Essex secured their first English Women’s County Championship title in ten years with a perfect five-from-five record at Stoneham.
FORMAT: 6-team round-robin matchplay
The East Region champions’ 3-2 victory over Somerset yesterday guaranteed their place at the top of the standings and after both foursomes pairs did the business, Alexandra Sparrow (Stoke by Nayland) secured the title with a 3&2 win over Frankie Dezis.
County champion Katy Yates (Clacton) won all five matches but it was far from easy for Essex. In fact 10 of the 15 matches ended 3-2 and only twice did a county manage a 4-1 victory.
For non-playing captain Amanda Colgate Herbert the victory was particularly special as she was in charge the last time Essex were victorious in the county finals.
She said: “I’m a bit stunned to be honest but very, very proud.
“The team stepped up under pressure – it showed a bit early on and my head was in my hands at times, but they pulled it out the bag!
The winning Essex squad:
• Katy Yates (Clacton)
• Ciara Rushmer (Boyce Hill)
• Amy Notts (Chigwell)
• Erin Earl (Thorndon Park)
• Megan Henry (West Essex)
• Alex Sparrow (Stoke by Nayland)
• Charley Hatley (Colchester)
• Zoe McLean-Tattan (Romford)
• Emily Dixon (Thorpe Hall)
• Tilly O’Leary (Wanstead)
• Zara Gardam (Thorndon Park)
“They are an amazing young team. Hopefully, the younger players who have been part of this week can develop and other youngsters learning of this win can be inspired to play more golf and be part of this sort of event in the future.
“We’ve also had great support from the rest of the county – our county captain, president, welfare officer, county secretary, past captain and quite a few other officials here to cheer us on. That’s been great to see.”
Essex started the week with a 3.5-1.5 victory over Midlands South winners Buckinghamshire, youngsters Alex Sparrow (Stoke by Nayland) and Zoe McLean-Tattan (Romford) delivering brilliantly in the singles.
After lunch Yates beat Anne Wheble 3&2 in the deciding tie to edge out Kent 3-2. There other points came via thumping wins in the foursomes.
The following morning Essex took on surprise North representatives Cheshire and again Yates came through in the bottom, edging out Isabella Taylor-Stokes on the 18th to keep her unbeaten.
Next up it was Nottinghamshire, who went into the clash with a 100% record but the Midlands North champions were emphatically dispatched 4-1. Only some superb stuff in the final match from England Amelia Wan (Sherwood Forest) prevented a whitewash.
However the impressive Notts outfit, along with Buckinghamshire, still had a chance – the two counties played each other on the final morning – if Somerset could do them a favour.
However Yates and long-time friend Charley Hatley (Colchester) won the first foursomes and then Essex girls champion Ciara Rushmer (Boyce Hill) combined well with fellow junior Amy Knotts (Chigwell) to win by two holes before Sparrow did the rest.
Yates added: “It’s nice to win this considering we lost a lot of our East region team from the June qualifier. We have new faces and Essex has a bright future.
“Hopefully the younger players have learned a lot from this week and we can see more of them in the county team going forward.”