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, which only involved driving. 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.