Notts v Derbyshire - 16^th November 2008

The Teams:

Dawes - Willie Crook & Sandy Fulton; Geoff Topol & Andrew Scott; David Burgess & Gordon Fullerton; Clive Kaye & Frank Ball.
Porter - Daphne & Mike Coggles; Keith Rodgers & Lloyd Eagling; Steve Mulligan & Gerry Franklin; Sally Cook & Mary Cook.
Markham - Chris Clark & Barbara Hatfield; Joan Burgess & Terry Lynex; Stan Kujawinski & Richard Kowalski: Phil Dale & Ray Furlonger.

Generally this was a fairly tight match. The first team stormed to a healthy lead early on, helped by Board 13:

All Vul - Dealer North

Throughout the room there were a variety of contracts: 3♦-3 by W, 3NT-2 or –1 by N, 4♥ making or –1 by N, 3♥-1 by N and 2NT making by N.
Willie and Sandy found the optimum bidding sequence here:

North judging that the 3NT bid now must be doubletons in the red suits, elected to play in the making contract of 4♠.

The second team started with some early disasters, but the third team match was very even. By half time the scores were Dawes +41 IMPs, Porter –34 IMPs, Markham +9 IMPs.
The third quarter was fairly balanced, with only the third team gaining any IMPs at all.

E/W Vul - Dealer North

The usual contract on Board 18 was 4♠. When it was South who was declarer West lead the J♣ thus giving the contract. When played by North, declarer usually had lost 3 tricks (A♥ and 2 spades) before having to tackle the clubs.
The percentage play now is to take the double finesse, which loses to the singleton J. Clive Kaye however managed to find the inspired lead of a club to the Q, thus making his contract.

The final quarter resulted in the 1^st and 3^rd teams losing more than their lead, whilst only the 2^nd team managed a reasonable session.

Well played Derbyshire who won all three matches: Dawes 11 - 9, Porter 14 - 6, and Markham 11 - 9.
Thanks to all Notts players who performed creditably against a fairly strong opposition, especially to David & Gordon who had the best Butler IMPs score.

Match Report by Lloyd Eagling