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Inter County Championship 2-5 June

Bedfordshire finished in a comfortable mid-table position in Division 2 with five wins in ten matches. Had things gone our way on the first day we might have had two more wins and been in the mix for the promotion places.

For the first time in very many years the team were without the presence of John Wheeler and Tom and Judy Anderson, and their support was much missed. Howard juggled the pairings as some of the team were only available on certain days and others took grateful advantage of the offer of a day off. David Marsh made his first appearance and acquitted himself splendidly. The event was put back by a week to coincide with the Jubilee weekend, but the gloomy weather (dull and breezy with rain on Tuesday afternoon) had many wishing it could have been held in the glorious sunshine of the previous weekend.

We started with a bye and got under way after lunch at Compton playing CA Select on fast lawns and losing 0-3, the second and third pairs losing -2 and -1, both on time. It was a similar story against Berks & Oxon, where John and George lost to a triple by Robin Brown, John and Bryan lost -1 on time and Howard and Terry by the same score after Joe King played a memorable last turn with a peel on his partner.

To Southwick on Sunday, and a third loss to Shropshire Plus. George and Terry had a win at third pair, but the top two, with Ben joining Jon at first pair, went down by large margins to a combination of Robbie Dodds and the Hallam family – Brian and his two sons. Our fortunes then changed with 2-1 wins against Sussex and Dorset.

David replaced John on Monday, and he and George at third pair contributed to a 2-1 win against Hampshire. The winning run came to an abrupt halt against a strong Middlesex team. The evening match against Kent went to and fro but resulted in a 2-1 win, all the games being decided by single figures. No games went to time on Sunday or Monday, which was unexpected.

And so to the final day, beginning with a 3-0 win against Warwickshire in which Bryan and John needlessly gave away a contact and nearly regretted it, and the final loss to Yorkshire when everyone got very wet. The full results are on the board in the pavilion.

Jon and Ben, with Graham Gale on the left.

Howard and Bryan discuss their next move.

George and David compare mallets.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s - the eponymous café was our regular start to the day and the scene of regular phone calls from Tom Anderson.