Hertfordshire won the 2024 AC Inter-County Championship

[<<] [>>] by Chris Williams at Sussex County & Compton
6th June (AC - Championships)

Hertfordshire won the 109th AC Inter County Championship over the late May Bank Holiday weekend. At the prize giving captain Simon Hathrell reported that it was only Hertfords second title, with the first having been in 1908. The winning Hertford team was Simon Hathrell, Daniel Gott, Duncan Hector, David Marsh, Alison Maugham, David Maugham, Richard M Smith.

At the foot of the table Oxfordshire, Yorkshire and Gloucestershire were relegated and will play in Division 2.

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic we were back to a full complement of 22 counties and thanks are to newcomers Buckinghamshire and returners Shropshire.

In Division 2 after two days it looked as if Dorset were going for a clean sweep of 3-0 wins having won their first six matches by this margin. However the draw had been arranged so that they still had to play their three main rivals for promotion in the last four rounds. Surprisingly they lost three of their last four matches and ended up fourth and hence failed to gain promotion. Leading the way in Division 2 were Lancashire whose only defeat was to Glamorgan in the final round. It had also been Glamorgan who had brought Dorset's winning run to an end. Glamorgan finished second and Sussex third and hence both will play in Division 1 in 2025.

For once the sun shone on the first three days of the Counties, but heavy overnight rain on Tuesday morning put lawn 2 at Southwick out of action all day.

Thanks are to the Sussex County and Compton Croquet Clubs for hosting us once again. With over 160 players playing over the weekend it is one of the largest events in the world.

There was sad news on the second morning when news came through of the death overnight of Jonathan Wolfe of Somerset. He will be sorely missed.

Full match results can be found on Croquet Scores at croquetscores.com/2024/ac/inter-county-championship.

Team lists can be found at croquetrecords.com/records/counties/count2024.htm