'We were awful,' said County Captain Gareth Jenkins.

'It was just dreadful, ' added his foursomes partner Ian Stranks.

Warwickshire actually won Ben Stafford's match (playing with Dale Marson) on the last green, as did Jenkins & Stranks, the latter pair actually finishing with four pars and a birdie to do so.

Better quality play came from our other three pairs and Warwickshire actually lunched 5-0 ahead. That was when the good news stopped.

Shropshire and Herefordshire came out after lunch all drivers blazing whilst our team might have been entranced by the beauty of the surroundings. The good news was only in the first five matches as Ben Stafford had four birdies and carried his good play through to win 2&1.

Sam Foster was taking on top junior Richard Prophet and led for all bar the last two holes. That point seemed very important until firstly Chris Doughill continued his winning ways with again four birdies and a win 'in the country' by 6&4.

When you shoot eight birdies, you normally expect to win by a big margin. Sam Dodds was in sparkling form.

He birdied the 2nd, the 3rd and the 6th. He then added another at the 10th before three in a row from the 12th. To finish the match off, he then made two at the 16th - and only won 3&2!

'I'm really pleased with that - I would have taken it at breakfast,' said Gareth afterwards, the margin eventually 9-6 after a stoic 2up win by Antony Gascoigne.

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