On Sunday 19 April 2009 the
Six Counties Tournament was held at Littleport Leisure Centre.
The competition involved the
six Eastern Counties, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire,
Norfolk and Suffolk.
Each county were represented
by six rinks (fours), each playing one nine end game against
each of the other counties.
The Suffolk team were looking
to retain the trophy they had won last year.
In the first session Suffolk
opponents were Norfolk. It wasn't the best of starts for Suffolk,
losing three of the first four games. They could however consider
themselves unlucky to lose two of those games on the last bowl
by the odd shot, 8-7 and 6-5. The win was a convincing one 9-1
and this was followed up in the next session with two more wins,
in close games, 12-9 and 8-6. Overall six points against Norfolk,
so not a disaster.
Next up for Suffolk were Hertfordshire
and this time it was a far better start, edging wins in the first
two games 8-6 and 9-6. In the following session Suffolk maintained
their good form, winning three of the four games and scoring
plenty of shots in the process, 14-7, 13-4 and a fantastic 24-2.
A ten points return was well deserved for some good performances.
Suffolk's next games were against
their main rivals Cambridgeshire who already held a slight lead
in the competition. In the first three games very few shots were
scored and the outcomes in doubt until the final ends. Unfortunately
Suffolk could only pick up a solitary win 7-4, losing the others
6-5 and 9-4. The next three games followed a similar pattern
and disappointingly for Suffolk an identical outcome, picking
up just one win 10-7, with two defeats 9-6 and 10-7. Only four
points from twelve would probably cost Suffolk dear come the
end of the day.
After losing four games to
Cambridgeshire, Suffolk could not afford to lose another game
if they were to have any chance of winning the competition. Against
their penultimate opponents Essex that would be difficult. In
the first four games the spoils were shared, Suffolk winning
two comfortably 14-4 and 9-3, but losing the others 12-8 and
on the last end 9-8. The next session was no different, points
shared, Suffolk winning 12-5 and losing 10-5. Six points from
Essex was not enough, but a fair reflection of the games played.
The final opposition were Bedfordshire
and as they had done against Hertfordshire, the Suffolk rinks
racked up the shots. With one game conceded by Bedfordshire,
Suffolk won the remaining games 9-3, 15-7, 8-5, 14-3 and an incredible
23-2. So to finish a clean sweep of points against Bedfordshire,
but it was not enough to prevent Cambridgeshire from winning
the competition.
The final points and placings
were:
Cambridgeshire |
43 |
Suffolk |
36 |
Essex |
34 |
Norfolk |
32 |
Hertfordshire |
18 |
Bedfordshire |
7 |
Looking back over the event the Suffolk rinks had performed reasonably
well and there had also been some excellent individual performances.
The difference between finishing second instead of first was
only the outcome of the games against Cambridgeshire.
The Suffolk squad are now looking
forward to the visit of the Durham county team in the first weekend
in August and then the National County Championships at Blackpool
in November.
Neil Jolly (County Captain) |