MP SPORTS CHERWELL LEAGUE - Divs 3-4

Hanborough can start planning for another season in Division 3 after they saw off local rivals Witney Mills, who are not yet safe from the drop.

In one of only a couple of games to survive the weather, heroic spells by opening bowlers Grant Conquest (7-29) and skipper Mike Dove (3-22) sent Mills crashing to 86 all out.

Earlier, Steve Kelly had taken 7-36 in the home side’s 160-9, which also featured 49 from Andy Oliver.

Hanborough 13pts , Witney Mills 4

Aston Rowant 2nd and Dinton 2nd both missed the chance to climb into the top two when they played out a draw.

Put in to bat, Dinton managed 235-7 from 48 overs, with Shaun Smith (48), Matthew Kelloway (46), Faisal Ali (45) and Abbas Zaheer (41) all narrowly missing out on their half-centuries.

Sam Shepherd was the pick of the home attack with 3-54.

Any hopes that Rowant had of forcing the win were dashed once Leigh Lewis (64) and Paul Plumridge (54) were out, and they closed on 192-5.

Dinton 2nd 13pts, Aston Rowant 2nd 10

Bicester & North Oxford went top of Division 4 in contentious circumstances as rain put paid to most of the programme.

Opponents Banbury Twenty 2nd forfeited the match at 10.30am as they were unable to raise a team, which meant Bicester automatically rec-eived 25 points for a win.

Heavy showers put paid to all the other matches in this division, so the other eight sides each received six points – and Bicester went from third to first.

The number of teams promoted from each division is determined by the fate of clubs higher up the pyramid, but it is highly likely that two teams will go up from divisions four to three next month.

So Cropredy drop out of the probable promotion zone, as their match at Chearsley was lost to the weather.

The home side had been in disarray on 49-4 when rain stopped play after 20 overs.