Oxfordshire enjoyed a double success at the English Short Mat Association National Championships at Kettering.

Mathew Smith and Trevor Brown won the pairs title, and then teamed up with David Wiggins and Roger Wiggins to take the fours crown.

Smith and Brown became Oxon's first pairs champions with a 9-5 victory over Shrop- shire 2nd in a tense final.

In the semi-final, the Didcot duo scored two fours in the first three ends on the way to a 14-4 win over War- wickshire.

Smith and Brown pipped Shropshire 8-7 in the last eight after squeezing past Gloucestershire by the same score and knocking out East Sussex 10-5.

In the group stages, the Oxon pair won their three matches against Humberside 4th, Cheshire 2nd and Kent in comfortable fashion.

Buoyed by their pairs success, Smith and Brown then joined Wootton's David Wiggins and Roger Wiggins to capture the fours crown, beating Devon 7-6 in a nail-biting final.

In the semi-final against North Yorkshire, some clever tactical play by Oxon saw the opposition force the jack off the mat twice in the opening ends teams are only allowed to do this twice or they incur a three-shot penalty.

This stifled the forcing tactics which had helped North Yorkshire progress to the last four, and with Oxon drawing well they ran out 12-7 winn- ers.

Oxon's four had taken early control of their quarter-final against a strong Cheshire to set up a 12-4 win.

This came after they had staved off a spirited fightback by Northamptonshire to triumph 8-6, having knocked out London 2nd 9-4.

In the group stage, Oxon's four saw off Herefordshire 2nd, Hampshire 3rd and Gloucestershire 3rd.

Brown also reached the singles semi-finals where he lost a superb match against Devon's Phil Atkins, who went on to win the final.