John Mohan protected in the West seat after the opponents’ bidding had died in Two Spades. Zia’s bid of Three Clubs might not have been the majority choice, but created a bit of excitement. Silverstone didn’t double Three Clubs on his minimum hand, so we never found out if Zia or Mohan would have escaped to Three Diamonds, nor how Zia would have fared in a 3-3 club fit.

Mohan obediently led a club against Three Spades. Left to his own devices Silverstone would almost certainly have made the contract, playing East for Q and West for A, K and J. Indeed, both Vladi Isporski for the Spring Foursomes Winners and David Horton for Australia made nine tricks in spades. However Zia won with the king and switched to 2. From Silverstone’s point of view this was almost certainly a singleton, so he rejected the spade finesse and cashed AK, getting the bad news. He exited with a club to the ace and Zia played 3, a real singleton this time! Silverstone won in dummy and led a spade. Zia went up with Q, played a diamond to his partner’s ace and Mohan had no difficulty giving Zia his heart ruff. Three Spades down one and 5 IMPs to the All Stars, on their way to a 39-21 win.