Report by John Auld

One  of our Dawes pairs- Willie Crook & Steve Raine - had to withdraw leaving captain Goddard with a problem. This he solved rather well by recruiting Notts most successful ever male player Tony Sowter and our currently most successful young player Ankush Khandelwal. 

The full line-up with Butler imps:

On board 6 Tony and Ankush collected 500 against 5H doubled to score +15 imps with Irene and me who made 5D as follows:

From the  moment East sees twelve red cards his objective is to declare the hand. To that end after opening 1♥  and hearing the enemy announce spade srength I tried meandering my way to 5♦ . I hoped to convey the impression of uncertainty (propbably very convincingly over the course of the match) and so discourage a 5♠  bid. South led out ♠ A and another spade and playing carefully I made eleven tricks; losing a heart and subsequently ruffing small hearts with ♦9 then ♦J. Clare Batten in the Markham also defended 5♦  and saw it make on spade leads. Her partner helpfully suggested an alternative defence- as played by John Rolph. He cashed the ♠ A  but then led a trump. A further trump from Sandy on winning ♥ A put paid to 5♦ .

The point here is that when declarer has a pronounced 2 suiter and gets a tepid preference then usually a trump lead is best. Certainly if dummy is weak as here then there is no point in leading a black suit - those tricks are going nowhere. A trump lead is clear-even leading ♠ A  is a mistake

The first set was not too good for Notts but the second set was much worse, at least in the Dawes match  That was partly due to our captain playing 4♥  in a splinter bid; Mark did his best in the 3-1 fit but ten tricks proved too much. It happens to everyone. (If it keeps happening seek professional help.)

A huge missed opportunity was board 9:

How did everyone bar Lloyd & Stan miss 6♣ ? To repeat something about which I keep banging on, players do not treat minor suits seriously. Playing simple Acol 1NT - 3♣  should do the trick as opener reflects on his three Aces and club support. Imagine the same hand with black suits switched. Now 1NT - 3♠  would be followed by a cue bid and inevitably 6♠. In fact I think the North hand is too good for a 12-14 NT. If it is treated as a 15 count the problem should be avoiding 7♣ .

And board 30 was a missed chance:

Board 6 was an opening lead problem and this was another. Mike Willoughby bid a considered 3♥  and his partner bid an untroubled 4♥. I now thought that prospects were reasonable and led a superficially safe spade. I realised quickly that it was not safe as the club losers vanished on spades.

That was fat headed of me and likewise of the other three defenders who faced 4♥  rather than 3NT. Declarer is obviously short in the rebid spade suit and the chances of a rapid discard are significant

Having owned up to that one I feel able to show board 23:

Three pairs passed this out but I opened 1♣  fourth in hand. Now obviously South doubled, Irene bid 1♥  and North bid 2♦ . Two passes and Irene made a good bid of 4♣ . She was too good for a competitive 3♣ .  Now I could see the singleton diamond and bid 5♣  which was cold. What could partner have to pass initially and then jump around? A shortage for sure. So that was a rare triumph with nobody else in game. Minor suit aversion again!

Well done Worcestershire, always nice opponents.