CRAIG Haupt brought up 9,000 league runs after leading Banbury to a third straight victory on Saturday.

The left-hander hit an unbeaten half-century as his side took full advantage of their rivals’ abandonments to surge clear at the top of the Division 1 table after a seven-wicket success at Tring Park.

Haupt’s 64 not out came off 77 balls, with nine fours.

And it was enough to take him to exactly 9,000 runs, having started the season 85 short of the milestone.

With a top score of 200 not out against Beaconsfield in 2001, Haupt has hit 21 hundreds and 53 half-centuries.

His individual achievements rightly got the headlines, but it was a superb spell from Luke Ryan that set Banbury up for their latest win in a match reduced to 38 overs because of rain.

The Oxfordshire captain tore through the Tring lower order as he finished with 4-9 off eight economical overs.

This carried on the good work of opening bowler Dean Bartlett, who also claimed four wickets.

Bartlett had Tring opener Robin Pritchard caught by Jimmy Phillips, before Leigh Tomlinson was run out by a direct throw from Justin Lambden at third man.

Bartlett, who finished with 4-29, then claimed the wickets of William Jones, Duncan Maddison and James Haw-kes as Tring struggled to 60-5 having been asked to bat.

Ryan then took over, mopping up the tail as Tring reached 128-9, an unbroken last-wicket stand of 45 between Michael Payne, who finished unbeaten on 54, and Douglas Pratt giving their score some respectibility.

Despite losing Lloyd Sabin and Daniel Harris cheaply, Haupt’s landmark knock saw Banbury home with eight overs remaining.