HOME COUNTIES LEAGUE

YOUTH came to the fore as Oxfordshire rounded off their campaign with an exciting victory over Buckinghamshire at Bletchley Town.

Oxon ran out 16-6 winners, but only picked up five more shots than their rivals.

Languishing in fifth spot in the league, Oxon needed victory to leapfrog their hosts. And they did just that in a tight affair which saw both sides always in contention.

However, it was the four made up exclusively of under 25s players that won the day. Skipped by Gary May, the rink of Sam Watts, Shane Cooper and George Schwab played excellent bowls throughout to win 15 out of the 21 ends.

It saw them notch up 40 shots and cruise to an outstanding 29-shot win over Bucks fours champion, Keith Patrick.

This was the first time that a junior rink had played in the senior HCL and each of them proved without doubt that they are up to the task.

Jason King’s four were always involved in a tight game on rink one and eventually lost out by two shots to Brett Long.

Despite playing some good bowls, the rinks skipped by Ian Whelpton and Mike Petersen also slipped to defeats.

Alan Ley, with his City & County four, looked on course for a big success.

They did win by five shots, but after losing the last four ends, the final score did not reflect their dominance.

Gordon Walker’s rink saw Thame’s Adie Twinn making his county debut.

And a thrilling match went down to the wire.

The scores were level going into the last end, and with one bowl remaining, Ray Gaskins’s Bucks rink held three shots.

But Walker drew shot with a superb wood to take victory.

Oxfordshire 129 (16pts), Buckinghamshire 124 (6)

Rink 1: B Bloomfield, D Wedge, M Hancock, J King lost 17-15.

Rink 2: S Watts, S Cooper, G Schwab, G May won 40-11.

Rink 3: P Lopez, R Jackson, C Earl, A Ley won 21-16.

Rink 4: A Kemish, A Twinn, P Comley, G Walker won 23-22.

Rink 5: B May, M Gleeson, S Jones, I Whelpton lost 26-13.

Rink 6: R Green, J McGeogh, M Andrew, M Petersen lost 32-17.