The team selected for the Tollemache this year is:

Ian Reeves(c) and Ken Johnston

Tim and Babs Matthews

Adam Aitken and Ian Smith

Peter Mollart and William Thompson

Reserves: Colin Woods and Graeme Walker

Good luck to the team.

Howard Brown (Match Captain)

Results

Cumbria won two of their matches, 13-7 v Staffs & Shrop and then 14-6 v Hants & IOW before narrowly losing to Worcestershire 9-11. We lost the remaining matches, the victors in our section were Manchester(1st) and Kent(2nd) both seeded teams, so results went to form.Results for all the sections including Butlers can be viewed on the EBU web site.

The team selected for the 2012-2013 Tollemache competition held at Daventry on November 17/18th is

Babs(capt.) and Tim Matthews

Ian Reeves and Ken Johnston

Colin Woods and Graeme Walker

Peter Mollart and William Thompson

Another tough draw for Cumbria in group A with Manchester(primary seed), London,Oxfordshire,Kent(secondary seed),Staffs&Shrops,Wiltshire,Derbyshire, and Worcestershire.

The team captain reports that we were not doing too badly after the first session but then fell away badly after that.However, the team had an excellent spirit and we definitely know that we need to play more at this level in order to be able to compete effectively. 

Results for all teams who took part can be viewed in detail on the EBU web site. Go to 'Latest Results' then Tollemache Qualifier.

Howard Brown

The Team selected for the 2011/12 Tollemache to be held at Daventry on the 26/27 November 2011:-

John MacLachlan & Bruce Denwood

Ian Reeves & Ken Johnston

John Farmer & David Strawbridge

Babs & Tim Matthews

This event was held in the Barcelo Hotel Daventry, 420 miles round trip for those of us in the South of the County and I guess 520 miles in the North of the County - so we all decided to travel down and stay over the night before.  35 counties were represented and Cumbria were drawn in the B Division with Gloucester (no. 1 seed), North East (no. 2 seed), Sussex, Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Mid Wales, Somerset, Leicestershire.    There was a fantastic team spirit and we were all absolutely delighted to win 4 matches, draw 1 and lose only 3 (to both seeded teams and Yorkshire).   Amazingly we still managed to finish in last position but there was only 1 VP difference between teams from 6th to 8th position.   For details including Butlers please log on to http://www.ebu.co.uk/results/2010Aug-Dec/Tollemache10_11/GroupB.htm

Babs Matthews, Match Captain

This is my first Tollemache Report as Match Captain.

Having all travelled down on the Friday night, we spent most of the Saturday morning relaxing before entering the gladiator ring; much to our surprise and to the surprise of ALL the other counties in the competition, we were perched in pole position within our group all day Saturday and remained there until the end of the day's play.  At the start of play on the Sunday, we were all possibly still intoxicated from our final position from the previous day and it wasn't long before the opposition found a weakness in our armour, we eventually only lost three matches to Kent, Suffolk and East Wales.  At the end of the second days play and the final rounds of the competition, most of us reflected on our silly little mistakes and what could have been, neverthless, by all accounts this is the best performance our County has ever achieved in this very prestigious competition, winning five matches out of eight and a final position of fourth in our Group.  I think the result has highlighted the importance of travelling down on the Friday night being fresh and relaxed for the start of play on the Saturday.

May I personally thank and congratulate all the undernoted players for a brilliant team performance; they all should be very proud of what they achieved.

Babs Matthews & Tim Matthews

Peter Mollart & William Thompson

Ian Smith & Simn Smith

Ken Johnston & Ian Reeves

Regards

Ian Reeves

Match Captain