1st Team Report
County Captain Report
Warwickshire away at Harborne GC result 7 1/2 -7 1/2.
Harborne Golf Club was a fantastic match play course, in great condition and superb greens . Warwickshire away is arguably the hardest match of the season, the Nottinghamshire boys needed to prove to themselves that they could take their game away from home. I felt that was the biggest challenge of the day. The second biggest challenge was, if we lost in the morning foursomes , could we turn it around in the afternoon. From what I have seen this season I had no doubt that we could do both.
In the foursomes we lost 3-2, the first two matches we lost then the next two they were both one up playing the last , but unfortunately we couldn’t close the matches out, halving both, this was disappointing but we gained great confidence as we won the last of the foursome matches, this group of boys are so determined, we all felt as a team we could turn this around. Speaking to the Warwickshire officials during the morning session, they said that this team that they were putting out was the strongest side that they had put out in many years.
Afternoon singles, so in the afternoon I needed a different game plan, so I changed the order around to how I thought we could be most effective as a team. This made for some interesting match ups and some interesting results. Killian was first out but despite his struggles, he fought hard and, in the end, came up short losing 3 and 2. Jordon Smith went out number 2, he gave a solid performance seemingly always in control of the match, and crossing the line on the last hole to win 1 up. Dean Reddington was out 3rd putting in a battling performance against arguably their best player, painfully losing on the last after going down the 18 th all square. Mike White out at number 4, crushed his opponent 5 and 3 with a superb display from start to finish. Ash Norwood out at number 5, like Dean lost on the 18th after a great battle with himself and his opponent. Fred Tindale out at number 6, was as solid as Jacob winning 3 and 1 again always in control of his match, great to see. Cole Betteridge out at number 8, for some reason struggled with his game in the afternoon, we have all been there but regardless of his result, gave everything for the team. Matt Hogg out at number 9, just does what Matt does, so solid, focussed, always wanting to contribute to the team and his 3 and 2 win was setting up what could have been a Notts win. Jordon Boulton was last man out, just like Matt was focussed and in turn played some lovely golf, he won 3 and 2. Mark Porter out number 7 , aka bingo wings, so the overall match came down to this result, his match had been a close affair, but Mark was one up going up the 17 th, they both hit the green in two but both of them had lengthy putts for birdie, Mark went first, hit a superb putt which resulted in the softest of lip outs, that would have given us an outright win. His opponent hit a weak first putt leaving himself 14 ft, this putt was downhill and not easy, but credit to his opponent he holed this out straight in the centre of the hole. So now to the 18 th hole, Mark was still 1 up, a tough par 3 playing 240 yards, this hole had not been kind to us all day, unfortunately Mark bogied the hole after his opponent made a fantastic up and down. Mark was extremely unlucky to lose the hole as he didn’t do much wrong.
So Warwickshire again, as in previous years scraped a half by the skin of their teeth. We are a massively different team now; we have no fear and we are a quietly confident group who are very respectful to everyone. As a team/group we have a massive desire to win this league.
Next up Is Hereford and Shropshire at Hollinwell, if possible, please come down and support this team, it would be much appreciated by everybody.
Regards Malcolm Brown,
County Captain