Unfortunately the overnight rain had meant that the greens staff had been unable to give the greens a good trim and so they were quite fluffy. At least the threatened heavy rain and thunder storms didn't materialise and the morning foursomes were played in sunny and warm weather.

When selecting his squad for the firsts, Louis had a surplus of available players. This meant that I snapped up Richard Oddy, Ian Stranks and Karl Smith. To these three players I added second team regulars Antony Gascoigne, Steve Creed, Sam Foster, James Bromley, Gary Greenway and Chris Freeman. The 12 was made up with the 'new boys' of Ryan Greenwood, Chris Staite and Rob Holland.

I decided to put Roddy and Stranksy together as my opening pair to overpower the best that Staffs could offer. I then put out the Bainbridge winning pair of Bromers and Foss, followed by Chris S and Ryan, Gas and Creedy, Freemo and Dutch with Karlos and Gaz bringing up the rear. I felt I had strength all the way through that line-up and I looked forward to a comfortable lead at lunchtime.

I was feeling less confident when the pairings got to the middle of their rounds. We were comfortably ahead in two matches, all square in one and down in the other three. Some words of encouragement were required from the Captain and this seemed to do the trick.

Rich and Ian managed to sneak ahead when their opponents managed to three whack from nowhere on the 13th, only for the Warwickshire duo to then miss from inside 4 feet on 15, 16 and 17 (Louis - you need to get some putting coaching sorted for the firsts!) to lose the match 2&1.

Next up Sam and James were struggling, but just keeping in the match. They managed to claw their way back to all square standing on the 18th tee. A great up and down meant that they won the 18th to go ahead for the only time in the match.

Chris and Ryan were looking down the barrel of defeat as they were dormie 2 down, but two solid pars meant they finished all square.

The Gas/Creedy and Karl/Gaz pairings both won at a canter in the field and were enjoying a very early lunch. That just left Freemo and Dutch. These two lads look to have formed a formidable partnership and some strong play meant that they forged ahead and won their game 2&1. So, the morning result was 4 1/2 - 1 1/2 to Warwickshire.

At lunch I had the lead I had hoped for, but not quite in the manner that I expected! At least the guys had shown great spirit in the morning and surely they'd carry on this form into the afternoon singles.

Some slight juggling of my batting order was required so that:

a)the old bones of Gas and Creedy didn't seize up

b)I spread my singles strength around a bit

c)Most importantly, Bromers could have a nap!

Again I looked at my order and I was sure that I'd got it right. After all, Staffs must be feeling deflated after the morning turnaround in the foursomes, wouldn't they? Well, the answer was a resounding 'No'!

I watched all the guys go off from the first and then I dashed over to the 9th green to see each player come through.

In the top half honours were even, but we were three down in two of those matches and only one up in two. The news from the bottom half was even worse as we were down in five and all square in one. Surely this wasn't happening!

More stirring words from the Captain were given out and all players left the 10th tee with 'get me a point' ringing in their ears!

Roddy is capable of some terrific scoring, but a combination of having a lesson the day before and the slow greens didn't agree with him on the day. He ended up on the wrong side in the afternoon.

Better news started to filter through as first Gas turned hi game around from 1 down at the turn to win 2 up. Then both Stranksy and Creedy built on their halfway leads to and both won 3&2. Foss then managed to come back to get out of jail (3 down at the turn) and won the last (brilliant 2 putt from long distance) to gain a half. Warwickshire now had 8 points and only needed 1 1/2 more for victory.

Next up Ryan found himself against the only player on either side who seemed to have mastered the greens and despite some good play from the Warwickshire player he lost 2&1. Chris Staite got to the 18th 1 down. A hooked ball out of bounds from his opponent appeared to give the advantage to Chris.

A cautious tee shot found the trees on the right and he could only progress the ball 70 yards down the fairway. The ball just crossed the path and ended in an awful lie meant Chris was unable to find the green and his ball ran back down the slope into the right trap. A good bunker shot didn't get quite close enough and the putt just missed. The hole was halved and so the match was lost 1 down.

Where were we going to get those needed 1 1/2 points from?

Cometh the hour, cometh the men. News from the course was that Gaz was 3 up, Rob was 1 up (he seemed to always be 1 up whenever I asked!) and Bromers was fighting back. The only blot was Karlos who was in a no win situation playing against an18 handicapper member who had stood in at the last minute (OK the guy was off 6, but it's good to take the mickey!)

Bromers was all square on the 18th tee and a text book par won him the hole and a well earned pat on the back from the Captain. Gaz showed his class to close out his match 2&1 and Rob came to the 18th 1 up (there's a surprise!) A not quite perfect 2 iron off the tee left him 130 yards uphill to the flag from a downhill lie. A superbly struck 9 iron, picked off the top of the turf, found the centre of the green and 2 putts meant the game was won ? yep, you guessed it 1 up!

Karlos was struggling with his form and this seemed to inspire his opponent the 18 handicapper. Despite his best efforts Karl lost 1 down (he tried to convince me that as he was 2 down at the turn he had won the back 9!) The Warwickshire boys had again shown their true grit (and Bromers had benefited from his extra nap!) The singles had been won 6 1/2 - 5 1/2 to give Warwickshire an overall 11 - 7 win start to the season.

My thanks to all 12 of my players for the tremendous camaraderie, spirit and no little class shown. Also to our mascot John Duncombe for coming to support us on the day and to Uttoxeter GC for allowing us to use their facilities for the day (and also putting on a horse show at the adjacent race course!) Finally thanks to the Staffordshire team who competed in a truly sporting way.

Neville Gardner

Captain Warwickshire 2nd Team

For the full results CLICK

HERE