A clear but cold day at Brailsford was the venue for the u16s first home league match of the season. The match was against a strong Staffordshire side and with Derbyshire fielding six u14 players, it was a good opportunity for the players to gain some valuable match play experience. So it proved with Staffordshire winning the match 9.5 to 5.5.

Whilst the result looks like a strong win for Staffordshire, most of the games were close until late on in each of the sessions. In particular, losing the foursomes 4-1 in the morning had a decisive effect on the overall score.

The team were led out in the foursomes by Captain Ben Wain & Tom Weeks who won their match 3 & 1 against the Staffordshire top pair of Charlie Rimmer & Jenson Forrester. Tom Allen & Gavin Ingram had a very close game, losing on the last green. Harvey Sands & Tom Bennett lost on the 17^th, Quinn & Taylor had a close topsy-turvey game losing on the 16^th. Ollie Neal & Shearer also succumbed on the same 16^th green. This left Derbyshire with a mountain to climb in the afternoon after losing the morning session 4-1.

In the afternoon a rejuvenated Charlie Rimmer & fired up Jenner Forrester beat Ben & Tom Weeks 4 & 3 and 5 & 4 respectively. Then, for a good part of the afternoon, most of the singles games were favouring Derbyshire. But, the experience of Staffordshire, when playing match play, came to fore. With only Tom Allen & Gavin Ingram winning their games and Quinn halving his. After Harvey, Tom B & Taylor lost, the overall match had been  won by Staffordshire. The match finished with good individual wins for Ollie Neal & Shearer Chohan.

My thanks also go to Paul Smith for his support throughout the day and, as ever, to the parents for their support.

Next match is against Warwickshire at Brailsford on September 14th.

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