Oxfordshire's boys impressed as they finished second in their Aegon Under 12 County Cup group.

Playing on home ground at the North Oxford club in Summertown, their campaign began badly with an 8-0 defeat to pre-event favourites Middlesex.

The setback was quickly forgotten, though, as they thrashed the Channel Islands by the same scoreline.

Day two began with a clash against local rivals Berkshire.

Oxon won the singles 4-2 and completed a fine victory when Ned Batstone and Louis Manson won the doubles 5-4, 4-0.

Needing to beat Essex in the final tie to finish second, they were pushed all the way.

With the scores level at 4-4 after the doubles, it went to a shoot-out, where Batstone and Manson held their nerve to secure a narrow win.

By contrast, Oxfordshire’s girls struggled against higher-ranked players in Botley.

Like the boys, they opened with an 8-0 defeat at the hands of a strong Middlesex team.

They were then also whitewashed by Buckinghamshire, whose top player had represented Great Britain a week earlier.

The girls rallied to take Berkshire to a shoot-out, thanks to a dramatic 13-11 final set win for Saffy Gujral and Laila Zugic in the doubles.

Despite having six match points, Oxon could not close out the match and Berkshire eventually won 16-14.

An 8-0 defeat to Essex in the final match left them bottom of the group.

Team captain Liz Bamber said: “The girls were a credit to the county and I feel they gained so much experience from the weekend.”