Oxfordshire's dreams of winning the Western Division of cricket's Minor Counties Championship were dashed yesterday in a nail-biting conclusion to the season.

Rob Williams's side could only draw against Berkshire in Reading, while Dorset sneaked a victory in Wiltshire to claim their third divisional crown in a row.

But the title could have gone either way deep into the final, agonising hour of the 2000 campaign.

Leading by three points going into the game, Oxon surrendered the initiative on the first day when they managed only five bonus points to Dorset's eight.

With both sides having won the same number of matches, it looked like nett batting average the difference between runs per wicket when batting and the runs per wicket when bowling would decide the destiny of the title.

Dorset's nett average was superior before the final games started, but, remarkably, by the time three innings had been completed in the respective contests, Oxfordshire were ahead.

And even when they slumped to 99-6 chasing a target of 251, Williams's men were in with a great chance.

The news from Wiltshire was that Dorset had lost wickets in pursuit of the 304 they required for victory, and as long as the south coast county failed to win and Berkshire did not take another wicket, then Oxon would be champions.

Their seventh-wicket pair of Ian Hawtin and Adam Cook did their bit by surviving until the close, but they were greeted by glum teammates when they returned to the pavilion. Moments earlier, it had emerged that Dorset had survived a late wobble to scrape home with eight wickets down in the last over.

"We're all very, very disappointed," said skipper Williams. "It was a very strange way to finish a season, but it's a season that we can be proud of."

"We can take a lot of positives out of the year. We've won five games out of nine, played some tremendous cricket, and we'll be a better side because of it all."Full report: Page 28 HOW THEY FINISHED AT THE TOP MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP

Western Division (Top)

Pl W D L Ba Bo PtsK*Dorset 9 6 3 0 22 19 140KOxfordshire 9 5 2 2 19 25 124K*Deducted two points for slow over rate.