OXFORDSHIRE boys qualified for the national finals of 14 & Under County Cup after a thrilling shoot-out against Middlesex at Oxford Sports.

The team of Ollie Broadhurst, Gabriel Curreli, Connor Ferguson, George Slater and Will Taylor beat Gloucestershire 6-0 and Hereford & Worcestershire 4-2 to reach the play-off with Middlesex.

The singles were split 2-2, and after Slater and Broadhurst lost the opening doubles, Ferguson and Curreli scraped through 15-13 in the third-set tie-break, having saved one match point, to force a shoot-out

Ferguson and Broadhurst, chosen to represent, Oxon then raced into an 8-0 lead before closing it out 10-1.

The team qualify for the national finals in Bolton for the second consecutive year with Ferguson, Broadhurst and Slater surviving from the 2015 squad.

Oxon’s girls team of Jasmine Conway, Jana Cooper Marcos, Chloe Elliott, Lara Frank and Laila Zugic came fourth at North Oxford.

After defeating Channel Islands 6-0, Oxon lost by the same score to Hertfordshire and Worcestershire.

In the third and fourth play-off they lost 5-1 to Cambridgeshire, with Jasmine Conway winning 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.