Carterton's Paul Sharman is back in Oxfordshire’s EBA Middleton Cup team for the first time since 1987.

Sharman, the county singles champion, ends a 22-year spell in the wilderness after being selected for the opening group game against Hampshire at Banbury Central on Saturday (2pm).

His Carterton clubmates Andy Wise and Sammy Timms are also among seven players who receive recalls.

Bicester’s Jason King is back after returning to the game and performing well in the trial games.

And the three other bowlers to earn recalls are Banbury Borough’s Keith Holloway, Shiplake’s Barry Lambourne and Headingtons’ Mark Charlett.

Oxfordshire: K Holloway, Ge Moon, J King, M Sykes; A Wise, P Sharman, S Richens, A Prew; S Claridge, N Lewis, R Redford, H Watts; J Philpott, B Lambourne, N Rae-Welsh, Gr Moon; M Nash, S Timms, C Whitehead, M Charlett; A McIntyre, M Petersen, R Clanfield, B Sparkes.

Half of Oxfordshire’s Middleton Cup team featured in the 128-108 defeat by Surrey in their opening Home Counties League game at Thame.

Oxon were just three shots adrift after ten ends, but Surrey stretched away in the second half of the match with skips Alan Ley and Calvin Carpenter suffering heavy defeats.

Ley’s rink of Steve Gibson, Paul McGrath and Mike Petersen were walloped 33-6 by skip Ian Honnor, having chalked up one shot in the first 15 ends.

Carpenter’s four of Ian Whelpton, Tim Jupp and Gordon Roper crashed 30-9 to Graham Vigor’s rink.

Mark Charlett’s quartet of Gary May, Jim Bland and Nick Rae-Welsh also met with defeat, but put up a much better fight, going down 24-21 to skip Lee Dickson.

Oxon won on the three other rinks.

Alan Prew’s side of Dave Hall, Kevin Alder and Stuart Richens got off to a storming start to blow away skip Nathan Beeson 24-11.

Mark Sykes’s Middleton Cup rink of Keith Holloway, George Moon and Jason King overpowered Darren King’s side 22-8.

And Greg Moon’s four of John Philpott, Sammy Timms and Richard Barnett always had the edge on skip Mike Sigamoney to record a 26-22 win.

Oxfordshire 108 (6pts), Surrey 128 (16)

(Oxon rinks first)

Rink 1: K Holloway, Ge Moon, J King, M Sykes 22; J Tucker, G Morgan, G McDonagh, D King 8.

Rink 2: S Gibson, P McGrath, M Petersen, A Ley 6; C Booxer, M Compsty, D Clark, I Honnor 33.

Rink 3: I Whelpton, T Jupp, G Roper, C Carpenter 9; A Gladwell, S Clark, A Howick, G Vigor 30.

Rink 4: D Hall, K Alder, S Richens, A Prew 24; R Corne, J Shillingford, N Dyer, N Beeson 11.

Rink 5: J Philpott, S Timms, R Barnett, Gr Moon 26; J Parrott, A Barclay, N Chapman, M Sigmoney 22.

Rink 6: G May, J Bland, N Rae-Welsh, M Charlett 21; M Rejmna, S O’Connell, I Ross, L Dickson 24.

Oxfordshire recorded a brace of wins in their latest friendlies, beating Bedfordshire 126-105 at Linslade BC and the Civil Service 141-104 at Berkshire and Three Mile Cross BC.

RESULTS

Bedfordshire 105, Oxfordshire 126 (Oxon rink scores): E Fry, M Collison, A Hunt, A Ley won 28-17; G Watts, P Beckett, T Gripe, B Buckingham won 19-17; P Brittin, M Cameron, B Smart, H Franklin lost 20-19; P Christmas, P Cross, L Lewis, I Whelpton lost 23-17; S Tolhurst, T Backer-Holst, N Satchell, G Weedon won 21-16; M Clarke, D Steel, D Allin, B Gilkes won 22-12.

Civil Service 104, Oxfordshire 141 (Oxon rink scores): G Hooker, D Snell, D Bullock, S Gilkes won 27-20; D Silvester, I Robinson, G Kennedy, G Weedon won 26-13; A Braden, M Jones, T Gripe, I Whelpton won 32-13; D Lines, L Eltringham, P Norton, A Ley won 22-19; J Rees, A Fleming, A Hall, B Evans won 21-19; S Tolhurst, T Backer-Holst, J McGeough, H Franklin lost 20-13.

Oxfordshire Under 25s went down 38-30 to Middlesex in the National Two Fours at Bounds Green BC.

Sam Muir’s rink of Shane Cooper, Darren Wakeman and Dan Wakeman were pipped 14-12, while Gary May’s four of Dean May, Lee Wilkinson and George Schwab lost 24-18.