Inter-Counties Report 2005

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Nottinghamshire's Team

Nottinghamshire won the 91st Inter Counties Championship in fine style with eight match wins, although Surrey, Avon and Essex finished on seven wins apiece and the destination of the trophy was not decided until the very last day. The Nottinghamshire team of Richard White (captain), Keith Aiton, Dean Bennison, James Death, Gordon Hopewell, Patrick Hort and Beatrice McGlen lost 1-2 only to Lancashire and Surrey.

The second division was won by a much strengthened Dorset team of Pete Trimmer (captain), Chris Daniels, David Harrison-Wood, Strat Liddiard, William Ormerod, Dave Trimmer and Tom Weston. They lost only one match, going down 1-2 to Sussex, and indeed only conceded four games in the whole tournament. Last year Dorset were relegated because they lost a crucial game -1 on time, so it must have been especially pleasing when Tom Weston, a regular golf croquet player, won a match by running penult from the boundary to win +1 on time.

In recent years, Suffolk, Glamorgan and Sussex have been classic 'yo-yo' teams, winning promotion every time they play in the second division and being relegated every time they play in the first division. Suffolk and Glamorgan, promoted last season, duly went straight back down again. They were joined by Hertfordshire, who had survived for two seasons in the first division.

Sussex pushed Dorset hard and finished as runners-up with eight match wins. Also on eight wins was a strong CA Select team, but, as this team was not eligible for promotion, Bedfordshire (on six wins) was promoted from fourth place. They had the same number of match wins but two more game wins than Hampshire, playing again in the Counties for the first time in many years, but as Hampshire had been forced to play a guest player to make up their team, they would not have been eligible for promotion.

This was the Counties; there were triple peels galore and shots that drew gasps of admiration from the spectators, but there were also blobbed hoops and appalling shots that drew squeals of anguish from the players concerned. No tales of supreme feats reached my ears; indeed at Compton on Bank Holiday Monday there was more spectator interest in a crow that was chasing a fox round the adjacent cricket pitch. Andrew Gregory had also produced a large bag of coloured plastic balls and did an FA Cup style draw for the Men's Championship.

At Southwick on the Sunday, a photograph was taken of all three David Nicholsons at the same venue. So tired was he of the constant confusion that Lancashire's David Nicholson changed his name to Dave Nick for tournament purposes. David G. Nicholson was playing for Hampshire and David G.A.Nicholson from East Dorset had come down as a spectator for the day.

Rarely has the final day of the Counties started with so many teams still in contention for either promotion or relegation. Glamorgan also started the day without a single match win; they were forced to play Sue Mackay for the last two days, much improved since she had to play her first Counties match as a 20 but still outclassed as an 8 in the first division. Her tactics were to lull the opposition into a false sense of security by hitting her ball into the wrong corner with her first shot and playing the wrong ball with her second, thus firing up her partner Ian Burridge (-1) to enable him to peg out Mike Percival of Suffolk, resulting in a 3 ball cat and mouse game for an hour which Glamorgan finally won to lift them temporarily off the bottom of the table. This inspired Ian to attempt a quintuple peel on the opponent against Avon in the last match. After four peels he failed to make 4-back, but when Roger Jenkins stuck in hoop 5 he rushed back on to the lawn and completed it, only to see his own ball hit the peg as well as his opponent's. The crowd waiting for tea and the presentation were thus treated to a game of one ball which at least had plenty of entertainment value, but Avon were always going to win it.

The presentation was made by John Solomon, and the trophy duly dropped by Keith Aiton! A CA Diploma was also presented to Hyacinth Coombs, for many years a stalwart behind the bar at the Counties until recent ill health forced her to give it up. The catering at both venues was superb as usual, and thanks are also due to all the ground staff at Southwick and Compton, as well as to Chris Williams for managing the event.