Oxfordshire warmed up for their forthcoming Middleton Cup campaign by seeing off Northamptonshire at Banbury Central.
But they had to battle back from behind over the closing five ends, to triumph 129-123 in a cracking finish.
Bob Gilkes's Oxon side led by three shots after five ends but were 70-56 down at ten and 93-83 in arrears after 15.
However, they pulled out all the stops over the last five ends for overall victory.
Mark Sykes's rink of Ryan Buckett, Robbie Clanfield and Shaun Claridge were the stars with a handsome 26-9 win over Andrew Hunter on rink two.
Other victories came on rink three from Calvin Carpenter, Baden Sparkes, George Moon and Lee Young, who were 24-12 winners, and Alan Prew's rink four comprising Mark Charlett, Mike Petersen and Andy Wise, who triumphed 27-17.
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That was offset by defeats for Gary Lucas, 22-19 on rink one, Howard Watts, 26-18 on rink five, and Greg Moon 37-15 on rink six.
County president John O'Shea presented Claridge with his county badge for completing six games for Oxfordshire.
Our picture shows Mark Sykes.
Oxfordshire 129, Northants 123
(Oxon rinks first)
Rink 1: G Lucas, S Richens, R Redford, K Holloway 19; J McKee, D Childs, R Castle, M Paul 22.
Rink 2: M Sykes, R Buckett, R Clanfield, S Claridge 26; A Hunter, J Brown, D Graham, R Lemon 9.
Rink 3: C Carpenter, B Sparkes, Geo Moon, L Young 24; V Geary J Freeman, A Ashby, J Walker 12.
Rink 4: A Prew, M Charlett, M Petersen, A Wise 27; S Wade, R Tansley, M Malins, T O'Leary 17.
Rink 5: H Watts, A Ley, N Lewis, A McIntyre 18; P Reeve, M Diggin, R Mann, N Rees 26.
Rink 6: Greg Moon, M Timms, W Campion, S Schwab 15; J Haines, C Bland, C Fowkes, A Withers 37.
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