[<<] [>>] by Michael Finnigan at Northampton
11th June 2006 (AC - Longman Cup)

With the scores level at three all, everything turned on a very close match between William Gee and James Skelton. Both side watched anxiously as a failed peg out by James allowed William to turn the tables and peg out James, then to go on and secure the match and the fixture for Nottingham.

Fortunes swung throughout the day, as Northampton took lunch 2-1 up after Roger Berkeley and Nigel Hames-Keward had taken a while to adjust to the lawns, and lost the doubles to James Skelton and Mike Clifton. Mistakes abounded as Michael Finnigan and Trevor Wilkins each did their best to hand the match to the other, but eventually Michael managed to put a couple of breaks together to take the game. while William collected his first loss in the series to Tim Bunn.

In the afternoon Roger Berkeley showed his old form to beat Trevor, Nigel took a close game from Mike, and Tim, with another peg out, managed to come from behind and just pip Michael, leaving William to show that he can handle the pressure, as he saw Nottingham home.

Results

Nottingham names first:

Roger Berkeley (6) & Nigel Hames-Keward (12) lost to James Skelton(3 1/2) & Mike Clifton (18) -20
William Gee (5) lost to Tim Bunn (14) -6
Michael Finnigan (11) beat Trevor Wilkins (7) +15

Gee beat Skelton +6
Berkeley beat Wilkins +11
Finnigan lost to Bunn -2
Hames-Keward beat Clifton +5