Left-hander Mayfield notched 4.5 out of 6 points with a battling display in the three-day championship at the testing course at Notts GC, Hollinwell.

But Leicestershire and Rutland had to be content with third place in the tournament dominated by Lancashire, who won all their three matches for maximum points to claim the prestigious title for the ninth time.

Leicestershire made a fine start, winning 5-4 against Wiltshire on the opening day.

They took the foursomes 2-1 and this was a vital lead when the singles were shared at 3-all.

But they lost 5.5-3.5 to Hampshire/Isle of Wight/Channel Islands on the second day, when they were down 2-1 after the foursomes and lost the singles 3-2, one game halved.

They clashed with Lancashire on the final day, knowing they had a lot to do. They halved two of the foursomes, but Lancashire dominated the singles, with Leicestershire's only points coming from Mayfield and Jason Palmer in the last two games.

Leicestershire were led by playing captain Phil Thomason from Harborough.

He said afterwards: "We all gave it our best possible shot, but it was just not to be. Our team spirit throughout was great. We tried really hard and are extremely proud of reaching this national final for the second year in-a-row and to be one of the top ranked counties in the country."

Palmer scored four out of six points. The squad was completed by David Gibson, Liam Plant, Matt Whelband, Neil Chaudhuri.

* More golf reports in Thursday's Harborough Mail.