Session 1 (Saturday)
Suffolk and Cambridgeshire started well, both winning all 3 games, against Norfolk and Northumberland respectively.

Hertfordshire won 2 out of 3 against Durham, and Sunderland did the same against Essex.

Session 2 (Saturday)
Top match of the session was Hertfordshire against Suffolk, and it was dominated by Herts, who picked up 2 wins and a draw.

Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Sunderland each won 4-2 against Durham, Essex and Northumberland, respectively.

Cambridgeshire now led Herts by 1 point.

Session 3 (Saturday)
Another strong session for Hertfordshire, taking another 5 points, this time off Cambridgeshire. A very good session for Norfolk, who did the same to Sunderland, while Suffolk beat Northumberland 4-2, as did Essex over Durham.

Herts had hit the top of the standings, despite having had a harder start than the others. They were on 14 points, with Suffolk and Cambridgeshire next best on 11 points.

Session 4 (Saturday)
Norfolk returned from lunch well refreshed, and promptly won all 3 of their games against Northumberland very comfortably. Herts didn't lose a game in a very close session against Essex, but 2 games were drawn. Suffolk won 2 against Durham, and Sunderland did the same against Cambridgeshire.

Hertfordshire still led the way, now on 18 points, with Norfolk and Suffolk 3 points adrift.

Session 5 (Saturday)
And Norfolk continued their winning ways, racking up 3 wins against Durham, Essex did the same against Northumberland, as did Suffolk over Cambridgeshire, while Sunderland inflicted Hertfordshire's first session defeat of the day, taking 2 of the 3 games.

It was now Suffolk and Norfolk topping the standings, on 21 points, with Hertfordshire very close behind on 20 points.

Session 6 (Saturday)
Norfolk's run of wins came to an end against Hertfordshire, not that they didn't run them close. All the games came down to the last end, but each went to Herts, a couple of them by the odd shot.

Durham also completed a clean seep, against Northumberland, while Essex beat Cambridgeshire 4-2, as did Suffolk over Sunderland.

Herts were back on top, by one point over Suffolk, while Norfolk were now a further 4 points back, just one ahead of Essex, who, in turn were one ahead of Sunderland.

Session 7 (Day 1 end of play)
With Hertfordshire facing Northumberland, everyone would have expected them to hold the top spot going into Sunday, it didn't quite turn out that way.

Sunderland beat Durham 4-2, as did Suffolk over Essex, and Cambridgeshire over Norfolk. And what of the remaining pairing? In a remarkable turn of events, Northumberland, who had only won 2 games all day, took all 3 wins, two of them very comfortably. And with that Herts were back off the top again.

Suffolk finished the day on 29 points, Herts were on 26, Sunderland and Norfolk were on 23, and Essex on 22.

Just like 2023, it was going to be a close one.

Session 8 (Sunday)
Suffolk opened Sunday with a full house against Norfolk, but it wasn't such a good start for Hertfordshire, who could only win 1 out of 3 against Durham. Meanwhile Sunderland and Cambridgeshire also had 4-2 wins, over Essex and Northumberland.

Suffolk's lead extended to 7 points over Hertfordshire, Sunderland were one point further behind.

Session 9 (Sunday)
The top 2 played one another in a close set of games, with Herts coming out on top in two games, and Suffolk in one. Sunderland, meanwhile, won all their games against Northumberland, Cambridgeshire beat Durham 4-2, and Essex and Norfolk shared the points, 3 each.

Suffolk's lead was cut to 4 points, with Sunderland moving into second, just ahead of Herts, in what looked to have shifted to a 3-horse race.

Session 10 (Sunday)
Suffolk, Sunderland and Durham all took 4 points against Northumberland, Norfolk and Essex, while Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire went 3-3.

Suffolk's lead was still 4 points over Sunderland, while Hertfordshire had slipped a point further back.

Session 11 (Sunday)
Sunderland and Norfolk both completed clean sweeps, over Cambridgeshire and Northumberland. Suffolk beat Durham 5-1, and Hertfordshire took 4 off Essex.

Suffolk retained their lead, albeit reduced by a point. Sunderland were 3 points off, while Hertfordshire were now 7 points off the lead.

Session 12 (Sunday)
Hertfordshire put themselves back into contention, winning all 3 against Sunderland, Essex dropped just one point to [Northumberland, and Suffolk and Durham took 4 points against Cambridgeshire and Norfolk respectively.

Those results lifted Herts into second, and allowed Suffolk to extend their lead to 5 points, as Sunderland dropped away to third.

Session 13 (Sunday)
Sunderland had a chance to get back in contention as they took on Suffolk, but it just went Suffolk's way, as they won 2 out of 3 games. Meanwhile Herts could only muster one win against Norfolk.

Essex took two games against Cambridgeshire, and Northumberland had another great session, taking all 3 games against Durham.

That combination of results meant that Suffolk were now 7 points clear, and with only one session to go, and 6 points to play for, Suffolk had retained the title.

Final Session
Northumberland finished the weekend in 8th place, but along the way they had some notable highs, in particular the final session on Saturday, taking on leaders Hertfordshire, when they won all 3 games, and Sunday afternoon when theyy did the same against Durham.

Durham had come into the weekend as the Northern champions, but never really got going. As with Northumberland, their best session was probably against Hertfordshire when, in Sunday's first session they won 2 games and only just missed out in the third.

After finishing third last year, 6th place will have been a disappointment for Cambridgeshire. Saturday's opening two sessions were the bright spot, as they won 5 of their first 6 games, and held the top spot, but after that they were on the slide. They bounced back up to fourth at the start of Sunday, but slipped away again in the afternoon.

Essex spent most of the weekend bouncing around between fourth and fifth spot, and ended up only just missing out on 4th by a single point. It was 5th place for the second year on the trot, but with an increased points tally.

Norfolk will have been pleased with their showing, a huge imporvement on last year's 7th place. There was even a time on Saturday where they shared the top spot. But they spent most of their time in a tussle with Essex, before winning out, in part thanks to a game in the final session which went from 9-7 down to 11-9 up on the last end.

A depleted Sunderland team spent much of the weekend hovering around the top three, before coming on strong on Sunday, bringing the gap down from 8 points to just 3 with 3 sessions to go, but slipped up against Hertfordshire, and finished comfortably in third place.

Hertfordshire came extremely close to taking the title last year, and early on looked well on course to go one better this year, but the combination of that final session on Saturday when they lost all 3 games to Northumberland, and the opening session on Sunday when they only picked up one win against Durham, proved fatal for their chances. That allowed Suffolk to grab the lead, and they stayed just out of reach thereafter. It should be said, though, that head-to-head against Suffolk, Herts were very much the better team, picking up 9 of the 12 points on offer.

Consistency was the key to Suffolk's victory. They were very much outbowled by Herts when the two teams faced one another, but outside of those matches, Suffolk generally made fewer errors in terms of losing matches they would have expected to win, while the same could not necessarily be said of their closest rivals. Hitting the front at the end of Saturday, they hung on to their narrow lead all through Sunday, as they managed to avoid any completely disastrous sessions. If there was damage, it was always limited.

It was Suffolk's 10th consecutive title, taking their tally to 15 wins overall, and now matching Cambridgeshire's record.

The full set of results can be found here.