Cryer was out in 34, well under par with birdies at 5, 7 and 9. He was four up through Hargreaves making a couple of mistakes at the 3rd and 4th – and then things changed.

‘It was the second shot to the 11th’, said Cryer, ‘after that I really struggled. I sometimes get too impatient, and play it as pure matchplay. I just wanted to get to the clubhouse.’

By the time the match reached the 17th tee, Cryer was only two up. From playing very positively, Cryer had dropped a couple of shot and surrendered one hole of his lead to a Hargreaves birdie at the very difficult 15th.

The match probably hinged on two errant drives by Hargreaves on the 17th and 18th. The tee shot on 17 was playable; the one on 18 was not as it flew out of bounds – after 18 Cryer was 4 up.

Starting out after lunch, Matt responded to dropping a shot and losing a hole with a birdie. Hargreaves then had another two but on the 6th in the afternoon, he played a first poor shot from the fringe. That bogey put him back to –4 and after a pulled tee shot at the 7th (which cleared the brook though), Graham played a marvellous recovery, an iron punched hard under a tree which then climbed over the much larger sized oak just short of the green. His ball came to rest on the fringe, as was Cryer’s. Three putts though to a two-putt Cryer birdie and it was 5 up to the defending champion.

Three putts at the par three 8th and it was all but over for the 44 year old who has been part of top flight golf in Warwickshire since as a Junior he was a British Boys finalist.

There was one last great shot though, a perfect chip to the 11th to win that. Cryer missed from 4ft to match that shot and replied with a 25 foot birdie putt at the 12th of the afternoon round to win the Championship by 7&6.

‘Matt is a class act’, said Graham after the presentations, ‘If there are 10 better players in England than Matt, I don’t know.’

‘He wasn’t great today and I think that he himself would say that. It was just a bit untidy around the greens for me and 1 and 4 this afternoon were crucial.’

‘I don’t think I have ever played Matt before but from the tee, I don’t think I have ever seen better.’

The winner, and retaining his title, Cryer was equally frank about his golf and how hard he was been working to make sure that he keeps on improving.

‘There were one or two occasions when a lack of knowledge of the course cost me – the wrong clubs to a few greens. Just before the (British) Amateur, we were working on my alignment. My feet and my shoulders were just not in line. Its worked though and given me more room to swing the club.’

Cryer will be hard to beat at the Warwickshire Open and in the national events through the rest of the season. He will, almost certainly, be back to defend both his strokeplay and matchplay titles next year and he is the man to beat.

A full picture gallery is available in County Men | Championships | Matchplay | Pictures

For a full scorecard from the final and reflections on the rest of the Championships, please go to County Mens | Championships | Matchplay | Scores

Many thanks go to Ladbrook for hosting both the Amateur and the Matchplay, for their course preparation and their hospitality.