With the Warwickshire County Captain, Dottie Beanland out in her buggy during the day watching matches and assessing the play of the qualifiers - she has to announce the Squad for County Week on Friday - hopefully we were in for a good day's play.

Match 1 saw Melissa NICHOL against Julia BURTON, both from Moor Hall GC. A very tight match played this morning - even having to go down the 19th hole - but which Melissa eventually won, 1 up.

Match 2 had Rachel RUSTED (Nuneaton GC), last year's finalist drawn against Mandy NEWEY. This match finished quite early with a 7 and 6 win by Rachel and had her waiting for some time to learn of her afternoon opponent.

Match 3 was billed as the battle of the 'big hitters'. All square on the 12th Tee, Hannah CRUMP (Copt Heath GC) and Liz GALLAND (Nuneaton GC) battled on until Liz eventually won the match on the 18th green.

Match 4 saw another Moor Hall pairing, this time Claire HOWELLS against Bobbi WAUGH. A close match with honours changing regularly, Claire won 3 and 2.

Match 5 had Lisa BARTON (Coventry GC) against Carol O'HARE (Shirley GC). On paper, some would say that this looked a likely win for Lisa but Carol played extremely well over the first 9 holes, with Lisa being just 2 up. On the back 9 however, Lisa seemed to go up a gear, winning 5 and 4.

Match 6 saw youngster Victoria MALLETT (Sutton Coldfield Ladies GC), aged only 13 playing against Liz MURDOCH (Leamington & County GC). Victoria played exceptionally well to win 8 and 6, the best win of the day.

Match 7 Sue JONES (Rugby GC) played Yen PHAM (Shirley GC). What a tight match this was all through with Sue 2 up on 12th Tee. However Yen was not going to give in and pulled the 2 back on the next 2 holes with the following holes being won, lost or halved until they were all square on the 18th Tee. Yen finally won with a par 5 on the 18th.

Match 8 saw 15 year ol Katrina GANI (Shirley GC) pitched against Skye FURNACE (Stratford on Avon GC). Again a close match until Katrina started to get away from Skye, eventually winning 5 and 4.

What a morning's play!! We could now look forward to the afternoon matches, even though the sky darkened somewhat.

Melissa now played Rachel in Match 1 and after the 11th hole, Rachel was 2 up after close opening holes. Melissa kept sinking long putts to keep the match alive but Rachel came though in the end which she put down to her long accurate driving - Won 2 and 1

Claire HOWELLS went 3 up with a birdie on the 8th green against Liz GALLAND, eventually winning 4 and 3. Claire said that she was quite concerned on the 14th having missed a couple of shortish putts by then, but she need not have worried as she sank quite a long one to win the match on the 15th to win.

Match 3 saw Lisa BARTON playing against young Victoria MALLETT and was 1 up after 8 holes. However after the 3 hole loop of 9, 10 and 11th she was a clear 3 up, which she thought was the turning point of the match. WON 4 and 3

In the final Match two Shirley girls were pitched against each other - Katrina and Yen - with Katrina coming out the victor. A close match in the early stages, Katrina won on the 15th, a case of youth conquering all in this instance.

The Semi Final commencing at 9.00 a.m. on Friday 6th May has the following line up:

Rachel RUSTED v Claire HOWELLS and Lisa BARTON v Katrina GANI

We wish them well and look forward to final match of the Championships commencing at 1.30 p.m. on Friday and followed by the Prize Presentation at approximately 4 p.m.