Hertfordshire completed a double over London with a 21-19 win in their final Inter County Championship Qualifying Group match of the season.

The points were shared in the opening session with Michael West winning in the singles and Jeanette and Tony Gayler being successful in the pairs.  The other games were close; Alan Hare lost by 4 shots and Audrey Fowler and Sam Salmon by just one.  Both disciplines carried a positive shots difference forward.

The second session of play was not great for Hertfordshire with just the triple of Jill Oakes, Mary Chadd and Brian McGivern scoring points for their 18-3 win.  The other triple of Cherry Nolan, Alan Spicer and Ted Nolan suffered a heavy defeat and both fours went down.  Rebecca Nightingale, Brian Hatherly, John Taylor and Liz Bradley lost 8-14 and Adrianne West, Pauline Taylor, Peter Griffiths and Darren Stanford 6-12.

At the lunchtime break Hertfordshire trailed by 6 points to 10.

The third session was very strong for the home team.  Michael West won again (19-8) and the Gaylers joined him in contributing maximum points on the day with an emphatic 20-5 win.  Alan Hare played well but lost out 9-15 while Audrey Fowler and Sam Salmon won the other pairs game 14-11.  Both the singles and pairs built on their earlier shots advantage to take 4 bonus points.  Match score was now 16-12 to Herts.

In an attempt to close the match out with a positive final session, the triples and fours line ups were shuffled and the strategy proved ultimately successful.  Jill Oakes, Mary Chadd and Brian McGivern were involved in a tense game which finished tied at 10-10.  Rebecca Nightingale, Liz Bradley and Ted Nolan won their game 13-9 but the Herts triples fell 2 shots short of claiming a bonus point.  Alan Spicer skipped one of the fours with Cherry Nolan, Brian Hatherly and John Taylor.  They were one shot ahead with two ends to play before slipping to a defeat.  In the final game, Adrianne West, Pauline Taylor, Peter Griffiths and Darren Stanford came back from a poor start to win 12-9.  London took the bonus points for the triples and fours but the 5 game points from the final session of play were enough to complete a match win for Hertfordshire.

The result keeps Hertfordshire at the top of the qualifying group.  London and Buckinghamshire are locked on 88 points and can only be separated by shots difference.  Both counties have two matches to play and their head to head is on the weekend of 10/11 December.  Hertfordshire must wait on the results of the remaining matches to determine their progression in this competition.  Second place means entry to the main cup competition whilst third position will see the county competing for the Division A Consolation Plate.