Tollemache Qualifier
I'm glad to say Suffolk's recent indifferent form in the Eastern Counties league did not extend to the annual Tollemache qualifier. This is an event for all the English counties, eight of whom, two each from four divisions, will play in the final in February. Suffolk, in common with many of the smaller associations, has never managed to get to the final. This year Suffolk repeated their performance of last year in finishing one place out of qualification, third in their group.
There were some bad boards that still trouble the conscience but there were some good ones too – this was one of the best from the match against Lincolnshire.
| Game All, Dealer South | ♠ 75 | |||
| ♥ QJ62 | ||||
| ♦ 63 | ||||
| ♣ Q8432 | ||||
| ♠ AQ3 | ♠ J864 | |||
| ♥ 983 | ♥ AK7 | |||
| ♦ Q54 | ♦ J1087 | |||
| ♣ AKJ5 | ♣ 97 | |||
| ♠ K1092 | ||||
| ♥ 1054 | ||||
| ♦ AK92 | ||||
| ♣ 106 | ||||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Colley | Lincs | Chambers | Lincs | |
| Pass | ||||
| 1NT [14-16] | Pass | 2♣* | Pass | |
| 2♦* | Pass | 2NT | Pass | |
| 3NT | All Pass | |||
The auction was not quite what it seems. East's two clubs showed four or more spades and West's reply denied a fit. Thus the invitational sequence did not give anything away about the closed hand's heart holding as an orthodox Stayman enquiry would. North made the reasonable choice of a club as his opening lead; elsewhere a heart was tried. Ed Colley won and played a diamond to the ten and king. Another club was played and declarer advanced another diamond. This time South tried a heart. The spade finesse was always required and that was successful but when the diamond queen was cashed the suit did not divide. West needed four more tricks,
| ♠ 5 | ||||
| ♥ Q62 | ||||
| ♦ --- | ||||
| ♣ Q8 | ||||
| ♠ A3 | ♠ J86 | |||
| ♥ 98 | ♥ A7 | |||
| ♦ --- | ♦ 8 | |||
| ♣ K5 | ♣ --- | |||
| ♠ K109 | ||||
| ♥ 105 | ||||
| ♦ 9 | ||||
| ♣ --- | ||||
Reading the position perfectly, Ed cashed the club king and threw a heart from dummy. What could South discard? A spade allowed the suit to be set up with ace and another, the diamond was a winner so he chose a heart. The next play was to the heart ace and a diamond put South in to lead from the spade king. Nine tricks in a contract one Suffolk pair defeated by three.
Suffolk at the Tollemache 2001
Represented by;
Eric Newman / Mike Sherer (Capt.)
Peter Sutcliffe / Peter Gemmell
Julian Lang / David Morran
Jane Moore / Andrew Moore
Ed Colley / Chris Chambers
Suffolk 3rd with 83/140
Beat Bedfordshire 19-1, Leicestershire 17-3, Lincolnshire 15-5, Northamptonshire 11-9
Drew with Cumbria 10-10, lost to Warwickshire 7-13, Lancashire 4-16
The last two named counties qualified from the group.
Published Saturday 1.Dec.2001