Wargrave keep survival hopes alive with win at Harefield and Slough's title bid goes to the wire

Wargrave’s Neal Robinson. Photo: Alex Carter

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Wargrave have given themselves a stay of execution with a two-run win at Harefield, keeping alive their hopes of survival in Home Counties Division 1 going into the final weekend.

Toby Greatwood’s side managed to get the better of hosts Harefield in a rain-affected game after posting 196 all out from 48 overs and seeing Harefield fall short of a revised target of 146 from 37.0 overs.

The result means they’re 13 points from safety heading into their final league game at home to bottom club Stoke Green this Saturday, however, there’s a scenario where they can still finish above eighth placed Great Brickhill and get out of the bottom two.

For that to happen they’d need to get the better of Green - who have been relegated after they lost by 66 runs at home to Oxford Downs on Saturday - and hope that Brickhill are beaten in their final clash at home to Aston Rowant. Brickhill, like several other sides on Saturday, saw their match at High Wycombe abandoned, but the seven points they collected for this could prove crucial for their own survival hopes.

There is a final day scenario which sees both Brickhill and Wargrave finish on the same points.

Saturday’s game at Harefield was a must-win for Wargrave and they managed to get that win in a thrilling match that was impacted by the weather.

Having been put into bat on losing the toss, they made 196 all out in 48 overs, with Mayank Gudimetla top scoring with 71 and Rhys Lewis opening with a decent 48. But from a relatively strong position of 127-3, they collapsed to 196 all out and failed to bat out their overs.

With rain breaks shortening the game, Harefield were given a target of 146 from 37 overs to win, and this they looked like doing as Daniel Ogden (58) and Will Shepherd (28no) pushed them towards that total. However, Mark Firth (3-36) slowed the run rate with some crucial wickets, and the visitors were able to hold them up two runs short. They finished on 143-6.

Stoke Green went into Saturday’s clash above Wargrave in the table, and looking the more likely side to survive this season.

However, they conspired to pick up no points from their 66-run defeat to Oxford Downs.

Having elected to field on winning the toss, they restricted Oxford Downs to 192-8 from their 50 overs and then fell well short of their revised target of 187 in 43 overs.

Munir Ur Rehman Tanzil took three wickets for Green but an unblemished century from Freddie Smith (101no) put the visitors in the driving seat at the changeover.

In reply, Green were rocked by three early wickets, all taken by Lawrence Brock who went on to finish with figures of 7-24. He fully turned the tide Oxford Downs way and aside from a decent middle order knock from Aashir Zaib (50), Green were very much second best on the day.

Green finish with a trip to Wargrave, but even with a 20-point victory it’s very unlikely they’ll finish above Great Brickhill in the table.

In Division 2, leaders Slough suffered a potentially damaging six wicket defeat at Gerrards Cross, but they were largely bailed out by the weather, with rain forcing the abandonment of second placed Wokingham’s trip to Oxford.

Slough did manage to complete their match at third placed Cross, but it didn’t go in their favour with the hosts motoring to their revised target.

Having been put into bat, Slough got to 226 in 47.2 overs before being bowled out. This may have been a little under par but there were some decent knocks along the way from Humza Ishaq, who scored 52, and Mujtaba Ghayyas, who scored 57. James Pannett took 3-35 for the hosts, who were then given a target of 109 from 21 overs to win - illustrating Slough’s under par total.

Kazim Naqvi took 3-43, but Cross got to their total in thrilling fashion, their winning runs coming with a six off the very final ball.

Chris Marrow top scored for them with an unbeaten 37 from 62 deliveries, but the winning runs came from the bat of captain Teddy Fleming, who faced six balls for his 12no and finished with a mighty six.

It was a blow that keeps the title race alive going into the final weekend, both for Cross - although their hopes look slim at best - but certain for second placed Wokingham who are just nine points behind Slough.

Nadeem Syed’s side finish with a home game against Falkland while Wokingham host Gerrards Cross.