Oxfordshire Under 17s made history by lifting their first national trophy.

A six-wicket win over old rivals Wiltshire at Kibworth in Leicestershire secured the Royal London Cup, and marked the end of youth cricket for this successful group.

Having reached the final with a one-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Wormsley there were no signs of nerves as they produced a clinical performance to cruise to victory with 11 overs to spare.

Having been asked to bat first, Wiltshire, who had reached the final with a comprehensive win over Norfolk in their semi-final, got off to a solid start.

Openers Will Wade and Elijah Samuel, who plays for Hampshire Academy, shared 59 for the first wicket.

But it was the introduction of Oxford’s Adam Spears that changed the course of the game in dramatic fashion.

In his first over, Spears took three wickets, including both openers, and bowled superbly to rip the heart out of the Wiltshire top order.

Man-of-the-match Spears claimed the first five wickets as Wiltshire crashed form 59-0 to 64-5 in an incredible burst of swing bowling.

Shell-shocked, Wiltshire set about trying to rebuild, and to their credit, they did bat their 50 overs.

But from a position of strength, their total of 168-9 from 50 overs appeared under par.

After his five-wicket burst, Spears returned to finish with magnificent figures of 6-33, while Leo Bethell, Saim Hussain and Max Mannering claimed the other wickets to fall.

Mannering was particularly economical, his ten overs yielding just 21 runs.

On a drying pitch, Oxon knew their task was simply to bat sensibly to win.

Aston Rowant duo George Reid and Tom Condon shared 23 for the first wicket, before the latter was caught behind.

Alex Davies and Reid then added 44 for the second wicket.

Wiltshire hit back, removing Reid for 11 and Davies, who was caught in the deep, for 30.

And at 77-3, Oxon could have given Wiltshire a sniff of a chance.

But that was quickly extinguished as captain James Fitzjohn (Cumnor) and Hendrick Robyns (Aston Rowant) batted with maturity in a magnificent 89-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Robyns led the charge with a fluent 53, which included three sixes.

When he was caught at deep backward square, Oxon were just two runs from their target.

It it was fitting that captain Fitzjohn should hit the winning runs to spark wild celebrations among players and supporters alike.

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