OXFORD had high hopes of issuing a strong Division 1 title challenge when they restricted the leaders to just 114-8 from 50 overs at home to Henley on Saturday.

But the hosts’ fragile batting collapsed to 76 all out in just 26.2 overs to give Henley an unlikely 38-run success.

So instead of closing the gap to less than 20 points, third-placed Oxford now trail the table-toppers by 42 points.

Choosing to bat first at Jordan Hill, Henley slumped to 11-3, two of the wickets falling to Richard Musk.

The Oxford attack, in which Harvey Eltham took 1-16 from ten overs, kept a stranglehold on the batsmen as Henley struggled to 70-8, before Tahir Afridi, with 29 not out from 54 balls, and Tom Nugent helped nudge the total to 114-8.

At 26-1, Oxford looked on course for victory, but Nugent (4-27) and Afridi (3-24) sent them tumbling to 76 all out.

There is no stopping Great & Little Tew who recorded a thrilling three-run success at High Wycombe.

Following their previous week’s success over defending champions Finchampstead, Tew got off to a flying start after being put in to bat.

Skipper Harry Smith (59) and Joe White (44) put on 112 for the first wicket, while Jordan Garrett made a sparkling 63 off 55 balls, featuring three sixes and five fours.

With a healthy helping of 33 extras, Tew rattled up 261-8 from their 50 overs.

Thanks to tidy spells from Lawrence Brock and Tom Price, Tew appeared to have the upper hand when Wycombe’s top-scorer Kavishka Anjula (79) was out at 213-8.

Connor Haddow and Tom Hampton added 44 off seven overs, before Smith ran out Haddow in the final over as Tew scrambled home.

Horspath plummeted into the relegation zone following a seven-wicket defeat at Tring Park.

The crushing loss saw Will Eason’s side plunge from sixth to ninth in the table, and they now stand five points below Slough, whom they entertain in a crunch clash next Saturday.

Having been put in to bat, Horspath again found runs hard to come by as they were restricted to 156-9 from their 50 overs with opener Robbie Eason carrying his bat for an unbeaten 65.

His runs came from 136 balls with three fours, but he received little support at the other end against an accurate Tring attack, which saw Ashley Haw pick up 4-38.

Tring recovered from the early loss of Andrew Dixon to cruise home at 160-3 with 7.3 overs to spare.

Opener Liam Gough hit an unbeaten 76 from 126 deliveries with eight fours to secure victory.

Slough overtook Horspath thanks to a three-wicket win at home to Banbury.

The visitors never recovered after choosing to bat and losing four early wickets.

Richard West (41) and Jack Wilkins offered resistance, but it needed some strong hitting by Oliver Wright (25no) to take them to 170-7 from their 50 overs.

Aizaz Cheema struck early in Slough’s reply, while West turned in an immaculate spell of 3-24 in ten overs as they slipped to 101-7.

But Lloyd Paternott (75no) dominated an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 71 to see Slough home with an over to spare.