I thought I'd send a missive letting you know how Oxfordshire got on at the Tollemache this weekend.  We spent most of the two days in second place behind a rampant Surrey.  With one match to go, we were two VPs clear of Lancs in third place.  In the Tollemache, you play 12 board matches against 8 other sides - in two halves.  Our last set was against Leics who we were leading 20-0 and Surrey who we were leading 14-6.  Unfortunately, we couldn't quite maintain the form and the final result against these two counties were 19-1 and 11-9 respectively. 

So that gave Lancs 104 vps and us 100vps in 2nd and third place respectively with 2 only to go through to the final.   However, there was a twist to the tale as we had an appeal pending following our match against Lancs which we won giving a 4 VP swing and putting us level on points with Lancs.  So we were through to the final.... and the team went home jubilant.

Unfortunately, as I was checking through the paperwork, it became apparent there was a scoring error in the Surrey match and the EBU had credited us with a 14-6 win rather than the 11-9.  As such a recount pushed us back down to third...... Needless to say, we were a little disappointed!

Anyway - congratulations to the team on a fine performance against decent opposition.  I've been reliably informed it's the closest we've been for quite some time, so well done.  Having ran Leics close in the Midland League last year and this good performance in the Tollemache, things look extremely good for the County especially with some talented pairs coming through to strengthen the side.  Hopefully next time.... we'll have a bit of luck and a following wind.

Full results can be found on the EBU website http://www.ebu.co.uk/results/2007August-December/Tollemache/GroupB.htm.

Dr Chris Cooper