GOLF: Despite finishing County Week at South Beds GC with a victory over Norfolk, it was not enough to take Suffolk through to the Midland Divisional finals at Woodbridge in three weeks time.

DESPITE finishing County Week at South Beds GC with a victory over Norfolk, it was not enough to take Suffolk through to the Midland Divisional finals at Woodbridge in three weeks time.

Cambs and Hunts took the Norfolk Bowl with a 100 per cent record having won all three of their matches including beating Suffolk on the second day, and will be hoping for further success at Woodbridge.

Of all the years Suffolk wanted to make further progress was this one, bearing in mind they could have expected great support on home soil, but it was not to be.

Despite failing to qualify, Widge Sinclair, the former England hockey international who is the non-playing captain of the Suffolk side, was far from despondent.

She said: "The plus points as far as I was concerned were that our heads never dropped, the team spirit was tremendous, new girl Lil James did herself great credit and the fact that we achieved one of the best results against Norfolk for a long time despite the defeat by Cambs and Hunts the previous day."

Suffolk were not helped by the fact that Amanda Hockley was able to play only two matches throughout the week.

Amanda, who is expecting a baby in October, felt her game was not quite up to playing every game, and in fact only turned out twice.

In addition, the weather was awful in the main, making it even more difficult for the competitiors.

After making a good start by beating Bedfordshire 7.5-1.5, the crunch match came on the second day against a very experienced Cambs and Hunts team by a 5.3-3.5 margin.

Widge said: "Through the green we were as good if not better than Cambs and Hunts, but around and on the greens we let ourselves down. But overall Cambs and Hunts deserved to go through to the Midland Divisional finals."

Cambs and Hunts won the foursomes 2-1, and then took a decisive step towards victory by claiming the top two singles as Alex Boatman lost to the very experienced Julie Walter and Sue Birrell was edged out by Jackie Gregg.

Despite victories for Sharon Luckman and Liz Steadman and a half for Lil James, it was not enough.

There was some consolation for Suffolk when they beat Norfolk 6-3 on the final day, especially after winning all three foursomes.

There is much for Suffolk to look forward to in the future with some very good young players coming to the fore.