MINOR COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIP

IAN Hawtin had no regrets over his late declaration after Oxfordshire just missed out on beating Berkshire in an often niggly clash.

Skipper Hawtin only declared when his side reached 352-9 and a mammoth lead of 488.

This ultimately left them with 67 overs to bowl Berkshire out, which wasn’t quite enough.

“I could have declared earlier, but I wasn’t going to give them a sniff,” said Hawtin with feeling.

“We thought we could bowl them out in that sort of time on a turning wicket.

“Our seamers were a lot better than theirs and Nat Watkins bowled brilliantly to take five wickets at 19 years old in just his second game.”

Hawtin added: “We are obviously a bit disappointed not to take the final wicket. We had two good lbw shouts in the last couple of overs and played all the cricket.

“We are quite a young side and have not been bullied out of this. We set our stall out.

“Our bowling was excellent in the first innings. All the guys that have come in have done really, really well.”