Oxfordshire’s Middleton Cup dreams were shattered with a 131-94 defeat by Berkshire in the quarter-final at Chesham.

Oxon, going into the game on the back of a great performance against Kent, could not reproduce the same form and ended up losing on all six rinks.

A formidable Berkshire side started strongly, opening up a 17-shot lead after five ends.

The gap increased as the game went on and despite a brief rally by Oxfordshire when it closed to 18, Berkshire kicked on to a deserved victory and a place in the semi-finals against Essex at Worthing on Saturday, August 24.

Mark Charlett’s rink of Mick Nash, Gary May and Jason King came closest to pulling off a win as they fought back following a slow start to go down 16-15 to skip Alan Price.

Paul Sharman’s side of Lee Young, Andy Martin and Barry Lambourne led 13-9 after ten ends against Andrew Knapper, but fell away to lose 19-15.

Captain Alan Prew’s four of Keith Holloway, Ian Henwood and Nathan Lewis saw Simon Jones stretch away over the last six ends to triumph 20-15.

Ian Snowdon’s side of Dean May, Remy Clanfield and Shaun Claridge trailed 14-3 after ten ends against Ryan Buckett, and although they rallied, the damage had been done and they went down 23-16.

Calvin Carpenter’s team of Jon Philpott, David Clanfield and Robbie Clanfield were always fighting a losing battle in their 27-18 reverse by Jon Stradling.

And Mark Sykes’s rink of AJ Docherty, George Schwab and Richard Redford were blown away in the second half of their encounter against Chris Holliday to lose 26-15.

Despite the scoreline, manager Steve Gilkes was proud of his Oxfordshire team.

He said: “I would like to praise my players for the way they have performed during the campaign.

“They have been terrific to a man and that includes the reserves who have selflessly made themselves available and supported the team throughout.

“Two quarter-finals in two seasons shows that we are nearly there and we will now regroup and look towards qualification in 2014.”

Berkshire 131, Oxfordshire 94

(Berkshire rinks first)

Rink 1: BJ Byles, C Brooks, J Heapy, R Buckett 23, D May, Re Clanfield, S Claridge, I Snowdon 16.

Rink 2: A Symondson, M Thornton, N Jones, C Holliday 26, AJ Docherty, G Schwab, R Redford, M Sykes 15.

Rink 3: M Clisby, M Newman, D Holder, A Price 16, M Nash, G May, J King, M Charlett 15.

Rink 4: D W-Emberson, M Hyde, T Broad, S Jones 20, K Holloway, I Henwood, N Lewis, A Prew 15.

Rink 5: A Piper, N Gauld, D Hall, J Stradling 27, J Philpott, D Clanfield, Ro Clanfield, C Carpenter 18.

Rink 6: S Giles, D Miles, A Collins, A Knapper 19, L Young, A Martin, B Lambourne, P Sharman 15.