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- Created on Saturday, 28 January 2012 22:19
- Written by Ivor Smith
SCCU Open Championship 2011-2012
On October 8th the Essex Open team travelled to Hassocks and, outgraded by an average of some 10 points a board, lost heavily to Sussex. However, in a remarkable turnaround in November at Wanstead House and fielding an impressively strong team, Herts were well beaten.
With three very strong teams (Kent, Middlesex and Kent) still to play, it was quite apparent that qualification for the national stages, by finishing in the top three, would be far from easy. These three counties are all capable of fielding teams with an average grade of 200+, something that we just cannot hope to achieve.
The match away to Kent took place on January 7th and despite being outgraded, albeit by a single point (192 to 193), we secured an outstanding victory that prompted the following email from Owen Phillips, Match Captain of the Surrey team (both current SCCU and National Champions).
Well done on the Essex win yesterday. Fascinating Group! Scarily strong Zone at present!
With two home matches to come despite Surrey being National Champions I reckon we must now consider you marginal favourites for the Zone.
Can that really be true, with such difficult matches to come: against Middlesex (February 4th) and Surrey (March 3rd)? To what extent does home advantage help?
Click here to see my report with some surprising statistics.