On Friday 12 November the Suffolk team and their supporters travelled by coach to the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool for the National County Championships.

The Suffolk team had a memorable 2009 Nationals, winning the event after a close fought tussle with Cambridgeshire. They knew that retaining the trophy would be more difficult, but the team were in optimistic mood.

The competition included eight other counties, Cambridgeshire, Durham, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland. Each county were represented by six rinks (fours), each rink playing one nine end game against all of the other counties, over two long days of bowling.

First up on Saturday morning for Suffolk were Sunderland, a rapidly improving team who had high hopes themselves of winning the event. It was an edgy start from Suffolk rinks A, B and C on three tricky carpets. However after settling down, Suffolk went on to gain two well earned wins 10-6 and 11-6. The other game was lost 10-3.

Rinks D,E and F started their weekend's bowling against Norfolk, who with their experienced team are always difficult to overcome. Three close games ensued, Norfolk edging the first 10-9, but Suffolk holding on for wins in the other two games, 9-4 and 10-8.

Next up for rinks A, B and C were South Tyneside, not the strongest of the northern teams so Suffolk were looking for their first maximum six point session. They were denied this with one of the games ending in an 8-8 draw. However the other two Suffolk rinks eased to wins in their games 10-4 and an astounding 24-1.

After the lunch break rinks A, B and C were on again, this time against the very experienced Durham team. The six point maximum again proved elusive as a game was lost 10-4. However two valuable wins were secured, 13-7 and 11-7.

Local rivals Essex were the opposition in the next session for rinks D,E and F. Essex, a county squad full of consistent bowlers who are always a difficult team to beat. Again Suffolk came close to winning all three, but one game was lost 12-6. However there were wins of 14-5 and a low scoring 6-4.

Rinks A, B and C faced Hertfordshire next and finally Suffolk secured their first maximum six point session of the weekend. However this was in doubt until the final end of one game, which Suffolk edged 10-8. The other two games were more comfortable though, wins of 13-3 and 18-3.

The penultimate session saw Suffolk up against Cambridgeshire, last years runners-up and multiple winners of the competition. It was a double point session that neither county could afford to lose heavily. As always the games were long and tactical, but unfortunately it was Cambridgeshire who came out on top in two of them. The Suffolk rinks losing 13-8 and 8-4, but earning a crucial win of 10-8.

The final opponents on Saturday for Suffolk were Northumberland. After the disappointment of the previous session, a confidence boosting end to the day was needed. As had happened in many of the earlier sessions two wins were secured, scores of 12-4 and 18-8. The other game being lost 12-4.

The first day had been a reasonable one for Suffolk. The overall team performance had not been great and they had not been able to convert four point sessions into maximums. However with 33 points Suffolk were sitting nicely in behind the leaders Cambridgeshire who had a two point advantage. The dangerous Sunderland were third on 28, with Essex and Durham only a few points further back.

On Sunday morning Suffolk rinks D, E and F knew they needed a good start against Sunderland to maintain the gap between the two teams. In one of the games the Suffolk rink raced away to a comfortable 15-6 win. The other two games were far closer and went right down to the finals bowls. The outcome was a fair one game each, Suffolk winning 7-6 and losing 10-9.

In the same order of play as Saturday, Norfolk were the next opposition for rinks A, B and C. As with the previous session it was Suffolk who ran away with a game, winning 13-1. Again the other two games went to the final ends, but this time the Suffolk rinks did not lose, winning a game 8-6 and securing a draw of 8-8.

Against South Tyneside next, Suffolk D, E and F were looking for maximum points. Unfortunately one game, again on the final end, was lost 10-7. The Suffolk rinks controlled the other two games however and won comfortably 21-2 and 15-6.

In the competition overall, as had happened last year Cambridgeshire and Suffolk were tight at the top and Sunderland remained a threat in third.

Returning after the lunch break, Durham faced Suffolk D, E and F. There followed three close and low scoring games, but a disastrous outcome for Suffolk with defeats in all of them. In games that they were just not able to gain control of, frustrating losses of 8-6, 9-6 and 7-5.
Suffolk rinks A, B and C needed to bounce back immediately against Essex, but it wouldn't be easy. Disappointingly Suffolk could only gain the one win, a straight forward 14-4, but lost the other two, in close games, 10-5 and 9-5.

Cambridgeshire had taken advantage of Suffolk slip ups and now had a healthy lead in the competition overall. With only three sessions of bowls to go Suffolk knew that they couldn't afford any more defeats.

Against Hertfordshire next there was an improvement in performance by rinks D, E and F, but again a costly game was dropped in a narrow loss of 9-7. Suffolk had to play well to earn wins in the other two games, 13-8 and 14-9.

The next session saw the top two teams facing each other. To even have a slim chance of winning overall Suffolk had to win all three games. As expected all the games were close fought but it wasn't to be for Suffolk as Cambridgeshire edged away to win two of them. Suffolk's winning game was 9-7, with defeats of 12-5 and 6-5.

In the final session of the event rinks D, E and F had second place to play for with Sunderland only a point behind overall. After a slow start against Northumberland, Suffolk were able to sneak the two wins that kept them in the runners up spot. The two wins were 10-7 and 9-5, with the other game being lost 11-3.

It had been a disappointing weekend for the Suffolk team. Whilst the effort from every bowler and the team spirit could not be faulted, the overall performance was not as high as they would have hoped for and some inconsistent bowling had resulted in costly dropped points.

Thanks must be given to the supporters who travelled up to Blackpool. All weekend they gave constant encouragement to the Suffolk bowlers and this was greatly appreciated.

Overall the finishing positions were:

Pts For Agst 1 Cambridgeshire 67 433 301 2 Suffolk 58 464 345 3 Sunderland 56 423 350 4 Durham 52 391 376 5 Essex 52 386 360 6 Norfolk 45 403 355 7 Northumberland 38 365 457 8 Hertfordshire 36 369 458 9 South Tyneside 28 300 532

The Suffolk team are now looking forward to the start of the new county season. Their Eastern Counties league campaign starts with a tricky away match against Bedfordshire on Sunday 28 November.

Neil Jolly (County Captain)