Headington A remain on course for their third successive double following a nail-biting 70-69 win over Carterton in the Oxford & District League Cup semi-final.

With the league title already in the bag, they will now face Oxford City & County A in a repeat of last year’s final, sponsored by S&J Timms Cleaning Services and Frances Baker, of Rub-A-Dub-Dub laundrette, under the floodlights at Kidlington next Thursday.

The semi-finals at South Oxford were also a repeat of 12 months ago.

Headington’s Howard Watts and Carterton’s Stuart Richens finished up with good wins over Gordon Walker and Jason King respectively, leaving the other two rinks to settle the tie.

Carterton had edged ahead by five shots on the game with fewest ends to play.

But a three on the last end from Mark Charlett’s four, and with Headington’s Ian Snowden also mounting a good fightback, it left Carterton’s Baden Sparkes needing to pick up four shots on the final end to claim victory.

After killing the end once, the Carterton four were unable to secure the shots needed, eventually going down by one.

In the other semi-final, Oxford City & County A once more proved too strong for Division 2 champions West Witney to post a 74-65 victory.

Despite again missing a couple of their regular back-end bowlers, the Witney side put in a valiant effort, but City & County had their measure.

SEMI-FINAL RESULTS

Headington A 70, Carterton 69 (Kidlington skips first): I Snowdon 17, B Sparkes 19; J King 13, S Richens 21; H Watts 21, G Walker 14; M Charlett 19, P Sharman 15.

West Witney 65, Oxford City & County A 74 (West Witney skips first): M Hitchcox 22, C Earl 17; A McIntyre 15, M Hancock 26; P Latter 12, P Comley 18; P Skidmore 16, A Ley 13.