BANBURY were given a scare by Horspath before adding to their impressive Division 1 record against their Oxfordshire rivals with a four-wicket win in a low-scoring clash at White Post Road.

Having restricted Horspath to 153-6 on a slow pitch after putting the visitors in to bat, Banbury slumped to 57-5 following an impressive opening burst by left-arm seamer Liam Manley (3-27) against his old club.

Shazad Rana (39no) took Banbury to 92-6 with Ed Phillips, before sharing an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 65 with David Whiteley (45no) to see the hosts home at 157-6 with three balls to spare.

Banbury always looked in control after Rana and Whiteley established themselves, although a maiden from Tom Cosford in the penultimate over when five runs were needed suddenly gave Horspath hope.

Singles came from the first two balls of the final over, before Whiteley clinched victory with a six over mid-wicket.

Stephen Green (40) top-scored for Horspath, with Joe Thomas taking 3-52 for the hosts.

Banbury have now won seven of the eight top-flight meetings between the sides with the other encounter drawn, while the defeat sees Horspath return to the foot of the table.

Skipper Josh Smith hit an unbeaten century as Aston Rowant stunned high-flying Datchet with a 17-run victory.

The hosts were all out for 245 in 64 overs having been put in to bat, Smith’s 111 not out the stand-out display.

Second-placed Datchet were 40-4 but recovered to 191-5, Wes Morrick (4-88) taking the opening three wickets to fall.

Hayden Rossouw (3-25) then returned to the attack to dismiss Datchet for 228 and give Rowant an impressive victory.

Division 2

SAMAD Fallah claimed superb figures of 6-33 as Oxford got back to winning ways with a 48-run victory at home to Amersham.

The seamer produced two fine spells to help bowl their Division 2 rivals out for 126 as they chased the hosts’ 174.

Put in to bat, Oxford got off to a steady start, before collapsing from 131-3, losing their final four wickets for just three runs.

Muhammad Ayub top-scored for the leaders with 58.

Fallah wasted little time in taking the first two Amersham wickets to fall, before coming back to claim the last three and seal victory.

Thame Town kept up the pressure on both Oxford and second-placed Harefield with a hard-fought five-wicket victory over Cookham Dean in a low-scoring encounter.

Faisal Ali took 5-24 off 16.1 tight overs as Thame bowled out their rivals for just 66 in the 36th over.

Fellow opening bowler Johannes Van Dyk took 3-31.

Thame slumped to 27-4 in reply, but Tom Bamford’s unbeaten 26 saw them home in the 27th over.

An unbroken partnership of 75 for the seventh wicket saved Oxford Downs in their clash at Wokingham.

The hosts, who had been put in to bat, were dismissed for 234 in 58 overs, with Downs skipper George Sandbach leading the way with 6-55.

The visitors slipped to 55-5 in reply, but recovered to reach 128-6.

However, they still had plenty of work to do in order to avoid defeat, and it fell to Richard Sillars (77no) and Curtly Slatter (41no) to rescue a draw.