Peggy Bayer Match One - Scotland vs England

The hotel met their first test as about a hundred of us gathered for what they'd claimed was a buffet.  Options were rice of wedges, with vegetarian or chicken curry. "Are there any nuts in here?" I asked. Just this guy, said the jocular server. Later, I made a great joke of my own (see end of this post).

I was dubious that they had a single serving point for everyone but they got through the line pretty quickly (faster than school dinners my team observed), and there was time for a team meeting.

It was stressed that the players are representing the SBU, and have been generously funded by them. Turn up on time, no drinking until Sunday night if at all, and don't bring your phones into matches. Also, everyone makes a lot of mistakes and we're playing a lot of boards so take it easy on each other.

Here's a Scotland squad photo on my self-timer:

And here's one of the junior girls as requested by Stirling University.

I decided not to stay and watch the match, but instead sit outside and follow remotely, nervously updating this website https://bridgeresults.org/o/2024_peggy_bayer/2024_peggy_bayerr.asp

Each match is scored out of 20 Victory Points (VPs), and the nice bit about playing England is you expect to lose 20-0, so anything else is a bonus. To get to a 20-0 VP win you need to win by 60 or more IMPs, and since the match starts 0-0 the pressure is on England.

This was the first board of the weekend:

Our East opened an accurate 1NT (12-14) and played there. South lead the four of Hearts. Declarer now has two Heart tricks, the Ace of Diamonds, and if the Spade finesse works, four Spades. Since the Spade finesse does work, that ought to be 7 tricks in the bag. Something went wrong though and we finished 1NT-1.

On the other table the English East presumably opened 1D (playing a strong NT), and they got to the better contract of 2S, making with an overtrick. So immediately that's 5 IMPs to England.

There followed a succession of games, luckily all falling to our more experienced pair, and Kevin as declarer even make an overtrick not matched on the other table to give us an IMP back. 

Now, ask yourself the question, what is the only way a good team can lose to a weaker team? By pushing too hard and overdoing it! And that's what happened just now, England bidding to 6C-1 while Scotland settled prudently in 5C. After five boards, that puts us in the lead in the match! It surely won't last, which is why I'm writing this now, at what I expect to the highpoint.

To be fair to England, the slam is excellent, just unlucky.

There is hope of more to come as England have just recorded the unusual result of 4NT-1. Niamh made 4S for us so we're now 24-9 up. Dare I dream?

We did not maintain that lead, and lost the for a 

Still, it's money in the bank and 3 VPs in. Finally, my joke:

To be said in a Scots voice:
"Is that a pavlova, or am I wrang?"