Shears, Wantage, won the battle of the Summer League giants as they beat Cowley Community Centre A 5-4 in a titanic Ladies Premier Division clash.

In a contest between the top two teams in the county, Denise Pape gave the visiting Cowley team a good start by beating Angie Godfrey.

Shears levelled when Claire Bywaters beat Pat Ireson for her 150th straight win in the league.

Community Centre regained the lead when Karen Hutton beat Iris Doyle.

But Shears again drew level, as Shirley Lawrence overcame Karen Williams, even though her opponent scored a maximum.

The visitors led for the third time when Paulette Guy defeated Gill Cox.

Shears squared the match at 3-3 when five-times world champion Trina Gulliver beat Hazel Prowton, and a 2-1 pairs win gave them a narrow success.

In the Men's League, Premier side Cowley Community Centre C had to come from behind to beat Section 1 rivals Shelley Arms C.

Cowley took the lead, when Peter Jones beat Lyndon Richards, but the visiting Shelley hit back to lead 3-1 after wins from Ray Pape, Jamie Byles and Terry Wood.

But the Premier side fought back to level at 3-3 through Percy Brain and Jim Jukes, and they completed a nervous 5-4 victory by winning the pairs.

Premier Section leaders Railway A put more daylight between themselves and their nearest rivals with an 8-1 demolition of hosts Shears, Wantage.

Kevin Wilkins recorded a maximum as he beat Richard Parker for Shears' only win.

Dennis Butler scored a 180 while helping Littlemore British Legion to a 2-0 lead over College Oak in Section 2.

But the home side hit back strongly to lead 3-2, with two of their wins coming from Paul Kelsey and Bob Pollard

Legion squared the match at 3-3 when Bob Brown beat Martin Robinson, and the Legion won the pairs 2-1 for an exciting 5-4 success.

Unbeaten Steventon Social Club visited Nuffield Arms B, who took the opening game through Matthew Brain.

But the visitors stormed back to lead 4-1.

The home side pulled one game back when Roger Cotterell, who hit two maximums, beat Les Radford.

Steventon had the final say when a 3-0 pairs win secured a 7-2 success.

Section 3 leaders Nuffield Bar A gained sweet revenge for the previous week's 5-4 defeat by Three Horseshoes A when they cruised to a 6-3 victory, making it five wins out of the last six matches.