Oxfordshire suffered their third 8-7 defeat of the season when they met newly-crowned champions Hertfordshire 2nd in Division 1C of the Inter-County Championships.

Chris Raw and Chris Gibbins started with two men's singles wins, while Dave Soanes and Dave Buckingham took two men's doubles, but there was only one win from their women.

Trailing 7-5 at the start of the three mixed doubles, Oxfordshire required one rubber for a bonus point.

Oxon gained two successes as Buckingham remained undefeated with a win with Sarah Torgersen, while Raw came through at No 3 with Emma Crammond, but overall victory just eluded them.

Oxfordshire 3rd missed out on promotion in Division 5D in agonising fashion, despite beating the Isle of Wight 9-6 at Ventor.

Needing a 10-5 win to go up, Oxon lost three matches by 21-19 scorelines.

They opened with four singles wins from Dave Andrew, Jonathan Campbell, Amber Wing and Alex Lewington.

Andy Purrott and Jon Campbell took their two men's doubles to halve this discipline, but just one women's doubles came their way.

Requiring all three mixed, they won two. Purrott was unbeaten in his three matches.

Devon took the title by a point.

  • Oxford continued their unbeaten run in Men's Division 2 of the Oxford & District League with a 5-4 over Evenlode A.

Pete Browning and Lee Gerrard led the way for Oxford, who are now firm favourites to make their first ever foray into Division 1.

Simone Finkmann and Charlotte Moss steered Oxford University to a 5-4 win over Evenlode in women's Division 2.