Thame Town defied the elements to pull off a stunning 46-run victory at North Maidenhead in Division 2 Westof the Home Counties Premier League on Saturday.

And with leaders Farnham Royal going down to Gerrards Cross, Thame closed the gap to 28 points as they kept their promotiion dream alive.

Asked to bat first on a pitch offering significant bounce, Thame were immediately in trouble as promoted opener Sammy Lachlan was out third ball and then Steve Chown quickly joined him in the pavilion.

Coach Manoj Parmar and partner Chris Wynd decided attack was the best form of defence and set about the bowling, taking Thame past 50.

Wynd went before lunch for a courageous 23, but captain Adam Krol took the score to 71 off 27 painfully slow overs before lunch.

Torrential rain arrived and two hours were lost which left Thame with only a further 13 overs available.

Parmar put bat to ball to make a top score of 39 while Krol, Andy Wynd and Luke Merry helped their side to 144-7 off the reduced 40 overs.

Thame decided to open with the old ball and their all-spin attack of Haresh Dhabi and Steve Merry were soon among the wickets on a pitch that was turning and lifting.

North Maidenhead crawled to 41-3 off 18 overs before the introduction of Luke Merry quickly paid dividends with two wickets.

But it was Dhabi who did most of the damage, the spinner finishing with impressive figuers of 6-45 as the home side were dismissed for 98 off 28.3 overs.