A hat-trick from Oxford Downs bowler Paul Hebbert was not enough to earn his side victory over Sandford St Martin in the preliminary round of the Bernard Tollet Oxfordshire Cup on Tuesday.

In a high-scoring encounter, Downs rattled up 163-7 from their 20 overs as Wesley Barnet led the way with 77.

Sandford looked home and dry at 150-2, but then Ian Johnson (81) became the first of Hebbert's victims as they lost six wickets for five runs, and they only squeezed home at 167-8 with two balls remaining.

Hebbert's final figures were 4-33.

A fine all-round performance from Tahir Hameedudin earned Morris Motors a 24-run win over Tiddington.

Tahir's 41 helped Motors to 121-5 and he then took 5-14 as Tiddington were bowled out for 87.

Another player to star with bat and ball was Thame's Manoj Parmar. He took 3-5 in Chalgrove's 99 and followed up with 61 as Thame won by seven wickets.

Bicester & North Oxford proved too strong for Cumnor, restricting them to 97-9.

Skipper Darryl Woods steered them home by nine wickets with 41 not out.

Oxford Caribbean play Chinnor on Thursday evening (June 5).