Notts v Lincolnshire - 28^th June 2009

Our second county match of 2009/10 was at home to Lincolnshire on a hot Sunday in the middle of the Wimbledon fortnight. Some of our players had been seen quaffing Pimms on Court One and generally neglecting their training regimes. At least our captain returned on Saturday night.

The Teams:

Dawes - John & Irene Auld; Keith Rodgers & Lloyd Eagling; David Burgess & Frank Ball; Geoff Topol & Mark Goddard.
Porter - Ellen Overton & Martin Mellor; Rob Atkinson & Steve Mulligan; Mike & Daphne Coggles; Barbara Hatfield & Chris Clarke.
Markham - Sylvia Goodlud & Nick Clark; Phil Dale & Ray Furlonger; Stan Kujawinski & Richard Kowalski; Peter & Margaret Savage.

Notts won the Dawes match by 14-6 VPs but lost the others narrowly 8-12. I have to report that a decent result could have been a good one but for a negative contribution from the Aulds. Misjudging 2 suiters in competition was the theme of the day.

Board 13 was exhibit one:

All Vul - Dealer North

Result: -100 - Given that 5♦ doubled was going for 500, I acknowledge that bidding 5♥ was a terrible decision. Mark Goddard thought double was obvious and it certainly was for him since he started with an unusual 2NT which meant he had described his hand.

This deal is not much of an advert for Larry Cohen’s Law of Total Tricks. According to Larry, with two nine card fits and the opponents having twelve diamonds we should all still be bidding. But the Law came good on board 32:

E/W Vul - Dealer West

Result: +100 - Another double fit and this time it pays N/S to compete to the six level if necessary. Unfortunately, I remembered the adage ‘The 5 level belongs to the opponents’ (as it did on Board 13) - wrong again. With such good spades and poor hearts opposite a shortage, I should risk 5♠ at the vulnerability.
The scientific approach is for West to bid 4♦ to help East to judge - but sometimes that helps the opponents.

And so as with the tennis it was the unforced errors that did the damage. However, we did hit an outright winner on Board 8:

No Vul - Dealer West

Given Wests failure to bid No Trumps over the fourth suit it was clear to attack clubs. Since I had only one chance I led ♣J with joyous results. Having overbid with 3♣ East could have seen this coming and bid 3NT which is unbeatable.

It was nice to see Geoff Topol & Mark Goddard back in action and they were our most effective pair. The Dawes team has now won three successive matches which probably has not happened previously this century (possibly not in the last century either). Well done Notts.

Match Report by John Auld