Hertfordshire beat London by 24 points to 16 to secure second place in their Group of the Inter-County A Championship and a place in the preliminary play-off round.
Herts got off to a good start in the first session by winning both singles matches and one of the pairs. Dennis Mack, playing in his first County singles match as stand-in for Alan Spicer who was unavailable, overwhelmed his opponent winning 18 shots to 6. Bill Gearing had a much tougher game; 10 shots all at 12 ends Bill won 2 of the final 3 ends to win a close match 14 - 12. In the pairs, Jeanette Gayler and Martin Nash took an early lead but their opponents fought back to take the match 16 -12. Brian and Audrey Fowler's match was very close with the lead changing frequently but Brian and Audrey managed to win the last end to take the game 10 - 9.
Session 1 score: Herts 6 London 2
Honours were even in the second session with Herts winning both fours but losing the triples. Mike Ecclestone, Robin Quarterman, Sam Salmon and their Skip, Tony Gayler, narrowly won their match by scoring 2 on the last end and winning by one shot 12-11. The other Hertfordshire four of Cherry Nolan, Jeff Branch, John Taylor and Skip Ken Murray had a more comfortable win by 13 shots to 8 which they set up by taking a 5 on the second end. Although leading 9 - 4 in their triple after 8 ends, Julia Bruce, Margaret Hare and Alan Hare didn't win another end and lost by 9 shots to 16. Pauline Taylor, Jill Quarterman and Brian McGivern's triple only managed to win 4 ends, going down 6 -15.
Match Score: Herts 10 London 6
Herts had another good result in the third session again winning 3 of the 4 matches, with both singles being successful. In his match Dennis took the lead on the 7th end and didn't look like losing from then on, winning by 17 shots to 11. Again Bill had another very close match but won eventually by one shot, 15 - 14. With four wins Herts took both of the singles bonus points. In their pairs match Brian and Audrey had a runaway start to lead 13 - 0 after 8 ends. However, their opponents dug deep and fought back but Audrey and Brian held on, winning by 15 - 12. Jeanette and Martin had another tough match and although only one shot down after 11 ends, lost by 10 shots to 14, with London taking both bonus points.
Match Score: Herts 18 London 10
Results were reversed in the final session with both triples winning and the fours losing. Brian's triple were well in control throughout their match winning by 14 shots to 4. Similarly Alan's triple were 11 - 4 up after seven ends and went on to win comfortably 14 - 8. The triples bonus points were shared. In a low scoring game, Tony's four were nearly always behind and finally lost by 6 shots to 9. Ken's four were level after seven ends but their opponents won 3 of the last four ends to win 13 -10. Again the bonus points were shared.
Final Score: Herts 24 London 16