Mark Charlett’s crushing rink win wasn’t enough to stop Oxfordshire slipping to a 121-104 defeat against Middlesex in the Homes Counties League at Oxford City & County.

With Kent having retained the title with a 111-94 win over Middlesex a week earlier, the two counties’ hopes of silverware had already been dashed.

But Charlett’s four of Trevor Prew, John McGeough and Kevin Alder excelled to brush aside skip Alister Frankland 26-13.

However, Oxon won on only one of the other five rinks with Alan Ley’s side of Mike Clarke, Shane Cooper and Craig Nicoll edging home 17-16.

Oxfordshire 101 (4pts), Middlesex 121 (18)

(Oxon rinks first)

Rink 1: J Bland, R Jackson, I Whelpton, A Prew 12; C Mason, K Hill, P Fuller, R Clark 15.

Rink 2: S Tolhurst, R Full, Ge Moon, M Sykes 20; A Dempster, R Smith, E Prior, A Knott 26.

Rink 3: B Bloomfield, D Wedge, C Earl, B Sparkes 10; D Pitt, J Geeves, G Dear, R Leleux 29.

Rink 4: M Clarke, S Cooper, C Nicoll, A Ley 17; P Reynolds, M Kopp, E Rudston, T Waller 16.

Rink 5: P McGrath, J O’Shea, P Comley, I Snowdon 16; G Adams, D Todd, A Bracallello, B Elbourn 22.

Rink 6: T Prew, J McGeough, K Alder, M Charlett 26; D Hards, B Shortt, A Harman, A Frankland 13.

FRED Roberts, in his third and final game for Oxfordshire on his trip from Spain, made it a hat-trick of highest-win ning rinks in the 134-89 friendly victory over Hertfordshire at Henley.

Oxfordshire 134, Hertfordshire 89 (Oxon rinks scores): J Wylie, M Cameron, R Claridge, J O’Shea won 25-11; G Hooker, P Brittin, B Bloomfield, A Ley won 19-15; D Silvester, C Blakeway, M Jones, I Whelpton lost 20-19; F Roberts, A Perona, J McGeough, M Petersen won 27-12; R Jackson, F Benham, J Eatwell, B Gilkes won 25-18; S Tolhurst, A Braden, B Evans, S Gilkes won 19-13.