ESSEX U175 TEAM - THE 1996/97 SEASON

Your Webmaster took over as captain for this season. After the problems of the previous season, the initial goals were to avoid defaults and try to rebuild the team spirit that had existed in the David Smith era. However, with the grading list treating Essex kindly in that three players ineligible the previous season (Paul Williamson, Larry Marden and David Millward) now had published grades below 175 and were available for every match, strong teams were regularly turned out. Qualification for the National Stages was achieved by winning the first four matches and although the next match was lost, sufficient game points were garnered to ensure the SCCU Championship with a match to spare. The division was more closely contested than this might suggest. Both matches against Kent were won by 8½-7½; had these two results been reversed, Kent would have qualified at Essex's expense.

In the National Stages there was a relatively kind quarter final pairing with Hampshire, while in the semi-final Warwickshire proved less strong than expected on the day as a result of some of their players preferring to participate in the Midland championships that weekend.

Finals day at the Clarendon Suite in Birmingham saw Essex win their first national title for 20 years as a result of a tight 8½ - 7½ victory against Lancashire.

SCCU RESULTS

SCCU TABLE

NATIONAL STAGES

PLAYER STATISTICS

Appearances (maximum 9)

9 - Larry Marden, David Millward, Neville Twitchell and Paul Williamson.

8 - Ian Hunnable, Andy King and Colin Ramage

Points scored

6 - Ian Hunnable (from 8), Neville Twitchell (from 9) and Paul Williamson (from 9)

5½ - Andy King (from 8) and Colin Ramage (from 8)

5 - Larry Marden (from 9)

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