Richard Redford made a big impact on his first outing as an Oxfordshire skip with a crushing victory in the 118-114 win over Wiltshire in their first Middleton Cup trial game at Banbury Central.

The Banbury Borough man’s rink of George Schwab, David Silvester and Jason King chalked up a 30-7 win – and that proved decisive as Oxon edged home by four shots after trailing by ten at halfway.

Redford’s side provided just one of two winning rinks for Oxon, with Mark Charlett’s four of AJ Docherty, Sammy Timms and Colin Whitehead recording the other with a 21-13 success.

Alan Prew’s quartet of Andy Wise, Stuart Richens and Baden Sparkes went down 20-18.

Howard Watts’ side of Ian Whelpton, Timmy Warner and Paul Sharman fell 24-18, while Ian Snowdon’s four of Lee Young, Will Campion and Malcolm Edney went down 21-13.

Mark Sykes’s rink of John Philpott, George Moon and Nick Rae-Welsh suffered the heaviest loss with a 29-18 reverse.