The superb condition of the greens, fast and true, was in stark contrast to the wet and windy weather, which was reflected in the scores.

The home side, trailing by 56 points after the first leg at Ghyll, accumulated 332 points to Ghyll's 346.

Thus Ghyll's winning 70-point margin over the two legs meant that Ghyll comfortably retained the trophy.

Ghyll's Andrew Harling and Sally Holden shot 34 points, the best score of the day, while Brian Strickland and Margaret Walker (33) and Kevin and Pat Parrington (33) also excelled for the visitors.

Steve and Cheryl Barnes (32), Tony and Jean Ingram (32), and Peter Wilson and Betty Taylor (30) were the best of the home pairings.

The recent lousy weather abated sufficiently at Ghyll on Sunday to ensure that the so-called Summer Fourball was in fact not a misnomer.

The pairing of Bob Bugler and Sean Nutter returned a score of 43 points to take the victors' laurels, while the Derick Hartley-Carlo Langhorn combination (42) pushed the team of David Bellwood and Clifford Hillary (41) into third place.