‘Whilst I have been part of the County set-up for 15 years, I was only in the 1sts after I won the Means Trials twice – the then Captain Peter Chalkley said to me “You’re making it hard not to pick you” – He did and I scored 25 points from 25 matches, always at No 10 in the singles.’

Andy’s first match for the 1sts was against Martin Scothern, playing away at Coxmoor. For those of you not familiar with the names of some of the Notts ‘greats’ and the toughness of some of their courses, that first match was the likes of trying to take on Darren Clarke, for a substantial wager, with a broken wrist – but Andy won!

‘It’s what I am trying to breed into the teams, that one any given day, anyone can win.’

So what of team Warwickshire? Whose idea was it and how did it develop?

‘I think it might have been my idea – it came one Winter evening when we were round at Mark Smith’s House (Mark is Match Secretary for the County). The ethos behind it is my idea – every shot, every point counts.

‘We have started on the concept – the model is complete. A captain is only there for two years. Things need to carry on – we need consistency to keep it going.’

Andy see two consecutive wins for the team as being the sign of a real “class” side and wants to at least see his team qualify for the County Finals (if not go onto win!) but Warwickshire does not have the resources of other Counties and has to be restrained in what it can commit to developing the teams – “We want to be the best”

‘I have never had to struggle (nor Gordon) to get a team out. Half of the job is getting players to play. The other half is giving players something to play for.

‘The County 6 is very hard to qualify from. Different players have different commitments over the years to come but for 2005, we have already been to look over the course. The team will need to shoot low – on a bad day they need to produce a 71.

‘I see the captain’s role as finding the most effective position for each player. We have Matt, Rob and Dave at 1,2, and 3 where people might say we should win regularly but this team gave me points in every position from 1 through to 10, and at No 10 (in Chris Evans) I have won of the very best.

There was a problem early on in the season with Warwickshire losing the foursomes which made a number of results very difficult to obtain – how did Andy and his team find a solution?

‘We simply asked why? Getting the team together, some were shocked. It was a simple need to make sure we didn’t give away holes early – in fact to make sure that we won holes. If a pairing goes behind at this level, its very difficult to get back.

‘For 2005, we are going to be planning during the pre-season, pairing up as many possible foursomes teams as is possible. If we can get courtesy at other clubs it will be fantastic. In mid January the squad sessions start with short game focus. We know that next season we will only be at home twice (out of the five matches) – its going to difficult to win again, but I think we can do it!’

Good luck Andy.