On Sunday 8th April, Suffolk hosted the 2018 Six Counties Championship, at Littleport Leisure Centre.

Suffolk started well by taking 10 of the 12 points on offer against Bedfordshire. Cambridgeshire just edged Essex 7-5 while Norfolk and Hertfordshire shared the points, 6 each.

It was another 10 points for Suffolk in the next round, this time against Norfolk. And it was 7 points again for Cambridgeshire, although Bedfordshire would have been the happier of the two with that result. Meanwhile Essex had much the best of their encounter against Hertfordshire, winning 4 of the 6 games.

With 2 rounds of games down Suffolk led on 20 points with Cambridgeshire on 14 and Essex on 13. Hertfordshire lay in 4th place on 10 points, Norfolk were next up on 8 and Bedfordshire on 7.

However the next round saw Suffolk struggle against Hertfordshire and only able to share the points 6-6. This still kept them in top spot with 26 points, but Cambridgeshire with 8 points against Norfolk closed by 2 and better than that Essex took full advantage, taking all 12 points off Bedfordshire and moved to within a point of the leaders.

The next session saw Suffolk struggle once again, as Cambridgeshire won 3 of the 4 games against them, putting both teams on 28 points. This gave Essex a great opportunity to move into the lead but instead they had a disaster, dropping all but one point to Norfolk, although they were still only 2 points off the leaders. That result brought Norfolk to within a point of Herts who won 2 and lost 2 against Bedfordshire.

In the penultimate session Cambridgeshire shared the remaining 2 games with Suffolk, taking a win each and won their 2 games against Hertfordshire. Meanwhile Suffolk and Essex took one win each against each other and Essex did the same against Norfolk who won both against Beds who also lost 2 to Herts.

All of that meant that Cambridgeshire were out in front on 34 points, Suffolk were 2 points behind and Essex 2 further back. Norfolk had now moved on to 25 and were 1 ahead of Herts while Bedfordshire stayed on 11.

With a 2 point and 23 shot advantage Cambridgeshire were only going to need 6 points from their remaining 4 games against Herts. But if Cambridgeshire did slip, maximum points from either Suffolk or Essex could still win it.

And Cambridgeshire did slip, allowing Hertfordshire to take two of the four games, even so either Essex or Suffolk would effectively need 7 points to take the title. But neither of the teams did the other any favours, the wins were split 2 each.

The overall win therefore were to Cambridgeshire who finished on 38 points. Suffolk were runners-up on 36, Essex third on 34, Norfolk finished strongly on 30, Herts were on 28 and Bedfordshire ended up on 14 points.

While both Suffolk and Essex were erratic, with some good but some poor sessions, Cambridgeshire's greater consistency won out on the day.

A full copy of all the day's results can be found here.