WARWICKSHIRE V OXFORDSHIRE

Oxfordshire continued its generally good form for the season with wins in both matches, the A team by 14 IMPs (13-7 VPs) and the B team by 55 IMPs (17-3 VPs). It’s probably true to say that the host county were below full strength - particularly in the B team - but all our pairs played well, for the most part.

The results were achieved as follows:

A - Bennett/Noble, Webley/Wilkes -2 IMPs

Hayes/Landy, Pike Wilson +16

B - Bygotts, Dawe/Thomson +17

Nicholas/Roberts, Day/Williams +38

Cross-IMPed over the whole field, performance by pairs was as follows:

Geoff Nicholas and Debbie Roberts (NS) +27.83 IMPs

Trevor Dawe and Hugh Thomson (EW) +25.20

Marian Day and John Williams (EW) +25.13

Lynne Hayes and Sandra Landy (NS) +22.25

Keith Bennett and Steve Noble (NS) +10.50

Mike Webley and Nigel Wilkes (EW) +9.00

David and Jeremy Bygott (NS) +8.50

Tim Pike and Alan Wilson (EW) +7.50

Cross-IMP figures mean nothing really. Here they are particularly unkind to E/W pairs, as will be seen. Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to see all eight pairs ending plus.

It was good to play duplimated boards, which makes reporting easier. A copy of the hands is attached to the hard copy sent to all those who played, together with a transcript of all 8 scorecards.

Strong no-trumpers are destined to score a goal on this board (1NT - 3NT). I opened 1§ , rebid 1ª over 1¨ and a confident 3NT over 2© (fourth suit) holding © Q10. It was very lucky to find South on lead with a safe ª J1098 and only © A98. Those who went down in 3NT either played it the wrong way up or were plain unlucky.

South ª KQJ6 © AJ82 ¨ A § KJ43 North ª 98 © KQ1098 ¨ 64 § A982

6© is cold for NS because ª 6 is the 12th trick (West holds A107). However, there are snags: (1) EW are likely to pre-empt strongly in diamonds (2) unless you delay drawing trumps, which are 4-0, you have to bare § KJ in order to keep you 12th trick in dummy and (3) you might lose track of the spade pips anyway (!) No Oxon EW pairs felt flattered by their result on this deal. Webley/Wilkes conceded 1430 blamelessly and hoped for a flat board in vain (both Oxon A NS pairs played in game) whilst Pike/Wilson lost 500 in 5¨ * to gain only 4 IMPs. In the B team it was worse still: both EW pairs talked their opponents out of slam, only for their team-mates to bid it and go down by discarding their 12th trick.

West ª KQ5 © A954 ¨ 10 § J10987 East ª J987 © KJ63 ¨ A764 § K

Only two pairs got to game on this collection, one on each side. Marian and I bid

P - 1¨ - 1© - 2© - 3§ - 4© . Marian got ª A lead and a switch to a low club to K and A. She won the spade return, laid down © K and A and, when the Q fell, took the ruffing club finesse for the overtrick. Game offers very good odds so should be bid when vulnerable. Having said that, Marian did well to try with 3§ .

South ª KQ2 © Q103 ¨ AQ2 § AJ85 North ª 104 © A65 ¨ J106543 § 97

Wouldn’t you want to be in game here, too, when vulnerable? East probably opens 1ª , a weak 2ª or a multi, according to choice, so you need the right methods to show the power of your hand as South. Only two pairs got to game, again one on each side, and found no major problem in the play. Well done to Geoff Nicholas and Debbie Roberts, who was making her County debut.

West ª K10984 © 10 ¨ K7 § KQJ98 East ª A3 © K863 ¨ A652 § 1052

Three pairs missed the thin vul game on this one. Fortunately, two of them were from Warwickshire. As the only Oxon pair to miss out, I should perhaps put up or shut up. 3NT only makes because © A is with North and the hearts are 4-4. However, the chances of this increase when the bidding starts 1ª - (X) - XX. Marian rebid 2§ after a pass by South, followed by 3§ over my 2NT, and I persuaded myself that her hand was worse than it actually was. However, the chance we more obviously missed after the redouble was that of defending: the oppo lose a quick 500 in their best fit, which is hearts, and may prefer 1NT*, which is even worse for them.

West ª A1065 © A97 ¨ QJ5 § 983 East ª KQ98 © K105 ¨ K103 § AK6

Two pairs, one on each side, got to a horrible 6ª on this. I nearly did, on the sequence

1ª - 2NT (ª raise) - 3§ - 3© - 4§ - 4ª - 4NT - 5© - 5ª - P. We probably both did too much, Marian with 3© and me with 4NT. It was very fortunate that we held the 10 and 9 of hearts between us, which meant that I could strip the hand and exit with three rounds of clubs to force a ruff-discard or an opening-up of the heart suit. Sandra Landy had a nightmare on this board when EW started 1§ (strong) - 1NT - 2§ (ask): with a spade mixed in with her clubs (which were actually only QJ105), she made a very frisky lead-directing double. After this, with nowhere to go, she and Lynne had to defend 2§ ** for -1160 (another tough score for the EW pairs to cross-IMP with!).

West ª KQJ1093 © K7 ¨ 7 § Q1072 East ª 4 © QJ953 ¨ AKJ852 § 4

This was a hand where pessimism got a more than fair reward. Marian opened 1ª , North doubled and I redoubled (not textbook, perhaps, but I was certainly happy to double two of their suits!) Marian retreated to 2ª , North tried 3§ (a bit frisky) and I bid 3¨ (wouldn’t you?). However, I passed 3ª and wasn’t too displeased when South doubled this for penalties - he did hold A87652 of trumps! When North cashed § A and was unable to switch to a trump 9 tricks proved easy, for +530. The odd thing was that 4ª was played twice - one down each time - but was never doubled.

West ª KQ72 © AQ6 ¨ AK1086 § 9 East ª A104 © 953 ¨ QJ54 § 1032

6¨ makes on the heart finesse but only two pairs played the proper spot of 5¨ , one on each side. Bennett/Noble had to defend 4ª , which may be in trouble on the (unlikely ) club leads - fun to work this one out, if you’ve time - but made in practice. Two pairs, both Oxon, got away with 3NT while two went down, one from either side. The problem is inverted minors, if you’re playing them. At my table Marian opened 1¨ and I had to respond 1NT, being unsuitable for either a forcing 2¨ or a pre-emptive 3¨ . Knowing I couldn’t have a spade suit, Marian rebid 3NT. How South preferred a spade from 9865 to a club from K8765 I’ll never know.

West ª J42 © AQ10862 ¨ A9 § A3 East ª None © 9753 ¨ Q82 § KQ10762

I opened 3§ as East so we never found our making 4© . This didn’t matter, of course, because we were never going to play there and Marian’s 5§ was enough to push the oppo to 5ª . South held ª AQ109865 © None ¨ K10763 § 8 and was only once allowed to play at the four level (Debbie was the lucky declarer). David Bygott was the only declarer to make 5ª , which I guess means that the defence switched to ¨ A rather than © A after § A.

South ª QJ102 © AJ65 ¨ 105 § Q109 North ª K543 © K983 ¨ AKQ83 § None

Our opponents had a classic self-deluding auction: 1¨ - 1© - 1ª - 3ª - 4§ - (X) - P - 5NT - 6© - P. This went 3 down with hearts 4-1. The Bygotts got to 5© , which proved one too high but Pike/Wilson, who had an unspectacular but satisfactory debut for the county, managed to take 4© one off.

11/12/2001