As is becoming the norm, I had to make some last minute phone calls and texts to my reserves to get a full squad of 12 players out (at one point there was a danger that I might have to resort to picking myself for the match!) Louis had told me that I could have Richard Oddy and Karl Smith from his squad.

Richard then informed me that he was best man at his friend's wedding and was therefore unavailable (how could anybody arrange a wedding to clash with a county match?!) and in stepped Harry Ibbertson.

Then Louis contacted me whilst I was on holiday in the week running up to the match as 2 of his players had pulled out at short notice and so he called up Karl and Antony Gascoigne.

Both Paul 'Bink' Walker and Shaun Young were willing to come in to the team (I'm sure the prospect of a stopover with a curry was only a small incentive!)

Fortunately Shaun had played with Creedy before and Bink is a regular partner with Gaz. So I had my 12 players, my planned foursomes pairings weren't too disrupted and I could walk the course.

As those of you who have played the course will know, Chevin is a fantastic golf course ? but one you need to have played prior to going into a match. I therefore encouraged my players to participate in the practice round on the day before the match. 11 of us played the course on the Saturday and Elliot Forbes went for a practice round on his own the day before (he was playing in the Northants County Cup on the Saturday ? a reasonable excuse!)

The club's club championship was held on the Saturday and so the golf course was in excellent condition.

Derbyshire had arranged for Derby Council to dig up most of the roads on our route in an attempt to fluster our players. Little did they know how unflappable my guys are.

First pairing out were the reliable Sam Foster and James Bromley. I should have known things weren't going to be the usual 'breeze' to victory as they had both been spotted on the practice ground on the Saturday (Bromers claiming that he could only hit a snap hook with his driver!)

A tight battle saw Bromers and Fos going in to the closing holes 1 down, but they managed to get back to all square standing on the 18th tee (a reachable par 5). The Derbyshire pair got to the green in 2 - a slightly fortuitous kick of the back of the bunker resulting in the ball running to 6 feet away.

Bromers' approach had missed the green left leaving Fos a delicate chip over the traps to a fairly tight pin. A well played pitch from Fos still meant that it was Warwickshire to putt first. Cometh the moment cometh the man (well Bromers at least) as he confidently holed the putt. The Derbyshire ball slipped past the hole and an unlikely half was the result.

Second up was a scratch pairing of Ryan Greenwood and Elliot Forbes. Elliot's game has been going from strength to strength this season and he gelled well with Ryan. An early 2 up lead was gained and the Warwickshire pair never looked in trouble as they ran out 3&2 winners. Ryan is now going to book a series of putting lessons from Elliot as the Kenilworth man once again showed his mastery of the greens!

The third match saw Steve Creed and Shaun Young play some very solid golf. Level par after 16 holes is normally more than good enough to secure a point in foursomes, but on this occasion that would not be the case. All the breaks went the home team's way (balls bouncing favourably off walls and trees) and when Shaun?s tee shot on the 15th ended in exactly the same spot where Creedy had an air shot in the practice round, the writing was on the wall.

There was better news from the Stu Bloxham/Harry Ibbertson and Gaz Greenway/Paul Walker pairings going out 4th and 6 respectively. Both pairings took early leads which were extended through the turn and culminated in 6&5 victories for Warwickshire (Paul being asked to hole from no more than 14 inches to win his match!)

The last foursomes match to finish was the 5th game which saw Chris Freeman and Rob Holland paired together again.

Similar to the opening game this was always a tight affair with no more than one hole in it. The match was all square coming to the 18th tee. Freemo launched an incredible drive over the corned of the dog-leg to only leave Dutch 150 yards in! A beautifully struck 9 iron pitched and stopped on the spot, whereas Warwickshire could have done with a good bounce forward. Freemo's approach putt came up a little shy, but Dutch managed to knock in the birdie putt for the half.

So lunch was taken with a nice 4-2 lead in the bank. To further boost Warwickshire confidence the news filtered through that the firsts had also taken a morning lead, good news all round.

I shuffled my pack a little for the afternoon singles so that:

1. Both Bromers and Haz could have a luchtime nap (note to Hearsall ? please do something about the stamina of some of your players!)

2. Fos didn't have the shock of going out number 1 again

3. Creedy could have an early chance of atoning for his morning defeat.

Ryan was thrown in at the deep end and he had a terrific match. Birdies were exchanged and this tight game was always destined to go all the way. Standing on the 18th at 1 down the Warwickshire man knew he had to make a birdie. This was achieved, but unfortunately it was equalled by the home player and so the opening game was lost 1 down.

Foss also had a very tight and high quality game. All square standing on the 14th tee Sam birdied 3 of the closing 5 holes to edge out his opponent 1 up. A text of delight was sent from Fos to the Captain from the 18th green!

Creedy (borrowing the Captain's trolley as his was on its last legs ? or rather wheels!) took control of his game. A birdie 2 on the 14th meant he went in to the closing holes 2 up and this was quickly converted to a 3&2 victory.

Creedy came back to support the closing games which led to great hilarity when he 'parked' the trolley, only to see it start off down one of the many Chevin hills and career in to a group of trees. I am only sad to say that I did not see the comedy moment of watching Creedy chasing after it!

Elliot continues to impress as he maintained his perfect record. I watched all the groups tee off the first both morning and afternoon and both Elliot's opening tee shots were as impressive as any struck. His afternoon opponent had to 'phone home' about the best putting display he had ever seen as our man ran out a 5&4 victor. I sense a second team putting session being lined up with Elliot!!!

Further good news came in match 5 as Stu was continuing his good run of recent play (he won Hearsall's club championship a couple of weeks prior to this match). Stu even displayed his generous nature by three whacking the 14th to let his opponent win the hole and therefore go back to 3 up. This type of charity would not be repeated however and Stu ran out a 4&2 victor. Another happy message was sent to the Captain?s phone! This meant that we had 9 points in the bag so who was going to come up with the match winning point?

We didn't have to wait long as Shaun Young appeared over the horizon pushing his trolley. As he was 3 up after 5 holes I quickly worked out that even had he lost all of the next 8 holes he would still be playing and so he must have won his game. This was confirmed by the Stoneleigh man as he told me that he was a 'stupid amount under par' and had won 7&6.

With the match secured the only question was how much further we could extend our 'goal difference'.

Harry obviously benefited from his nap as he managed to go all 18 holes in his match against the Derbyshire Captain. Unfortunately a closing birdie from the Derby man (a thinned chip across the green followed by a holed putt the length of a cricket pitch) meant a 1 down loss.

Bromers was unusually out of sorts - perhaps I'll put him out 12 in the next game so he can have a longer nap! A very generous 5 minutes looking for the Derby ball on the 8th until it was eventually found only added to his woes and Bromers headed for an early bath.

The ever reliable Dutch (aka Warwickshire's Henrik Stenson due to his inability with a driver, but his incredible ability to hit his 3 wood further than most other player's driver) and Gaz ('that' shirt would definitely be too tight now!) were both in command of their games going into the closing holes. Although Dutch decided to allow a dormie 3 lead dwindle to 1 up on the 18th he secured a 2 up win. No such problems for the ruthless Gaz as he closed his game out 4&3 (or was it a case of not fancying playing any more holes).

Sadly these would be the last Warwickshire points as Freemo 'lost his swing' on the back 9 and Bink was up against one of the stronger Derby players. Both the Warwickshire players were defeated, but I still had the match victory I demanded from the guys. Using the incentive of having the last match off to watch the Ryder Cup seems to have worked!

My thanks go to Chevin G C for the use of their golf course and in particular for allowing us to have a practice round on the same day as their club championship.

Also thanks to Pete Clarke for booking us a fantastic hotel but with no car parking facilities! Also to Derby council for the assault course they?d prepared for us to get to the golf course, then to the hotel and then back again ? perhaps some diversion signs would be helpful in future! As always, thanks to 'team mascot' John Duncombe for his support on the day, he was witness to some excellent golf from both sides.

Finally thanks to the Derbyshire Captain Neil Ibbotson and his team for playing the match in a terrific spirit. I wish them every success in their remaining fixtures.