LANCASHIRE were crowned kings of England when they won the County Finals for the first time in nine years.

And they took the title across the Pennines from holders and great rivals Yorkshire after beating Leicestershire & Rutland 6-3 on the final day at Hollinwell to complete the grand slam, having already wrapped up the Northern Counties championship and league honours.

In the other match, Hampshire drew with Wiltshire 4½-4½ to take second spot leaving Wiltshire with the wooden spoon for the second successive year.

“This is fantastic,” said Lancashire captain Bill Bromilow. “I visualised at the start of the season that we’d win everything this year and that’s how it’s turned out.

“We have a great young team who have bonded well and the spirit has been great, just like the US Ryder Cup team. I think that counts for a lot.”

Bromilow is in his first year as captain but he was quick to pay tribute to his predecessor Bob Bardsley and boys' captain Terry Horrocks for there work over recent years.

“A lot of hard work and training has been put in over the past five or six years with Bob with the first team and Terry with the boys and my contribution has been just lining them up and sending them out," he said.

After edging the morning foursomes 2-1, Lancashire required only one win from the six singles and they flew out of the blocks in the afternoon.

They were clearly ahead in the top four matches and it was just a case of who would secure the first point to see Lancashire over the line.

That honour fell to Ashton-under-Lyne's Matthew Nixon when the former boy cap romped to a 5 and 3 win over full international Neil Chaudhuri.

Nixon, 19, was in superb form, being an approximate four under par when the match finished on the 15th hole.

Lancashire added to their tally with victories for Mark Young - who won all three of his matches - John Carroll and Jon Hurst to underline their supremacy but there was consolation for Leicestershire when Sam Mayfield beat Jack Senior 3 and 2 while Jason Palmer beat James Robinson on the 18th green.