DESTINATION OF THE TITLE NOT SETTLED UNTIL LATE IN THE LAST MATCH

The second round of Cadet County Championships matches for Division 1B was held at BATTS Harlow on 16 March 2013 with five rounds of matches, each match played on two tables. After the first rounds of matches, played in their respective area halves of the Division, Essex, Norfolk and Warwickshirehire were equal with 4 points each from their two matches,

In the second round Warwickshire had a comfortable 9-1 win over Suffolk, only Natalie Wills offering any serious resistance, beating Olivia Fletcher 8 in the deciding game after being 2-0 up and losing 7 in the decider with Millie Bradshaw.

After the short lunch break Warwickshire kept the pressure on Norfolk with an 8-2 win over Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire only wins coming against Milly Bradshaw.

The fourth round of matches would go a long way towards determining the winners and runners up of the Division when the two unbeaten teams, Norfolk and Warwickshire clashed. Six matches went the full distance and the last round of matches was well under way by the other four teams before this match finished. The opening two matches were shared, Oscar Moyes coming back from 2-0 down to beat Lee Dorning while Ross Brown lost 3-0 to Sam Coombes. Norfolk won both the girls matches and with Louis Moyes beating George Alison in the decider of a hugely fluctuating match (2, -2, 3, -7, 5) Norfolk were 4-1 up. However Warwickshire hit back with Lee beating Ross 3-1 and winning both girls matches late in the respective deciders to bring the match score 4-4. Sam beat Louis 3-0 and George had to come back from 2-0 down in his match with Oscar and save a match point in the fourth game to get Warwickshire the 6-4 win.

With Norfolk having completed their fixtures they would have to wait to find out if Essex could defeat Warwickshire in the day’s last round of matches to enable them to take the title on Sets difference. Essex did their best with Jennifer Crapnell and Gracie Edwards winning the four girls matches but George Alison, Lee Dorning and Sam Coombes won their six matches (five would have been enough) to get Warwickshire promoted to the Premier Division next season.