On Sunday 26 September 2010 the Bedfordshire CBA hosted the Six Counties Charity Teambowl at Littleport. Their chosen charity was the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
The competition involved the six Eastern Counties, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Each county were represented by four singles bowlers, four pairs and four triples, each playing one seven end game against each of the other counties.

Suffolk were the defending champions, having won last years event at Soham.

Norfolk were the opposition in the first session, a team that often raises their game against Suffolk. However it was a dream start for Suffolk with all of their singles bowlers winning their games, 8-1, 4-3, 5-4 and 7-4. Next on were the pairs and Suffolk’s good start continued. Whilst one game was lost, the other three were won 7-2, 9-5 and a convincing 14-2. The triples then repeated that outcome with another three wins, 7-3, 5-4 and 9-2.
Overall Suffolk had taken a confidence boosting twenty points from Norfolk and had the early competition lead.

The next opposition were Hertfordshire, who in the first session had scored very well against Cambridgeshire. The Suffolk singles again got the team off to a great start with three wins from four, scores of 8-2, 10-2 and 9-4. The pairs then followed this up with a clean sweep of four wins, 8-3, 10-4, 9-1 and 8-3. The triples then completed the games against Hertfordshire with another three wins, 7-3 and comfortably 14-1 and 11-0.

Suffolk had again taken an impressive twenty points and at the same time had played some excellent bowls. Overall Suffolk’s early lead had increased further.

The hosts Bedfordshire were Suffolk’s next opponents. Again it was the consistent Suffolk singles that set the tone, winning another three games, scores of 7-4, 6-2 and 9-4. The confident pairs then went one better securing their second maximum of the day, wins of 6-5, 10-3, 12-3 and 8-5. The triples then came close to matching that, with three wins, 6-3, 9-5 and 10-2, with the other game drawn 4-4.

Against Bedfordshire, Suffolk had only lost one game on their way to an outstanding twenty one points. With three sessions played Suffolk now had a substantial overall competition lead. However with more difficult games left against Essex and Cambridgeshire there was plenty of work to do to ensure they finished in top spot.

Essex were up next and the Suffolk singles were all involved in their toughest games of the day. However confidence was high and they maintained their performance level to secure five valuable points. Two wins of 5-4 and 9-5, with a 5-5 draw. Unfortunately this time the Suffolk pairs were unable to come out on top. In four high quality games, only one went Suffolk’s way, 8-2. However the triples recovered the situation by winning another three games, 9-4, 7-4 and a convincing 16-1.

Suffolk had achieved a reasonable thirteen points from a strong Essex team, which had maintained their position at the top of the leaderboard. Essex and the final opponents Cambridgeshire very vying for second spot.

Going into the final set of games Suffolk knew that a couple of wins would see them home, however against Cambridgeshire nothing could be taken for granted. The Suffolk singles were in no mood to take their foot of the pedal and proceeded to win another three games, 8-4, 8-2 and 7-6. The pairs then scored five points with two wins 6-4 and 7-3, together with a 8-8 draw. Unfortunately the last session was an anti-climax as in four tight games Suffolk could only achieve one draw 5-5, with the other games only being lost by a couple of shots each.

Despite that disappointing finish Suffolk had still scored a creditable twelve points from their main rivals. However all of the hard work had been done well before that and Suffolk had deservedly led the competition from start to finish.

The final points and placings were:

Suffolk	86
Cambridgeshire	75
Essex	74
Hertfordshire	56
Norfolk	34
Bedfordshire	34

It had been a fantastic all round team performance from Suffolk. Their heavy scoring in the first three sessions had earned them such a significant lead that they never looked like being caught. There had been many good individual displays and the overall consistency and tactical play had been maintained at a high standard throughout the day. It was also rewarding for the selectors that the points won had been shared across the whole team.
The Suffolk team are now looking forward to defending the National County Championships at Blackpool in November.

Neil Jolly (County Captain)