So we met at the club at 9.00AM for a 'mini breakfast'. Unfortunately the chef didn't turn up until 9.15, so we had to have a swift breakfast and eat in playing order when they were ready!

This didn't upset my boys though as they seem to perform better after a hearty breakfast.

I played my customary last match position with Karl Smith in the morning foursomes and news up ahead was looking good when we reached the turn. All matches were either all square or narrowly up, so I was confident of a lead going in to lunch. One by one the Warwickshire pairings converted their leads into victories. Hearsall members James Bromley and Sam Foster (Bromers and Foss) won their game 3&2 ? a result matched by the all Atherstone pairing of Gaz Greenway and Paul 'Bink' Walker. My other member pairing of Stu Bloxham and Harry Ibbertson were run a little closer but were still victorious by 2&1. This was the same result for the Dale Middleton and Rob Holland (Diddles and Dutch) pairing. That left me and Karl on the course. A run of 3 birdies in 4 holes from the 12th saw us wrap up a 4&3 win to give us a very satisfactory 5-0 clean sweep at lunch.

I sat down to my lunch hoping for another strong performance from my guys in the afternoon singles and dared to hope that we'd be able to get our 'goal difference' to a positive position following the 11.5-3.5 hammering we got at Notts. Dan Walker, the Derbyshire Captain, obviously gave his team the 'hair dryer' treatment as they came out fighting in the afternoon.

As I progressed round the course the reports I received seem to indicate the singles was going to be a much closer run affair. As I was on the 11th I saw the first match on the 18th. Foss it a lovely approach to 10 feet, but it was matched by his opponent. Both players held their birdie attempts, so Sam lost 1 down. There was better news in matches two and three as both Gaz and Stu won their games. This was then followed by two losses for Haz and Bink and a win for Diddles. This meant that the singles was finely balanced at 3 each with the final 4 matches to go. News on the course was good as Dutch was dormie 5 up and Karl was up and looking in control. Sadly the same could not be said of Bromers or me (my man getting out of jail on a number occasions - very apt for an ex-copper!)

Although he tried to fritter his lead, Dutch secured his game 2&1, shortly by Karl winning 3 holes in a row to finish his game off. Bromers just ran out of steam to lose on the last and I was stunned by a 50 foot birdie putt from my opponent on the 15th. This was the final straw and my poor drive down the 16th moments later meant that I had also lost.

So the singles were shared 5 matches each, meaning the final match result was a satisfactory win for Warwickshire by 10 - 5.

My thanks go to Coventry Hearsall G C for the use of their golf course and for their catering (I suggest their chef may need a new alarm clock to enable him to cook breakfast on time though!) Also thanks to Matt Nixon for starting us off both morning and afternoon and to our lucky 'mascots' Pete Clarke, Jim Deane and John Jewsbury for their support. Thanks also to David Morgan for taking photos of the guys in action (fortunately he agreed that no pictures of players in shorts would be put on display!) Finally thanks to the Dan Walker and his team, I wish them every success in their remaining fixtures - especially against Notts!

For a full picture gallery (including legs!) CLICK HERE

For the Match Scorecard CLICK HERE