18th October 2026
Essex vs Suffolk – Home Match Report
Tricky Encounter
Essex began their first home fixture of the season on 18th October with a tricky encounter against a strong Suffolk side. Unfortunately, three players were unavailable ahead of the match, which meant a few changes had to be made to the team line-up.
The opening session proved disappointing for Essex, as we won just one of the four disciplines. We secured victory in one singles match but lost the other, while both pairs were defeated.
The Second Session
The second session was much more encouraging. Essex bounced back strongly, winning both triples and one of the two fours. The remaining four narrowly missed out, losing by just two shots. This left the overall score tied at 8–8 at the halfway stage, with everything still to play for in the final two sessions.
Third Session
The third session saw Essex secure a convincing victory in one of the singles matches, although the other was lost. The pairs performed better, with one win and one defeat. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure either of the bonus points available for the singles and pairs. As a result Essex found themselves trailing 12–16 heading into the final session, including the bonus points.
Final Session
With the match finely poised, Essex produced an excellent performance in the fourth and final session. Winning one triple and both fours, the team also secured both available bonus points. This superb finish earned Essex a valuable 10 points, turning the match around and securing a
Essex Victory 22–18 over Suffolk.
It was a tremendous team effort, with everyone fighting hard throughout the match. There were several very tight ends, and had a few of those gone our way, Essex might well have extended the margin of victory even further.
What makes this result particularly pleasing is that the team had only bowled on the home mats during the roll-up day, so there was very little opportunity to become familiar with the playing conditions. Despite this, Essex rose to the challenge and showed great determination, teamwork and resilience against a very good Suffolk side.
Big thank you to Steve Killington, Paul Bax and Peter Fautley who helped organised the event in absence of the Essex Manager who had a non-bowling prior engagement which could not be cancelled.
Next Match Home to Norfolk 1st November 2026
Report by Peter Fautley