OXFORDSHIRE came close to pulling off a miraculous comeback as Cheshire were made to sweat when earning a three-wicket win.

The visitors had headed into the final day of the Western Division fixture at Thame CC needing just 73 to claim victory.

But Oxon made them work hard for it, Gareth Andrew taking 4-22, as they reached 80-7 in the 28th over of the Unicorns Counties Championship clash.

A routine Cheshire victory looked on the cards after the first two days of play.

Replying to the visitors’ 338 all out, Oxon were forced to follow on after being skittled for 110.

Olliver Ebsworth-Burland’s superb century (133) helped the hosts post 307 in their second innings to at least force Cheshire to bat again.

Having knocked seven runs off at the end of the second day, the visitors would have been confident of securing a convincing win.

But Oxon had other ideas as Andrew and Russell White ripped through the top order to leave them 15-3 and then 33-4.

Sam Perry and Calum Rowe looked to have steadied the ship, but Cheshire soon slipped from 59-4 to 64-7 as the home side gave themselves further hope of an unlikely victory.

However, Perry and Michael Finan survived to add the 16 runs needed to help the visitors over the line.