Hertfordshire gave Oxford the Blues at Elm Court with an emphatic 29-11 win in the latest Inter County Championship qualifying group match.  The result puts Herts top of the group at the halfway stage of the qualifying campaign.

The singles of Michael West and Jeanette Gayler had a clean sweep across their four games.  Michael was comfortable in both games but Jeanette needed a last bowl trail of the jack for 3 shots and a 20-19 win in her first session.

The fours also had a clean sweep worth 10 points with Jeff Branch, John Taylor, Sam Salmon and Gordon Burrow and their other halves Bill Durham, Margaret Hare, Tony Gayler and Ted Nolan winning all of their games.  Ted's four had a particularly impressive 22-7 win in their first outing.

The second session of play saw Herts rack up a full house of wins with Adrianne West, Mary Chadd and Brian McGivern winning 13-10 and Liz Bradley, Eileen Prior and Bill Gearing 17-8 winners.  In the second session of triples Bill's trio went down heavily but Brian's three did enough to hold on to the bonus points.

The pairs missed out in the morning but Pauline Taylor and Alan Hare grabbed a point in the afternoon session and Sue and Ken Murray were holding game before the opposing skip played the jack through to snatch the win.

Next up for Hertfordshire is another home match on 5 November against Northamptonshire.  Let's hope for more fireworks on the day.