Durham and Yorkshire got their 2025 Northern Counties League seasons off to winning starts in dramatic fashion at Tynemouth and Hesketh respectively.
In the North East derby at Tynemouth, Durham beat Northumberland 10-8 following a dramatic turnaround in the singles. Trailing 4-2 after the morning foursomes, Durham’s 12-strong team came back with an 8-4 win in the singles – Beamish Park’s Sam Robinson sealing the victory on the last hole of the day with a sensational birdie from the first fairway having teed off on the 18th all-square with James Conn. There were also singles wins for Dan Fox, James Glenn, Jack Richardson, Ryan Riley and Mike Henson – while Martin McCririck, Jamie Birkbeck, Adam Rochester and Grant Dixon earned halves in an incredibly close contest.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire completed a dramatic victory of their own at Hesketh. Trailing 4.5-1.5 after the morning foursomes, the top three – Tom Osborne, Ben Brown and Jake Sowden – started the afternoon session strongly with three wins. Lancashire then got within half a point of victory with wins in the next four matches – including three on the final hole. Yorkshire then shone through the rest afternoon matches with Habib Khan, George Hanson, Ollie Smith, Lewis Hollingworth and Matt Doling all winning to complete a narrow 9.5-8.5 win.
In the final match of the opening weekend, Cheshire beat Cumbria 10.5-7.5 at Workington.
The second round of matches takes place on June 14-15 with Durham facing Lancashire at Boldon, Yorkshire taking on Cumbria at Scarcroft, and Cheshire hosting Northumberland at Ringway.
