Post by arf on May 17, 2009 12:39:23 GMT
Oops I did it again!
For Mx though it's Nev rather than Brittney!
After attaining the point that got the u175 team over the winning line against Leicestershire he again obtains the precious point that this time sees the Open team achieve an unassailable 8.5-2.5 lead. Mx go on to finally defeat Suffolk 11.5-4.5.
From the outset victory was anticipated as the perennial Minor participants found themselves outgunned (minimum grading difference 20+points from board3 to board16). However as usual when there is an overwhleming favourite the business still needs to be done over the board and it duly was. Well done guys.
Full match details: www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/matchbcf.htm
Usually highlights of the match would be given but with Mx establishing a runaway lead at an early stage (6-2 after 8) the key things to note are the winning debut of Tomer and of course man of the day Nev. Here are some games of interest:
tinyurl.com/pedersen-watkins
tinyurl.com/moskovic-spence
tinyurl.com/hunt-a-bates-r
tinyurl.com/chan-thomas
tinyurl.com/lyell-gregory
Remember the ECF are awarding a best game prize of £250 so if you think it's worth considering let me know and I'll submit it.
The top half of the draw was completed when the result of Lancashire v Surrey came in: Lancashire record a third successive victory over our SCCU neighbours - 9-7. Although not having full details of the respective line-ups it is suspected that the achilles heel of Surrey - poor travellers - was their undoing. Lancashire therefore will be our opponents in the semi-final in a yet to be determined venue in the Midlands expected to be played on 13th June 2009.
Although our commiserations goes out to Surrey, a match against Lancashire gives us an opportunity to avenge the defeat in the 2008 Open final. In so doing it will prevent Lancashire from recording a second hat-trick. This was achieved by Lancashire's current captain when he captained them 40years ago! Yes Mike Conroy records Lancashire's first hat-trick in 1967, 1968 and 1969. His victories over Surrey, 2007 and Mx 2008 means he is two-thirds of the way to repeating it. Let's see if his heart can be broken in 2009!
With the top half of the draw complete attention is given to the bottom half. At time of writing not much to report as Kent secure a walkover against Warwickshire and the Devon v Yorkshire result is still outstanding.
The revised draw is:
Quarter-final
Lancashire v Surrey; Suffolk v Mx; Devon v Yorkshire; Kent v Warwickshire
Semi-final:
Lancashire v Mx; Kent v (?)
The Open team in duplicating the u175's victory means that Mx's attempt to achieve a unique Open-u175 double remains on course. The county last to achieve this feat was Essex (boo! hiss!) in 2002. So if the u175's can negotiate their match against Yorkshire and the Open against Lancashire the 2009 vintage would not only replace Essex as the last county to achieve it, they will have also equalled Mx's 1985 vintage.
Bring on Lancashire!