A brilliant fielding displayhelped Banbury become Home Counties Premier League T20 champions with two convincing victories at Slough yesterday.
They will now represent the league in the regional finals at a ground to be arranged in Essex on August 11.
Banbury started the day with a routine victory 44-run victory over host club Slough.
Nathan Hawkes, with 61 off 45 balls, led Banbury to a formidable 161-6 from their 20 overs, before Ashley Blanchard took three wickets in one over to reduce their opponents to 117 all out.
In the final against Tring Park, Banbury again opted to bat first, but were this time restricted to 114-7, by a deadly spell of 3-7 by Ali Raja.
This did not look to be enough. But Banbury bowled and fielded superbly.
Ed Phillips set the tone with a spectacular catch on the boundary to dismiss Robin Pritchard off his brother Jimmy’s bowling.
Blanchard captured two more wickets as Tring, with the exception of Michael Payne, struggled against the spin of West and Phillips, who finished with 4-13.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here