Oxfordshire made the top flight of Inter-Counties Championship darts for the first time despite losing their final match away to Staffordshire.

o The visitors went down to a 24-15, despite a strong showing from their two ladies' teams, but they just scraped together enough points to beat Durham for the second promotion position.

In achieving this feat, Oxon made history as the first team in the competition's 35 years to gain promotion from Division 4 right through to the Premier Division in successive seasons.

Again it was Oxfordshire ladies who shone with both the A and B teams winning their sections.

The ladies B won 4-2 on the first day. Shirley Castle (20.88) was lady-of-the-match, with further wins from Irene Richardson, Cath Birch and Cali Birch.

However, the men's B team lost 9-3. Graham Manning (24.43) was man-of-the-match, with the other victories coming from Phil Addison (22.98) and Barry Stratford (22.32).

Going into Sunday's match trailing 11-7, Oxon pulled level when the ladies A team secured a 5-1 triumph Rebecca Rose (20.59) led the way, along with victories from Julie Newman (18.11), Louise Carroll (19.52), Karen Williams (17.68) and Linda Jones (18.48).

With promotion looming, the Oxon's men's A team faltered, going down 9-3.

Man-of-the-match was Olly Varney playing his 232nd game for the county, but the only other winners were were Ade Larner, who won all nine of his games this season, and Roger Haines (26.30).

Once the Durham result came through, Oxon could celebrate a remarkable achievement.