Oxfordshire regained top spot in Premier Group 4 after a 26-10 victory over Hampshire.

Having lost top spot to West Sussex, Oxon needed the win to take pole position in their penultimate match.

And they did not disappoint, with every member of the team recording a victory.

Oxfordshire got off to a flying start by winning both singles matches. Trevor Brown triumphed 21-12 and Geoff Cross 13-12.

Both the fours matches were close early on, but while Julian Bradbury, Andrew Brown, Ted Mills and Neil Davis won theirs 10-5, the other match was lost.

After the pairs were shared, Oxon led 10-6 (100-82) at the half-way stage.

The third run of the mats again went well for the home side, with wins from Trevor Brown 16-12 and both the fours Anne Sirett, Christine Williams, Barrie James and Roger Wiggins 9-6, as well as Bradbury, Brown, Mills and Davis 8-4.

Hampshire tried to rally by taking the lead in three of the remaining games.

But good bowling by the hosts saw Gloria Smith and David Wiggins win 15-12, Mavis Street, Ernie Street and Les Woodward triumph 8-7, and Marilyn Davis, Denis Wilson and Bob Barnard prevail 11-6.

It enable Oxon to run out 26-10 winners, although the shots count 185-166, indicated what a hard-fought encounter it was.

RESULTS

T Brown won 21-12, won 16-12; G Cross won 13-12, lost 6-23; G Smith & D Wiggins lost 11-13, won 15-12; M Keevil & B Cummings won 20-6, won 12-14; M Street, E Street & L Woodward lost 7-14, won 8-7; M Davis, D Wilson & B Barnard won 12-7, won 11-6; A Sirett, C Williams, B James & R Wiggins lost 6-13, won 9-6; J Bradbury, A Brown, T Mills & N Davis won 10-5, won 8-4.

  • Oxfordshire A slipped to a 22-12 defeat against Herefordshire in Group 2.

However, they are still on course to finish in the top-two.

They started well when both Eric Hasker 19-11 and John Cole 20-7 won well, but both fours lost.

The second run also started well for the visitors with wins from Jan and Barry Hayward 18-11, as well as Jean and Tony Mullins 16-15, but again the points were shared with the home side winning both fours matches.

It meant there was nothing between the teams at the half-way point.

However, Hereford won three of the next four matches, with only John Cole 11-10 claiming points for Oxfordshire.

It proved to be a big moment, as despite seeing Betty Dibley, Edith Knight and Rodney Knight winning 13-11 as well as the Haywards claiming their second win of the afternoon, Oxon were edged out.

RESULTS

E Hasker won 19-11, lost 9-11; J Cole won 20-7, won 11-10; J Hayward & B Hayward won 18-11, won 16-6; J Mullins & T Mullins won 16-15, lost 8-20; B Dibley, E Knight & R Knight lost 5-10, won 13-11; M Strang, K Howarth & L Gray lost 5-16, lost 8-11; D Sirett, M Edwards, M Evans & B Evans lost 5-9, lost 6-13; P Collett, M Weller, K Dickson & J Moore lost 2-17, lost 7-8.