THE Division 1 title race will go into the final game of the Cherwell League season after both Oxford Downs and Great Brickhill won their penultimate fixtures.

Downs posted a comfortable 64-run win at Cumnor to stay clear at the top of the table.

Adam Beck followed up his huge ton last week with 77 as Downs set 254-8 in their 50 overs.

Seamer Tom Costley then claimed 5-38 as Downs dismissed their hosts for 190.

Brickhill stayed in touch as they defeated Banbury 2nd by three wickets, condemning their rivals to relegation.

Chasing Banbury’s 234, Brickhill were in trouble at 143-5.

But 60 from Mark Nelson saw the hosts home and kept them in the hunt.

Tiddington dropped into the bottom two as they fell to a 57-run defeat at Buckingham Town 2nd.

They will face Challow & Childrey next week with both sides in with a chance of staying up with a

victory.

Challow took their relegation battle into the final week of the season as they defeated visitors Long Marston by 43 runs on the Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) method.

Abingdon Vale went down by four wickets at Twyford, but did enough to secure top-flight cricket again next year.

Westbury clinched the Division 2 title with a seven-wicket victory on DLS against Wolverton Town.

Wolverton were restricted to 142-9 in a rain-reduced 35 overs, before Westbury cruised to 130-3.

Didcot will be favourites to join Westbury in Division 1 next season after they raced to a nine-wicket win at home to Horspath 2nd.

Richard Cook claimed 4-14 as Horspath were shot out for 107 in 42.3 overs.

Adam Webb (50no) and Eliot Mathews (31no) then steered Didcot home at 108-1.

Victory at Wolverton Town next week will secure promotion.

Sandford St Martin are longing for the season to be over as they slumped to another crushing defeat – this time a ten-wicket loss at Oxford 2nd.

Rob Keat (5-24) and Harry Startin (3-26) combined to skittle Sandford out for just 90, before Oxford raced to 93-0 in the 16th over.

Aston Rowant 2nd kept alive their hopes of avoiding the drop with a

94-run win against visitors Cropredy.

Alex Jewell (71) and Thad Cooper (59) helped Rowant to 265-8 in their 50 overs, before left-arm spinner Chris Leaney claimed 5-44 as Cropredy fell to 171 all out.

Minster Lovell moved into the second Division 3 promotion spot after a six-wicket victory at Oxford Downs 2nd.

Wes Bartlett hit 61 for Downs, who were all out for 198.

Led by opener Nathan Harris (58), Minster eased to 199-4 with more than 15 overs to spare to go second.

They are level on points with Stokenchurch, who beat Cublington by 14 runs, with both teams overtaking Horley, who lost by 72 runs at home to Great Brickhill 2nd.

Champions Bicester & North Oxford edged past hosts Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts by 13 runs on the DLS method.

Nondies were bowled out for 143 in 40 overs, Dan Savin taking 3-28.

Bicester had reached 140-8 in 33.5 overs when the rain came, but it was enough to secure a narrow win.

Great & Little Tew 2nd are relegated to Division 4, despite a thrilling one-wicket win at home to Banbury 3rd.

Banbury posted 232-7, Mark Pallett top-scoring with 62.

Markus Jeacock hit 102 in Tew’s reply as they edged to 235-9 off the final ball to seal the victory.

However, the 14 points that Banbury accrued was enough to ensure they survived at Tew’s expense.

East Oxford wrapped up the Division 4 title as they saw off hosts Brackley by 18 runs.

The champions were dismissed for just 126, but Kamran Ali Shah (4-23) and Raja Imran (3-13) then combined to shoot the hosts out for 108 to secure the title.

Thame Town 2nd clinched the second promotion spot, despite a six-wicket defeat at Abingdon Vale 2nd.

Thame were dismissed for 157, Jack Aston hitting 55 and Matthew Darley mopping up the tail with 4-41.

Vale eased home, Max Owen top-scoring with 37.

There was an extraordinary 331-run victory for Tiddington 2nd as they ruthlessly put visitors Witney Mills to the sword with a record league score.

Tiddington amassed a huge 430-9 in their 50 overs, Jacob Davis hitting 92, Guy Fairburn 81, Jordan Davis 69 not out and Peter King 64.

There were some eye-watering bowling figures for the Mills attack, and they then crashed to 99 all out in reply as Jordan Davis took 5-35, including a hat-trick.

In Division 5, Aston Rowant 3rd stayed top with a crushing eight-wicket win at home to Chearsley.

Leigh Lewis hit 112 and Mark Walker 54 not out as Rowant successfully chased down Chearsley’s 217-8.

Kimble kept up the pressure on Rowant at the top with a seven-wicket DLS victory at Cropredy 2nd.

Matt Lake smashed a century as Eynsham hammered visitors Twyford 2nd by 201 runs on the DLS method in Division 6.

Lake’s 108, plus 76 from Sam Jones and 69 from Ben Smitten, helped Eynsham to a massive 387-5 in their 50 overs.

Twyford had reached 186-8 in 20 overs when the rain came.

Rachel Potter claimed 5-28 for Oxford Downs 3rd as they kept their promotion hopes alive with a seven-wicket win at Long Marston 3rd.

Witney Mills 2nd had a far more encouraging day than their first team as they beat Buckingham Town 4th by seven wickets.

Chasing 205 all out, Mills eased to 207-3 as Steve Holford hit 94.

In Division 9, Thame Town 3rd hammered visitors Stokenchurch 2nd by 199 runs to keep alive their title dreams.

Justin Avery hit 115 in Thame’s 264-6 declared, before Stokenchurch slumped to 65 all out in their reply.