Hertfordshire's opening match of the ICC Division A campaign was a very closely contested affair.

The first session  of Singles and Pairs went in Hertfordshire's favour.  Michael West won 15-9 and Bill Gearing finished 12-11 ahead despite dropping a 4 on the last end.  Julia Bruce, making her debut for the county, partnered Brian Fowler to a 14-10 win, while Dennis Mack (another debutant) and Jeanette Gayler came close, just 1 shot behind with 2 ends to play they lost out 10-15.

The points were shared in Session 2.  Adrianne West, Mary Chadd and Brian McGivern won 15-7 and their Triples teammates Marion Cooper, Peter Griffiths and Alan Hare finished 13-11 ahead.  Jeff Branch, Jill Quarterman, Margaret Hare and Alan Spicer came close before a last end 3 shot loss resulted in an 8-12 defeat.  The other Four of Bill Durham, Ted Nolan, Mick Thrush and Tony Gayler were ahead 6-3 at five ends but couldn't hold off their opponents who came back to a 6-14 result.

At the half way point of the match, Herts led 10-6.

In the afternoon singles Bill Gearing won again 17-11.  Michael West suffered a rare reverse going down 13-18.  The overall aggregate score of 57-49 in the Singles secured 2 bonus points for Herts.  Dennis and Jeanette came back from 4-11 behind to win 12-11 in the Pairs and Julie and Brian went into the last end 1shot behind but dropped a 3 to lose 11-15.  The Pairs bonus points went to London.

The match score was 14-12 in Herts favour going into the last Triples and Fours session.

Brian McGivern's triple made a spirited comeback from 1-9 to finish 8-11 behind.  Sam Salmon came into Alan Hare's trio who suffered an early onslaught to be 0-13 behind.  They won 6 of the remaining 8 ends but a dropped 6 meant they could only close to 13-21.  Overall the Triples missed out on their bonus points by just 2 shots.

Ros Lewison came into Tony Gayler's rink to make her debut in the green of Hertfordshire and this Four just missed out 9-10.  Alan Spicer's four dominated their game scoring on their first 8 ends, eventually winning 13-5.

The overall match score was decided by the bonus points.  With the discipline points going 2-6 in London's favour, this 4 point differential was key to the result.