A comprehensive win at Elm Court for Hertfordshire in their Inter County Championship Division A Qualifying Group has put them top of the group on shots difference.

The first session of play gave Hertfordshire the best possible start with maximum points.  Tony Gayler won 16-11 and Michael West scored a 4 on the last end to win 15-13.  Pauline Taylor and Jeanette Gayler won their game 13-10 while Darren Stanford and debutant Aaron Jones scored a big 23-5 win.  Not only 8 points for the home team but also a good shots difference carried forward for both disciplines.

The second session saw Northamptonshire stage a fight back, winning three of the four games.  Brian Fowler's four (Eileen Prior, Margaret Hare, Margaret Regan and Brian Fowler) went down 7-16.  Rebecca Nightingale, Graham Yates, John Taylor and Ken Murray were the only Hertfordshire winners at 12-6.  Jill Oakes, Peter Griffiths and Liz Bradley lost 7-15 and Sue Murray, Audrey Fowler and Brian McGivern missed out by one shot 10-11.

The third session saw another dominant performance by the singles and pairs.  Tony Gayler won 19-8 and Michael West won 16-10.  Darren Stanford and Aaron Jones took their points 11-7 while Pauline Taylor and Jeanette Gayler were winning 16-7.  That was a maximum 16 game points and 4 bonus points for Hertfordshire from the singles and pairs disciplines.

The final session saw the triples come back strongly after their morning showing.  Liz Bradley's trio had a poor start but battled back to win 15-9.  That set up an opportunity to capture the triples bonus points and Brian McGivern's threesome duly delivered with a 14-6 win.  Ken Murray's four won again at 18-6 and Brian Fowler's rink very nearly snatched a win but just fell short 10-11.

The massive 32 point return from this game puts Hertfordshire level with Buckinghamshire on points and the 71 shot winning margin (222-151) is enough take the lead in the group.

Next week's match away against Buckinghamshire could well be the decider in the group and Hertfordshire will hope for another strong performance.