BANBURY lost ground in the Division 1 title race after they were beaten by three wickets at leaders Henley.

Just a point separated the sides ahead of Saturday, but Henley now have an 18-point cushion over Banbury, who slipped to third.

The visitors elected to bat, but were soon in trouble at 16-4.

Former Henley all-rounder Chad Keegan, who was making his Banbury debut, helped to rebuild the innings with Lloyd Sabin in a 45-run fifth-wicket stand.

After they both fell and Luke Ryan was dismissed for a duck, Banbury were 66-7.

But No 8 Ashley Blanchard and last man Jimmy Phillips put on 61 for the final wicket after the loss of Karl Penhale and Ollie Wright left them on 83-9.

Blanchard top-scored with 53 off 62 balls as their innings ended on 144.

Tom Nugent (4-64) starred with the ball.

Richard West took an early wicket for Banbury, but Michael Roberts (34) and Matthew Rowe (35) put on 46 for the second wicket, before Penhale trapped the former leg before.

West bowled Ziafat Ashraf for a duck, before Rowe fell.

But James Bazley then smashed 45 off 32 balls as Henley sealed victory.

Adam Price and Will Eason shared an unbroken club record seventh-wicket stand of 101 to save Horspath from defeat at Burnham.

Things looked bleak for Horspath when they came together at 45-6 in reply to Burnham’s 228 all out after the hosts had been inserted.

But they combined to frustrate, with Price making an unbeaten 50, while Eason dug in for 31 not out as Horspath secured a battling draw at 146-6 from 65 overs.

Price had earlier taken 4-81 with his mix of seam and spin in Burnham’s innings as Harveer Gandam (49) and Omer Siddique (44) led the way for the hosts.

Oxford are still looking for their first win after scoring just 72 in a 119-run defeat to Slough.

Raja Nawaz took 7-32 as Brad Sutherland (34) was the only batsman to reach double figures.

Earlier, Zaheer Sher had scored 40 as the visitors set 191.