your fitness up.”

For NBL finals day reaction, photos and videos, visit nationalbadmintonleague.co.uk

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