With 22 points and a balanced hand there is little alternative to a 2NT opening bid on the South cards, even with three low cards in Diamonds. Partner’s 5 points is sufficient for a raise to game.

Dummy is a disappointment in that the ♠J is a waste of pasteboard and there is no obvious source of tricks (it’s a truism that 4∙3∙3∙3 hands facing 4∙3∙3∙3 hands often play disappointingly).

After the ♥J lead there are two guaranteed Heart tricks but it is highly unlikely that Hearts will break 3-3 given that West saw fit to lead the suit. As well as two Hearts there are three Spades, one Diamond and two Clubs so that makes eight top tricks. So what else is there?

The only real chance is to hope for a 3-3 Diamond break and that means ducking two rounds of Diamonds. Not a great chance but what other play can we make?

Right, with little alternative we must get on with it. East plays the ♥K on the ♥J (from his perspective the lead might have been from ♥A J 10 × ×) and we take the ♥A. A Diamond is ducked to East who returns a Heart.

We can take that and duck another Diamond, this time to West. That player cashes his two boss Hearts and then has to lead a black card. We can win that and cash all our top winners (on some hot, sunny days a non-concentrating defender might throw away a Diamond from a four-card holding) before testing the Diamonds right at the end of the hand. Fortune is again on our side and the suit breaks 3-3, making the ♦9 the decisive ninth trick.

Lucky? Certainly, but there was nothing else to play for. Good things happen to those who do things good. And all that jazz.