Oxfordshire Under 14s slipped to a five-wicket defeat against Wales in their ECB Cup clash at Kidlington.
Batting first, Oxon lost opener Ben Boddington for a duck in the third over, but a decent second-wicket stand between Ross Barrett and Richard Sweet steadied the ship.
Sweet fell victim to a sharp in-swinging yorker from Welsh paceman James Edwards, and soon after, Barrett, who had been looking comfortable, was bowled by a ball that kept low.
From then on, wickets fell at an alarming rate, before Ed Goggs brought some respectability with an unbeaten 25 batting at No 10.
Oxon's 109 all out from the final ball of their innings looked to be about 30 runs short of a par total, and so it proved.
The visitors cruised to 45 without loss, before a flurry of wickets, two each from seamers Goggs and Tom Nugent, reduced Wales to 81-4.
With the wicket continuing to deteriorate, the home team sensed an unlikely victory.
But although Nugent claimed one more wicket, they could not make further inroads as Wales got home in the 29th over.
GETTING FORWARD: Oxfordshire Under 14s' Richard Sweet in action during his side's defeat against Wales at Kidlingtonof=Helvetica s=6Order No. 100608231o
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