BURNHAM’S wretched Division One campaign continued as they lost by 79 runs at home to High Wycombe.

The hosts won the toss and chose to bowl, but there was no early success as Teddy Casterton and Gavin Baker put on 77 until the latter was caught by Fahad Raja off the bowling of Muddassar Nawaz.

Casterton continued on his merry way, and was aided by Pat Castleden (57) in adding 103 for the second wicket.

Castleden fell to Burnham captain Harveer Gandam to make it 180-2, and Kavishka Anjula then came and went swiftly as he was dismissed by Fahaan Khan.

Casterton (106 from 157 balls), however, recorded a superb century before becoming Nawaz’s (2-54) second victim, but a fine cameo from Wycombe captain Nathan Hawkes (33no from 25 balls) saw the visitors to 262-4 in their 50 overs.

Burnham’s reply began badly as Karan Kumar was removed by Xavier Owen with the score on 12, and Raja was the next to go when he fell to Tom Hampton for 21.

Nawaz’s departure – bowled by Owen – left the hosts 53-3, and when Adnan Malik fell in the same manner to Connor Haddow, Burnham were in real trouble on 85-4.

It got worse as Haddow (3-19) bowled a tidy 10-over spell to keep the pressure on, and despite Gandam making a gutsy unbeaten 50, Burnham were eventually bowled out for 183, leaving them 79 points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Burnham travel to second-placed Oxford on Saturday (11am).

Slough CC

SLOUGH gave their survival hopes a huge shot in the arm by climbing to sixth following a crucial 44-run success at Horspath.

The away side started badly after being asked to bat, slipping to 31-2 as Horspath captain Will Eason made early inroads.

However, Nabil Shah (66) and Lloyd Paternott put on 85 for the third wicket, and the visitors had reached 228 by the time Paternott was bowled by Tom Cosford for an excellent 82 from 100 balls.

The same bowler removed Shaan Khan (59) via the same manner, but Feroz Baig smashed 26 from just 20 balls to keep the momentum going as Slough totalled 279-8 from their 50 overs.

Ikhlaq Nawaz was in sensational form with the new ball as Horspath struggled to get going, openers Rob Eason and Tom Coleman dismissed by the paceman to leave the Oxfordshire side 17-2.

Nawaz (4-47) then bowled James Fitzjohn with the score on 30, and he also accounted for Mark Jefferson to reduce Horspath to 70-4.

Khan got in on the act by removing Cosford just two runs later, before Eason and Stephen Green set about trying to retrieve the situation for the batting side.

They added 60 for the sixth wicket – albeit slowly – before Green was bowled by Slough captain Bobby Sher for 22.

The required rate continued to rise as Sher (2-42 off 10 overs) and Slough’s Steven Green turned the screw, the latter picking up the seventh wicket when he had Mark Skelton caught by Zohaib Ahmed for 25.

Ian Slatcher clubbed 25 from 20 balls, but when he fell to Ahmed, Horspath were 197-8.

Sher collected a second when he ended Jamil Faruq’s entertaining six-ball cameo of 16 – including three boundaries – and while Eason battled his way to an 83-ball 59, Slough were never really in danger as they secured a fifth win of the season, restricting Horspath to 235-9.

The win lifts Slough 17 points clear of their second-bottom opponents, ahead of a home game against Finchampstead this coming Saturday (11am).

They then end their season with a trip to Henley – who won the league on Saturday – the following week.

Division Two

DATCHET suffered a disastrous day at the office as they dropped out of the promotion places following a seven-wicket home defeat to Harefield.

In the absence of captain James Morris, the hosts made a poor start after being asked to bat, openers Simon Macey and Max Stevenson both falling to Jordan McLeod to reduce them to 21-2.

Joe Thomas and Tim Alldis put on 25 for the third wicket, but the former was caught by Tom Day off Doug King and Alldis was bowled by McLeod (3-15) to leave Datchet 46-4.

Lewis Smith was bowled by Dan Ogden for seven with the score on 69, and things got even worse for the hosts when stand-in skipper Chris Peploe was caught by King off Tom McLeod seven runs later.

King bowled Adam Jones to make it 99-7, and when Ollie Smithson was bowled by Lee Tyrell, Datchet were 110-8.

Sam Finn was then run out, and Jarryd Wallace was the last man to go, trapped lbw by King (3-22) as the home side were knocked over for 116 in 45.3 overs.

Smithson impressed with the ball as Datchet sought to extricate themselves from their perilous position, bowling both Dhavalkumar Norotam and Tom McLeod to give the home side a sniff of victory as Harefield slipped to 32-2.

However, Poojan Vyas and Ogden shared a match-winning third-wicket stand of 77 before the latter was caught by Stevenson off the bowling of James Rogers.

It was far too little, too late, for the home side, though, as despite economical spells from Peploe (0-19 off nine overs) and Stevenson (0-20 off six), Harefield were able to cruise to victory with more than 20 overs to spare, Vyas ending on an unbeaten 57.

Datchet are now eight points behind Thame Town with two games of the season remaining.

They travel to fourth-placed Chesham – who sit one point and one place below them in the table – in a vital game this Saturday (11am).

Datchet then end their campaign with a home game against rock bottom Reading on Saturday, September 2.