A topsy-turvy day of backgammon yesterday as a bad leg (don’t ask) stopped me from limping, quite literally, to inevitable losses in the London Players Championship, then Richard announced sudden availability in deepest fenland. Hoping for gammon redemption, I braved the massive oak board, only for it to cast its customary spell on me, destroying any ability to count that I might have started off with. So after a slew of unforced errors, the first match ended:

Dec 8th: Richard Coles 11 Neil Foston 4

This had significance for promotion and relegation but we couldn’t remember what… after some sums we realised that Richard still had a chance for promotion if he won the second match 11-0. Distressingly, I needed at least 6 points just to avoid relegation. But although this seemed daunting after the first match, the dice took pity on me, and with a heavy luck assist I bagged the second match:

Dec 8th: Neil Foston 11 Richard Coles 3

So we ended up with the most likely result going in – congratulations to Michael Skinner who gets promoted to the Premiership for the first time. And commiserations to Phil, who is relegated to Division 3.