NORTH Maidenhead missed the chance to go top in Division One after a 41-run defeat at rivals Stoke Green on Saturday, writes Rob Stevens.

The Summerleaze-based club could have reached the summit as leaders Wargrave lost at Slough 2s, but they are now just four points behind with one match remaining this season.

Stoke won the coin toss and elected to bat first, reaching 281-9 from their allotted 50 overs thanks to Saqlain Basharat (96*) and Muhammad Nadeem (88). Mirban Saleem claimed 2-41 from eight overs for the visitors.

Maidenhead were set a target score of 261 runs after the Duckworth Lewis method was applied but fell short on 219 all out in 37.1 overs. Faheem Qureshi (67) and Sahan John (52) top-scored, whilst Zulfi Butt claimed 3-25 and Hasnaat Ali (3-36) for Stoke.

North Maidenhead can win the title on the final day if they can better the result of Wargrave. Maidenhead welcome Slough to Summerleaze while the leaders host Falkland.

Wargrave won the toss and chose to bat first at Upton Court Park, reaching 225-7 from their allotted 50 overs thanks to Toby Greatwood (55). Sulaiman Akhtar took 2-38 from 10 overs for Slough 2s.

The hosts were set a revised target of 209 on Duckworth Lewis and won with 211-6 from 46 overs. Naveed Akhtar (54) and Vishal Tiwari (51) fared best with the bat whilst Mark Firth took 2-35 from nine overs.

Boyne Hill are now safe from relegation despite an eight-wicket defeat at Falkland leaving them third from bottom in the league table.

Falkland won the toss and invited Boyne Hill to bat first, the visitors making 152 runs all out in 45.3 overs. Hamid Riaz made 47 while Jimmy Shaw took 4-33 in 8.3 overs.

The hosts eased to 156-2 from 28.2 overs in response with Bruce Martin (73*) and Sagar Chhabria (73) leading the charge. Chris Shave (1-46 from eight overs) took the only wicket.

Boyne Hill bring the curtain down on their season with a visit from Cove this Saturday (3pm).

Windsor (67 all out) have been relegated from Division 2a this season and suffered a seven-wicket defeat at home to Kidmore End (71-3).