June 23^rd saw the Northamptonshire county squad travel to Stevenage for the return match following Hertfordshire’s narrow win of 32 – 28 when we played them at their home ground in Harrold. With twenty-four players in each team the format remained the same with six sessions of four mats of triples. With our new County manager Darren Brown in charge, we were all enthusiastically waiting to see how the new selectors teams would perform. The first session was evenly matched with each county winning two of the four games, the score was evens however Hertfordshire had a better shot difference taking the first session bonus points and a two-point lead. With twenty-four fresh players on the mats the second session was under way. This time Northamptonshire took an advantage winning three of the four mats and taking the bonus points they had taken the lead at 12 – 8. Feeling refreshed the first eight teams returned to the mats for session three. Reversing the second session Hertfordshire won three mats and the bonus points to regain their two-shot lead at 16 – 14 at the halfway stage of this competition.  At this point we should thank our two umpires for the day Darren Stanford and Brian Fowler, they were certainly well used and they were playing as well. Well refreshed, session four got under way, this time Northamptonshire got the upper hand. Winning three mats and the bonus points they regained the lead at 22 – 18. Session five and Hertfordshire dug deep, winning all four mats to gain the full session ten points put them back in the lead at 28 – 22 with one session to play. Hertfordshire started the last session knowing that winning one mat would gain the draw but obviously we were after the win. And win we did taking three of the four mats in the last session and gaining those useful bonus points again we had the win at 36 – 24.

Under the new management of Darren Brown, Hertfordshire’s county squad continued with their strong performance against Northamptonshire. Darren is currently organising further ‘friendlies’ this summer before our first I.C.C. match on the 03^rd November. If you would like to be considered for the county team then contact Darren Brown or one of his selectors (Jeff Branch and Jan Rogers), you may be invited to take part in the next friendly. Keep an eye on the website for further information and your inbox for those game invites.