Bowls: Welsh powers into last four

Welsh will now have home advantage when he faces Banbury's Calvin Carpenter, who beat clubmate Mark Sykes 21-14, in the last four.

The other semi-final sees a clash between Foxhill clubmates Matty Hyde and David Harding, from Aylesbury.

Meanwhile, Oxford & District's Chris Allen, who made history in the area finals 12 months ago by becoming the first player to win all four titles, is out of all this year's competitions.

He saw his last hope disappear when, along with partner Jim Gammage, he went down 15-14 to Foxhill's David Fox and Matt Hyde in the last eight of the pairs.

AREA QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS

Singles: M Hyde (Foxhill) 21, D Fox (Foxhill) 17; D Harding (Foxhill) 21, A Wise (Carterton) 14; N Welsh (Oxford & District) 21, P Sharman (Carterton) 11; C Carpenter (Banbury) 21, M Sykes (Banbury) 14.

Pairs: D Fox & M Hyde (Foxhill) 15, J Gammage & C Allen (Oxford & District) 14 (after extra end); C Graves & T Hanger (Slade, Buckingham) 18, J Hicks & D Abbott (Carteton) 12; K Holloway & M Sykes (Banbury Cross) 26, J Philpott & M Philpott (Oxford & District) 14; D Hall & I Snowdon (Oxford & District) 25, R Lees & D Plater (Foxhill) 10.

Triples: A Bradley, D Sharpe & C Carpenter (Banbury Cross) 22, C Cole, W Fuller & J Gamblin (Bletchley) 10; C Graves, J McAndrew & E Hanger (Slade) 18, D Hall, I Snowdon & N Welsh (Oxford & District) 11; A McIntyre, M Hitchcock & S Richens (Carterton) 18, D Abbott, S Timms & B Sparkes (Carterton) 10; T Godman, R Lee & D Hardin (Foxhill) 19, D Fox, S Mead & M Hyde (Foxhill) 10.

Fours: D Sharpe, K Holloway, M Sykes & C Carpenter (Banbury) 33, A Crawley, B Slatter, V Bye & L Lacey (Oxford City & County) 6; D Clanfield, K Alder, G Walker, P Sharman (Carterton) 22, J Philpott, N Lewis, D Hall & I Snowdon (Oxford & District) 8; T Godman, K Barber, R Lee & D Harding (Foxhill) 23, A Mcintyre, S Timms, R Wise & H Williams (Carterton) 6.