Bicester's Brandon King has made his debut for Oxfordshire Under 25s – at the age of just ten.

He is believed to be the youngest bowler to make his county bow at this level when he lined up with George Schwab, Chris Gilkes and Lee Wilkinson in the match against Surrey at Leatherhead.

It was not a fairy-tale win for Brandon as his rink went down 21-14, but he nevertheless helped Oxfordshire to overall victory 89-63.

Brandon has only been playing bowls for two years, but has already made great strides and Under 25s manager Steve Gilkes is predicting a bright future.

He said: “The average age of our players is between 17 and 20, so Brandon has real potential.

“You don’t know with kids that young whether they are going to stick at it, but he has the potential to do very well.

“It’s down to him and how he develops. Some youngsters hit a level and don’t go beyond that, but others have huge potential.”

Bowls left its tag of being an old man’s game behind a long time ago and more and more young players are now taking up the sport.

Gilkes added: “It’s good to get youngsters involved and when they come along and see others of their age having fun, they want to get involved.”

Brandon will not be short of advice as both his father Jason and grandfather Mick, have played for Oxfordshire.