Oxfordshire Under 25s beat Middlesex Under 25s 51-34 in the National Double Rink preliminary round tie in the competition for the White Rose Trophy at Kidlington.

Skips George Schwab and Gary May, together with May’s brother, Dean, had all featured in Oxon’s Middleton Cup victory against Hampshire the previous day.

And they led the way as Oxon moved within one win of a place at the national championships at Worthing.

However, they will face what will be very strong opposition from Sussex in the final qualifer at Kidlington on Sunday, July 1.

They didn’t have it all their own way against Middlesex, whose skip Craig Hill made life difficult early on for the Mays and teammates Lee Wilkinson and Darren Wakeman.

However, a six on the sixth end settled things down and the Oxon lads were never headed again as they ran out 24-19 winners.

Schwab was joined by Carterton pair Ryan Full and Shane Cooper together with Watlington’s Chris Gilkes and struggled on a rain soaked green in the initial stages.

At nine ends they were eight shots behind their opponents skipped by Matt Larman.

However, a string of five winning ends saw them race away for a 27-15 victory.

Oxfordshire U25 51, Middlesex U25 34

(Oxon rinks first)

Rink 1: R Full, C Gilkes, S Cooper, G Schwab 27, R Card, R Hackwell, A Tanner, M Larman 15.

Rink 2: D Wakeman, L Wilkinson, D May, G May 24, G Adams, M Hall, P Wilshire, C Hill 19.