Herts do the double

Hertfordshire took County honours as both the men's and ladies' teams swept to their respective AEGON Summer County Cup titles at Eastbourne, unbeaten for the week at Eastbourne.

The two teams produced impressive performances to lead from the opening day and score the first ‘double' since 1991 when Yorkshire achieved as similar feat.

The men entered the final day with an unassailable lead and got their match against Warwickshire underway before torrential rain suspended play at Devonshire Park for a second time in the week.

Play resumed offsite at nearby hard-court facilities but Warwickshire, for whom relegation was guaranteed, took the decision to concede the match handing Hertfordshire an automatic win to complete the successful defence of their title.

Hertfordshire men's team captain, Jeff Wayne, said; "It could not have gone any better. We only lost four rubbers out of forty-five so that's pretty amazing and a fairly tough statistic to beat.

"For us, defending our title was the real excitement of it all and then seeing the ladies take the title for the first time in Herts history was pretty special too."

It was a different story for their ladies who still required five winning rubbers on the final day to confirm their position at the top but the team held its nerve to beat Buckinghamshire 5-1 sealing victory and making history as the first Hertfordshire team to claim the coveted county prize.

Hertfordshire's ladies' captain, Sarah Donovan, said; "Our huge win was on Monday (against Surrey) and the important thing was then carrying that momentum right the way through the week.

"We kept really close as a team and we really wanted it this year and the girls thoroughly deserved it. It was fantastic at the end winning five in a row because my nerves were a little frayed today, so very nice to get the job done."

The President of the LTA, Derek Howorth, who presented the winning teams with the silverware, commented: "Congratulations to Hertfordshire men and women's team for winning this week, which is all the more impressive given that the standard of play at this year's AEGON Summer County Cup has been as strong as I can ever remember. Once again, the event has proved itself to be one of the highlights of the British tennis calendar."

Elsewhere in the men's group one, Kent took on Surrey for the runners up spot. Needing just one rubber to secure second place in the group, Kent did so with a 2-1 win in the first round, after which both teams agreed to retire with their places confirmed.

The stakes were higher in the third match as Lancashire and North of Scotland went head-to-head to avoid dropping into the bottom two and subsequent relegation down to group two.

North of Scotland got stronger as the week went on and continued their late surge to go 5-1 up after two rounds. The result was enough to guarantee their place in the top tier next year and the captains duly shook hands.

Defending ladies' champions, Surrey, gave another strong showing at this year's County Week and played some top class tennis to keep them in contention but while finishing on a high with a 6-1 defeat of Essex, had to be content with second place.

The other relegation battle was between Cheshire and Middlesex ladies. In the end, Cheshire got the edge over Middlesex sealing a 5-2 victory to lift them up to fourth place to keep them in group one.