Fortunately I was still considering my approach when I received a text from Louis to ask for 2 of my players as he only had 8 players available for the Firsts. I then had an e-mail from Paul Harben to tell me that he had damaged his hand whilst washing his car (note to County Treasurer - should we consider a complimentary car wash facility to stop such injuries in future?!!) I then received texts from Gary Greenaway and Steve Dyson both of whom had to withdraw from the squad for personal reasons.

All in all I was left with 10 available players including myself and I hadn't hit any balls for 10 days due to back problems! A couple of sessions at the range convinced me that I would be able to play. To add to my concerns I was convinced that somebody was bound to forget to put their clock forward and so turn up an hour late.

So it was that we turned up at Cosby Golf Club for the friendly match against Leicestershire. My team had two debutants and one player making his second appearance. Everybody turned up by 8.30 as I had asked them to - that's commitment for you (or had they all heard about the splendid sausage and bacon rolls that Cosby provided!)

My morning pairings fell together naturally. The notorious Staite brothers from Harborne have an excellent track record in the Bainbridge and so went out as first pair for us. Unfortunately they came up against a first teamer from Leicestershire who had been 'rested' and therefore chosen for the seconds. Some strong golf from the home pair meant that Charlie and Chris came up second best.

There was better news in pair two as another regular Bainbridge pairing (the Hearsall boys of Stuart Bloxham and Harry Ibbertson) played some strong golf. They were always in control of their game and were comfortable winners.

Pair three saw one of our debutants, Rob Holland play with Paul Walker. Paul obviously felt completely lost without his regular partner of Gaz Greenaway (Atherstone boys have to stick together!) Despite some solid play from the Warwickshire duo, they missed some putts (easy to do on the early season greens which we were playing on). To rub salt into their wounds the Leicestershire pair holed some crucial putts to come out on top.

Another regular Bainbridge pairing of Stoneleigh's Will Smith (making his debut) and Shaun Young took an early lead. Despite a couple of errant shots, resulting in Will and Shaun being pegged back, their otherwise steady play saw them victorious.

That just left the Captain, Stoneleigh's Neville Gardner, paired with Stonebridge's Ryan Greenwood. This game definitely showed rustiness on both sides, with no birdies recorded for either side and pars regularly won holes. An early Warwickshire lead had been pegged back by the 12th, but some quality shots from the visitors and a couple of crucial five footers holed by the Captain (the claw was working!) meant that this game ended with victory for Warwickshire.

The standard lunch of sandwiches and chips were taken with Warwickshire holding a slim 3-2 lead.

The afternoon singles were always going to be a struggle as some of the seconds' 'big guns' were absent. This meant that there was an opportunity for players to bat further up the order than may normally be the case.

In our match at Rugby Golf Club the previous weekend the 17th hole had been very kind to us. Unfortunately Cosby's 18th hole was going to be cruel to Warwickshire. Stuart Bloxham and Ryan Greenwood both reached the 18th tee all square and Rob Holland went one better as he was 1 up on the last tee. Unfortunately all three Warwickshire players lost the last hole and these three results made the difference in the overall game.

Charlie Staite came up against the usual first teamer for a second time and despite being level par after 7 holes found himself four down! Charlie rallied to get the game back to two down but could never regain parity.

Both Harry Ibbertson and Chris Staite were struggling to find the middle of the club whilst their respective opponents were doing so with ease. A further two losses for Warwickshire were the inevitable outcome.

For a second week there was some good news further down the field. First Will Smith capped his debut with a 2 point haul as he won his game. This was closely followed by Neville Gardner's victory over the Leicestershire Captain (a good way to look after a dodgy back is to win out in the field!) and the usual solid display from Paul Walker resulted in a third Warwickshire victory.

Sadly Shaun Young's trolley battery again ran out on him and that, combined with the excessive number of Cumberland sausages that he polished off at breakfast, saw him succumb to his Leicestershire opponent.

Those three losses of the 18th hole meant that Warwickshire went from potentially halving the singles 5 all, to a 6? - 3? loss. This meant that the overall result was an 8? - 6? defeat for Warwickshire.

I am not too despondent about the result as I have blooded some up and coming Warwickshire talent. I am sure that these players will be the backbone of our teams in the years to come. When the league season kicks off in June I am certain that I will have all my big guns back and I look forward to another victorious league campaign.

My thanks go to:

Ernie Stene for supporting the team on the day,

My players for their enthusiasm and support,

Cosby Golf Club for their hospitality,

Our Leicestershire counterparts for playing the match in good spirits.