Session 2 (Saturday)
Suffolk, Norfolk and Hertfordshire all took maximum points, against Northumberland, Bedfordshire and Essex, while Cambridgeshire took 2 out of 3 games against Durham.

Hertfordshire led the way with Suffolk 2 points behind, and Cambs, Norfolk and Sundeland sharing 3rd.

Session 3 (Saturday)
Suffolk won all 3 against Bedfordshire, while Herts, Durham and Essex all picked up 4 points against Sunderland, Northumberland and Cambridgeshire respectively.

Hertfordshire and Suffolk were now level on points, 8 clear of Cambs, Durham and Sunderland.

Session 4 (Saturday)
Sunderland were the only team to get a clean sweep, as they played Bedfordshire. Hertfordshire won two games to Durham's one, as did Cambridgeshire against Norfolk, while Essex and Suffolk shared the points, 3 all.

Hertfordshire led Suffolk by a point, while Sunderland in third were 6 points off the lead but with a session in hand.

Session 5 (Saturday)
Hertfordshire, Essex and Sunderland each won two out of three, against Cambridgeshire, Northumberland and Suffolk respectively, while Durham and Norfolk came out of their encounter with 3 points each.

Hertfordshire's lead at the top had extended to 3 points over Suffolk, while Sundlerland still had that 6 point defecit with a session to spare.

Session 6 (Saturday)
Suuffolk took all 6 points of Cambridgeshire, Sunderland won 2 games against Durham, Norfolk took 5 off Northumberland, as did Essex against Bedfordshire. It was Beds' first point of the day.

With Hertfordshire sitting out the session, Suffolk moved to the top by 3 points, although the next 4 teams all had games in hand over them. Sunderland were now 2 points behind Herts, but now on the same number of games.

Session 7 (Saturday)
Things got interesting as, with Suffolk having already stumbled against Sunderland, the same now happened for both Hertfordshire and Sunderland.

While Suffolk dropped one point to Norfolk, Sunderland dropped 5 to Essex and Hertfordshire dropped 4 to Northumberland.

In the other game it was a clean sweep for Cambridgeshire over Bedfordshire.

That meant that Suffolk led Herts by 6 points, and Sunderland by 9 points, albeit the two casing teams had games in hand.

Session 8 (Saturday)
Essex , who were on something of an upswing, took all three games against Norfolk, and it was the same for Sunderland against Northumberland. Bedfordshire picked up their first win of the day, against Durham, and in the top of the table clash, Suffolk came out on top against Hertfordshire, winning twice to Herts' one win.

That meant that Suffolk now led Sunderland by 7 points, Hertfordshire by 6, and Essex by 5, but would be sitting out the day's final session.

Session 9 (Saturday's Final Session)
Northumberland won 2 games against Bedfordshire, Beds picking up a second win of the day. Essex won all 3 against Durham, Sunderland won 2 games to Cambridgeshire's 1, while Norfolk and Herftordshire each won one, with the third game drawn.

Suffolk finished the day on top, with 36 points, Sunderland were now 3 points behind, in second and were joined on that total by a resurgent Essex who had dropped just 2 points in the last 4 sessions of the day, while Hertfordshire, who had spent most of the day in the lead closed out the day in 4th, on 31 points, still only 5 off the lead.

It's rare for more than two teams to still be in serious contention for the title at the end of the first day, but for there to be four was quite unique. There really was no telling who would come out on top at the end of Sunday.

Session 10 (Sunday)
While Hertfordshire won all 3 against Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Sunderland and Cambridgeshire all won 2 out of 3, against Durham, Norfolk and Northumberland respectively.

Suffolk's 3 point lead remained intact, with Hertfordshire and Sunderland tying for second, as Essex sat out the session.

Session 11 (Sunday)
Norfolk took a clean sweep against Bedfordshire, as did Suffolk over Northumberland. Cambridgeshire just got the best of Durham, 2 games to 1, while Essex and Herts came away with 3 points each.

Suffolk led Hertfordshire by 6 points, Sunderland were 3 points further back, with games in hand, and Essex were one point behind them, again with a session in hand over the two leaders.

Session 12 (Sunday)
Suffolk picked up a maximum against Bedfordshire, Durham won two out of three against Northumberland as did Essex against Cambridgeshire, while in the crunch game between Herts and Sunderland it was Herts who came out on top with 2 wins.

Suffolk's lead was now out to 8 points over Herts. Essex were 3 points further back with a session in hand, and Sunderland were a point behind Essex.

Session 13 (Sunday)
Sunderland took all 3 games against Bedfordshire, as did Norfolk against Cambridgeshire. Herfordshire dropped just one point to Durham, and Suffolk beat Essex 2 games to 1.

The chasers closed slightly on Suffolk, but Essex were now out of the picture with that loss.

Session 14 (Sunday)
Essex and Hertfordshire both took maximums, against Northumberland and Cambridgeshire respectively. Durham won 2 games to Norfolk's 1, and it was the same for Suffolk over Sunderland.

Sunderland's big chance to eat into their defecit to the leaders was missed which meant that they too looked out of the running.

Session 15 (Sunday)
A very good session for Northumberland as they took a clean sweep over Norfolk, while it was 2 wins to 1 for Suffolk over Cambs, Sunderland over Durham and Essex over Bedfordshire, Sunderland over Essex and Hertfordshire over Northumberland.

With Herts sitting out, Suffolk's lead was out to 9 points, although Herts had that session in hand and the two teams wstill had to play one another.

Session 16 (Sunday)
Bedfordshire earned 2 points against Cambridgeshire and Sunderland came out on top of their clash with Essex, 2 games to 1. Meanwhile Suffolk took all 3 games against Norfolk, but Herts against stumbled against Northumberland, dropping 2 crucial points.

Suffolk had extended their lead to 11 points. but they would have to sit out the final session and they would be playing Hertfordshire next, they'd need to win all 3 games, but they still had a chance.

Session 17 (Sunday)
Durham won all 3 over Beds, Sunderland dropped just a point to Northumberland, and Essex and Norfolk took an even share of the points.

Meanwhile, Suffolk needed to secure one win to be sure of the title from 3 closely fought games. That win came from the first game of the trio to finish, and only swung to Suffolk on the last end, after that it was another win and a draw for Suffolk.

With a 15 point margain the title was secured, and the fight was now for second, with Sunderland holding a substantial shot advantage which made them favourites.

Final Session
Bedfordshire finished the weekend on a high, taking a clean sweep of their games against Northumberland, and it meant that having spent the first half of Saturday without a point, they actually finished with a better tally than last year.

Northumberland finished 8th, just as they did in 2025, but they also scored higher this year.

Cambridgeshire fell from a 5th place finish last year to end up 7th.

Norfolk were down on points, but up one place compared to last year.

Durham were also up a place, finishing 5th having looked like they were going to finish behind Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

Last year had been closer in the midfield with a bit of a gap to the top 3, but this year there was a clear water between 5th and 4th. Essex were 4th again, but they were 19 points clear of the 5th placed team, and whereas last year they were 13 behind 3rd, this year it was just 3 points.

Hertfordshire had entered the weekend as one of, if not the favourites, and had spend most of Saturday at the top, but they struggled against Northumberland and, crucially against Suffolk, and fell back to third.

In 2016 Sunderland took their best ever finish of second, and they repeated that this year, finishing 9 points behind the winners, which is as close as they have ever been, having shared the points 6-6 in their encounters with Suffolk across the weekend, running them closer than anyone else managed.

Suffolk had come into the championships having not just missed out on the Eastern Counties League title, but finished 3rd for the first time since 2003, so any doubts about their ability to hang on to the Nationals title again would not have been misplaced. But they did, for the 12th time in a row, which was down partly to not dropped points unexpectedly, and by beating Hertfordshire 9 points to 3 overall, flip that they other way round, and Herts would have finally taken the title they missed out on for the last 3 years.

Many thanks to everyone who played their game in the right spirit all weekend, and also thanks to Norfolk for their efforts in raising £550 on the raffle.

The full set of results can be found here.

Coverage of both day's play can be found here.