With a slightly weakened team and almost captain-less, the result of the match was about as undecided as the weather throughout the day. With the County 2nds Captain Neville Gardner away on holiday, stand in Nick Jenkins organised the troops for what could be his finest county victory (being his only county victory!)

The foursomes started with Richard Oddy and Sam Foster going down fighting to a 2 & 1 loss against Worcestershire (also stand in) Captain Dave Marshall and Kris Austin. The news on the course was as bleak as the forecast for the day as Atherstone pairing Gary Greenway and Paul Walker lost 3 & 1.

2-0 down through two matches there was a glimmer of hope in the third match where a three putted last green would see Rob 'pass the Dutchy' Holland and Chris Freeman finish all square with the Worcestershire duo.

The first bit of good news for the stand in captain appeared in game four when debutant Mike Pell and the more experienced Will Bailey eased out their opponents for a 1up victory.

Unfortunately this was the last bit of good news from the morning where Coventry duo of the 'Stand-in Skipper' and Dale Middleton were beaten 4 & 3, due to some very suspect shot decisions.

So even with a 3 1/2 - 1 1/2 score line to The Pears team lunch and with the Bears looking a little fragile, the 'Stand-in Skipper' attempted to make them feel more fragile and weary with the classic 'lose and you are dropped line'!

Metamorphasised 'Captain Fantastico' then changed the order around to what was suggested by Neville.

Six and a half points were needed for victory and the singles and we were led out by Sam Foster who reeked revenge on Dave Marshall for the morning loss and with Rob Holland recording a half for the second time in the day the scores were sitting at 4-3.

Will Bailey at No 3 recorded an all important win to draw the teams level at 4-4, only for Gary Greenway to struggle to a 3 & 1 loss.

Richard Oddy calls himself the 'foursomes poison challis' (such is his record)), but he made up for that loss with a solid 6 & 5 win to put the away team on level pegging with five games left out on the course.

Next up was the Atherstone stalwart Paul 'Binky' Walker. Paul relishes a challenge and recorded a 4 & 3 win to push the Bears in front for the first time in the match, much to the 'captains' delight.

Dale Middleton bored his opponent with both his golf and his social skills to record another big 6 & 5, with Dale overheard saying he was privileged to play for such a great captain ....

Dale's win gave Warwickshire 7 points to Worcestershires' 5 points leaving us one point from victory. Unfortunately Mike Pell couldn't recover from a mediocre start to lose 3 &2. 7-6 with two games out on the course.

Chris Freeman had a reprise of his junior county team roll as anchorman, and after badgering me to mention him pitching it onto the first green (a par 4 320 yards), I thought I would also mention a mere(kat) seven holes later Chris struggled to hit a par three green at 150 yards the green around twice the size of the first!

Fortunately this momentary lapse in concentration was negated by an all round solid display especially with the flat stick to record a 4 & 3 win and a resounding win for the Bears!

But there was one match still out on the course...

Self nicknamed 'Captain Fantastico' started solidly but a few loose drives and some rather sound putting from my opponent quickly saw me 4 down with 5 to play. I threw a barrage of solid holes back before a somewhat fortunate Pear par on the 17th (whilst I over clubbed with a 230 yard 8 iron) saw me one down with one to play only. I was then told that the match had been won and whilst a half down the last was probably deserved I missed what can only be described as a stinky 10 foot putt on the last leaving the final score 8-7.

Many thanks to President Elect John Jewsbury for supporting the team, The Worcestershire golf club for hospitality and as always the team

Captain Fantastico signing off!