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This section of the site presents match results and player statistics for the County's teams in inter-county competitions. Board-by-board results of each match can be found on the SCCU Website, to which appropriate links can be found on each team page.

Criteria for inclusion in these statistics: All games played by Essex teams in the SCCU Counties' competitions, and the ECF stages, and SCCU Jamboree(s) are included.

Players' tables are sorted in descending order of points totals; within each score group, records are sorted according to average.

Grading performance: In each table the end column, headed "Perf.", gives the player's grading performance for the results shown where three or more gradeable results are entered (eg: default wins not graded). Note that a player who has played for more than one team may not have a grading performance shown in the individual team record(s), but may have one shown on the Aggregate table if he has achieved a minimum of three gradeable results overall. The Grading Performance figures shown are given for information only and have no official status.

05-Jul-2008 The U175 team lost to Surrey by 7½-8½ in the ECF final at Moat College, Leicester. It was a tale of missed opportun- ities as, in the closing stages, with enough potential for a narrow Essex win, points were conceded through errors to turn the match Surrey's way.

14-Jun-2008 The U175 team qualified for the ECF final by defeating old foes Devon by 9-7 at Stratford-sub-Castle, near Salisbury. Essex has now won all five encounters with this opposition. On this occasion, it was tough at the top, with Essex getting only two draws out of the top five, but six wins and four draws in the other games did the job.

In the final, on 5th July at Leicester, we will meet Surrey, who beat Yorkshire 10-6 in the other semi-final.

10-May-2008 The U150 team had to be content with their SCCU Championship crown when comprehensively defeated by Notts in the national quarter-final. Though the teams were even on paper, Essex were not at the races, losing 5½-10½ - a scoreline that only gained a modicum of respectability when Essex won the last two games to finish.

The other Essex team to reach the national stages, the U175s, try their luck against old foes Devon on 14th June at Stratford sub Castle, near Salisbury.

30-Mar-2008 The SCCU Jamborees lived up to that term only in the U135 event as the U180 event had only two entrants, Essex and Middlesex, who conducted an U180 match. Essex came second. In the U135 event, Essex again came 2nd, of four entrants: 1 Surrey 4½; 2 Essex 3½; 3 Middx 2½; 4 Herts 1½.

15-Mar-2008 The U100 team completed a miserable season with a home defeat against Surrey, 4-8, losing the top seven boards.

14-Mar-2008 Corrected stats uploaded for U175 and Aggregates where Larry Marden's data had become corrupted.

13-Mar-2008 Today's upload of stats includes amended U150 stats, following correction of one of the originally reported results in the match against Sussex, and, in the U125 Team, the belated inclusion of the Sussex match, unaccountably omitted (played 02-Feb-2008) - apologies for that.

10-Mar-2008 From David Smith re SCCU U175: "May I add my own congratulations on yet another success for the Essex U175 squad in this event.

May I in particular (on behalf of all the squad) send my sincere thanks and congratulations to the ACTING Match Captain, John Philpott, for keeping this team running so successfully over the current season. You will recall that John resigned his post as Captain last year in the hope that a replacement Captain would emerge. Sadly this did not happen and John has continued to shoulder full responsibility of getting teams out on every occasion during what turned out to be an eight match programme with the re-entry of Kent this year.

Whatever happens in the National Stages of this event, the question remains: what happens next season? There must be someone out there who is willing and able to take on the future responsibility for this highly successful and, thanks to John, well motivated side.

Whoever that person is, would they please make themselves known to either John or myself as soon as possible please.

The U125 team, needing a good win to ensure qualification, could only draw 8-8 away to Middlesex and finished 5th.

08-Mar-2008 The U175 team followed the U150s lead by winning the SCCU Championship this afternoon. A home draw 8-8 against Middlesex, allied to Sussex defeating Surrey 9½-6½, was sufficient.to secure the crown for 11th time in 12 years. Congratulations to John Philpott and all the squad.

The Essex U150 team clinched the SCCU Championship and first qualifying place with a hard fought win by 9-7 against Sussex in Horsham. ECA Chairman, David Smith: "I must offer sincere thanks and congratulations to all who played, but most especially to captain Dave Payne for all his hard work and sheer enthusiasm in getting teams out for all the matches."

Meanwhile, the Essex Open team produced a dramatic finale to an otherwise undistinguished campaign, by beating Kent 9½-6½ at Dartford. Kent defaulted one board (notified in advance) but outgraded Essex by an average 13 points a board over the contested boards. A string of outstanding results enabled Essex to turn the match on its head and relegate the home team to a startling wooden spoon.

Whatever the merits of this sensational victory, the sobering thought is that Essex still finish in a lowly fourth place out of six. With only two qualifying places available of right, on paper, it would seem we must look to next season. Yet we understand there is a remote chance that the door to qualification, if shut, is not yet locked. The complex qualification rules apparently allow for the possibility that, depending on events elsewhere, the SCCU could be offered not just a third qualifying place (a regular occurrence in recent times) but a fourth. If you really want to know how this could be, the website has two pieces of advice: i) ask John Philpott; ii) get out more. ;-)

16-Feb-2008 In the U175 division, Essex maintained their lead by winning 9½-6½ against a spirited Kent side, at Dartford. Middx, having crucially lost 7-9 away to Surrey two weeks earlier, recovered their composure to beat Sussex 12-4 at Hayes. Now: Essex 5½/7, Middx 5/7, Surrey 4½/6.

09-Feb-2008 The U100 team made the task of continuing their run of qualification to the national stages a lot harder by incurring a home defeat to Kent, 4½-7½. Essex now languish in fourth place with two matches left.

12-Feb-2008 Corrections have been made to U125 and Aggregate stats. "Rod Johnson 144" was erroneously entered as playing in the U125 match v Kent, whereas it was of course his son, Roland Johnson 124, who played. The U125 stats have been corrected to reflect this, Roland now has an Aggregate record ("RES Johnson") and Rod's Aggregate stat has also been corrected.

Further, five records were missing from the previously published Aggregate list due to the statistics program's record counter not having incremented correctly due to a computer glitch. This has now been corrected and the additional records appear in the latest upload.

26-Jan-2008 The Open team crashed out of the qualification stakes when they suffered a calamitous defeat 5½-10½ against Herts at Writtle. Essex outgraded the visitors by an average 10 points per board.

The U100 team also found that grading advantage against Herts counts for nothing as they went down 4½-7½ away.

However, there was better cheer for the U150 team who beat Surrey 9-7 at Wanstead and now top the division with one match to play.

19-Jan-2008 The U175 team, despite holding a comfortable grading advantage, made heavy weather of beating Sussex 9½-6½ at home.

05-Jan-2008 The resumption of battle in the U175 section saw Essex grab a convincing 10½-5½ victory away to Surrey at Ashtead. But Middx stayed on top by winning by the same score v Kent.

15-Dec-2007 The U175 team slipped up in its away trip to Middlesex, losing 7-9.

However, the U100 team returned to winning ways, beating Surrey away by 7-5.

08-Dec-2007 The Open team chalked up its first win of the season, beating Sussex away by 8½-7½.

01-Dec-2007 The U175 team got their season back on track, beating returning team Kent 10-6 at home.

24-Nov-2007 The U100 team crashed to a shock home defeat, 5-7, against Middlesex. Essex share the lead with Surrey, both on 1½/3 and 14½ GP; they meet next.

17-Nov-2007 Two down with three to play, at home to Surrey, the U175 team escaped with an 8-8 draw.

The U125 team opened their campaign with a good away win against Surrey 8½-7½.

03-Nov-2007 Open team lose 6-10 to a strong Surrey contingent, but U150 team add to their good start with a 9-7 win against Herts.

20-Oct-2007 Away to Sussex at Hassocks, the U175 team found the home side unusually weak and incomplete. Essex reached an 8-5 lead, but Sussex unexpectedly fought back to 8-7, before Essex managed to win the last game to finish, to achieve a harder-than-expected victory by 9-7.

13-Oct-2007 The Open team with John Philpott at the helm, commenced its new campaign against Middlesex, who had not competed in this section since the 2000-01 season. Essex gave them a warm welcome back, losing 6½-9½.

The U150 team put last season's disappointment behind them by opening the new campaign with a 8½-6½ (corrected score) home win against Herts.