May News from Hertfordshire County.

In preparation for the new season Hertfordshire’s County Squad had a friendly against Northampton at Harrold (Northampton’s home venue ) last Sunday ( 12^th May). Hertfordshire had twenty-two existing squad members and three invited non squad members attending . Six sessions of four mats of triples were to be played with most members getting three games and a few who were sharing got two. This was the last county match to be played under the leadership of Alan Hare. Before the match started Alan gave an emotional team talk where he gave his usual encouraging advice to the squad and thanked all present for their support during his time as ICC manager. The first group of twelve players then made their way to the mats for the first session of four games. Northamptonshire were playing at their home ground so we knew we were playing at a disadvantage.

At the end of the first session Hertfordshire had held three of the mats to a draw and only lost out on the fourth mat. Twelve fresh players approached the mats and the second session was under way. This session saw Hertfordshire take their first win and their fourth draw of this close contest, unfortunately they also had two very close losses. The third session saw Hertfordshire  first group of twelve players improve their performance, taking wins on three of the four mats the game was turning in Hertfordshire’s favour. Session four was under way with some very close games being played. Hertfordshire won all four mats and had crept into the overall lead. Session five saw more success for Hertfordshire, winning three of the four mats meant they had increased their lead to 32 points. With only sixty points available this meant they had won the match before the last session had been played. It was probably just as well, in the final group of four tight games, Northamptonshire managed to hold on and win all four mats leaving the score quite close at a win for Hertfordshire at  32 – 28.

We are now looking forward to the return match on the 23^rd June at Stevenage when our new County manager will be in charge. Why not come along to the AGM on the 08^th June to see who gets voted in to this privileged position of managing our successful county team.

Hertfordshire had fourteen members attend Potters last week for their annual ‘Potters Cup Triples’ competition and the Evening pairs competition. We can report that many congratulations should go to Jeff Branch and Dennis Mack who won the evening pairs competition.  Over the course of three evenings they only lost one of their games and this was to the Hertfordshire pair of Bill Gearing and Lisa Miles. The triples cup competition was run over the three days. The top placed team of each of the four groups of twelve triples went forward to the semi-finals. None of the Hertfordshire triples made top spot in their groups but all had some very enjoyable games and enjoyed Potters hospitality and evening entertainment. Thursday evening saw the now traditional Hertfordshire midnight 10 pin bowling competition where Alan Hare lost his unbeaten record to Andrew Miles who celebrated with a sausage roll from the midnight buffet.