Hampshire's amateur golfers produced a brilliant team performance to win the South East Counties League title at Frinton-on-Sea on Sunday.

Essex flaunted home advantage and were mown down 9-2 in a surprisingly one-sided final between the two league group winners. The match was all but over after the morning foursomes.

There were four matches in the first session and Hampshire won them all with their England internationals Darren Henley and David Porter setting the standard.

The Stoneham pair took on fellow England players Richard McEvoy and Richard Blaskill and beat them 2&1.

Basingstoke's Craig Humphrey, a late call up when Channel Islander Richard Ramskill dropped out of the team, paired up with South Winchester's Tim Markwick to win 2&1.

And Brokenhurst Manor pair Kevin Weeks and Martin Young and the Stoneham combination of Alan Mew and Ryan Henley showed their fighting qualities by snatching one-hole successes.

The foursomes whitewash gave Hampshire a great surge of confidence going into the singles and Darren Henley again produced a quality performance to beat McEvoy 2&1.

Teenager Porter, back in the county team after a busy summer campaigning in youth internationals, slipped up 2&1 to Braskill after missing short putts on both the 15th and 16th greens.

But Young (one up), Markwick (one up), Ryan Henley (3&2) and Weeks, with a win on the last green, completed a crushing victory over Essex and the veteran Mew could afford the luxury of a half in the last match.

"We won because we had the better golfers," smiled Hampshire captain Lionel Smith. "Most of our boys are off plus and their quality shone through."

For Hampshire it was their first South East Counties League title win for five years and sweet consolation for a heavy defeat in last year's final.