County Championship 2004–05
Nottinghamshire wins Under 150 County Championship
Nottinghamshire became National Under 150 Champions on 2 July after a nail-biting match with East Anglian champions Norfolk. The final score was 8–8 with Notts overall winners on board count by 29 to 43.
This result confirms Nottinghamshire’s competitiveness at this level, as we also regained the Midlands title. Thus our overall results for the last three years are as follows:
| 2002–03 | Midlands Champions | National Semi-finals |
| 2003–04 | Midlands Runners-up | National Semi-finals |
| 2004–05 | Midlands Champions | National Champions |
Our results this year were:
| Midlands Rd 1 | Warwickshire | 6½–9½ | Nottinghamshire |
| Midlands Rd 2 | Greater Manchester | 8½–6½ | Nottinghamshire |
| Midlands Rd 3 | Nottinghamshire | 9–7 | Staffordshire |
| Midlands Rd 4 | Nottinghamshire | 10½–5½ | Leicestershire |
| National Quarter-final | Nottinghamshire | 9–7 | Hertfordshire |
| National Semi-final | Leicestershire | 7½–8½ | Nottinghamshire |
| National Final | Nottinghamshire | 8–8 | Norfolk |
Only 25 players represented the county in the seven matches and unfortunately some players had to stand aside such was the competition for places. The only disappointment was against Greater Manchester, when we defaulted two boards much to my chagrin when selected players failed to turn up. From then on it was tension all the way. In the closely contested Midland zone we trailed early leaders Staffordshire by 6–4, but won five of the last six games to finish. Leicestershire, who had already qualified, appeared to be in second gear and we had a relatively easy victory over them to overhaul our local rivals for the Midlands title. In the National quarter-final we beat Hertfordshire, with the match going down to the final two boards, while in the semi-finals a rejuvenated Leicestershire were in much more determined form, and we again scrambled through by a narrow margin. In the final, our top three boards somehow managed to conjure up two points out of three with the match going into the last two minutes of time.
All the team contributed to a superb season, and whilst I would like to congratulate everyone a special thanks go to the players who secured those last gasp victories for us. A mention too for the juniors who played: Daniel Wells, Kishan Lakhani, Amisha Parmar and Ian Harris. It is unfortunate that other events and exams inevitably clash with the competition, but our improving juniors were reliable point scorers whenever they played. My other thanks go to the team members who could be relied upon both to turn up every match and also to score vital points. John Tassi, George Murfet, Brian Hayward and Dave Flynn played in all seven matches, with Tim Lane, Tony Wright, Phil Morgan, Kevin Harvey, Keith Roper and Sean Foreman featuring in six games each. We now come to the difficult part – defending our title in 2005–06 – and I look forward to consolidating our position as the top English county at this level.
Here are the detailed results of the epic final match:
| Board | Grade | Score | Grade | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Wright | 148 | 1–0 | Dave Twitchell | 149 |
| 2 | Daniel Wells | 146 | ½–½ | Graham Blowers | 146 |
| 3 | Tim Lane | 146 | ½–½ | Jim McAvoy | 146 |
| 4 | Keith Walters | 142 | ½–½ | Brian Jeffrey | 145 |
| 5 | John Tassi | 141 | 1–0 | John Burrows | 145 |
| 6 | Kevin Harvey | 139 | 0–1 | Henry Duncanson | 144 |
| 7 | Dave Flynn | 136 | ½–½ | Tom Robinson | 144 |
| 8 | Keith Brameld | 138 | ½–½ | Chris Russell | 143 |
| 9 | Stan Cranmer | 137 | ½–½ | Nick Gorvin | 143 |
| 10 | Phil Morgan | 137 | 1–0 | Paul Badger | 136 |
| 11 | Brian Hayward | 135 | 0–1 | Les Gladwell | 135 |
| 12 | George Murfet | 134 | 0–1 | Chris Tuffin | 129 |
| 13 | Keith Roper | 131 | 1–0 | Joe Bell | 128 |
| 14 | Sean Foreman | 126 | ½–½ | David Guttridge | 126 |
| 15 | Bob Taylor | 130 | 0–1 | Greg Tebble | 126 |
| 16 | Neil Graham | 128 | ½–½ | Andrew Donnelly | 117 |
| Total | 8–8 | ||||
| Board count | 29–43 |