SKIPPER Lloyd Sabin led the way as Banbury beat both hosts Burnham and the weather to stay top of Home Counties Premier League Division 1 on Saturday.
On a day when only two matches reached a conclusion, Banbury needed the introduction of the Duckworth Lewis system to secure a 55-run victory over their Buckinghamshire opponents.
Sabin top-scored with 64 as Banbury scored 235-7 from their 50 overs after being asked to bat first.
Then, after 30 overs had been lost to rain, Burnham were given a revised target of 164 to win from 20 overs, but were dismissed for 109.
Banbury made a solid start with Hugo Darby and Craig Haupt putting on 54 for the first wicket.
Darby and Sabin, the more fluent of the two, then added 83 for the second wicket before Darby departed for 44 off 86 balls.
Australian Kurtis Patterson did not last long, also falling to the accurate Aftab Khan.
Sabin went on to score 64 from 91 balls, having hit three fours and four sixes.
There were no substantial contributions after that, but Luke Ryan’s spectacular 29 off 13 balls enabled Banbury to reach 235-7.
The latter part of the innings took place in light drizzle, which prevented an immediate resumption after the interval.
Indeed nearly two hours playing time was lost, giving Burnham a stiff revised target.
A rapid 35 off 31 balls by Omar Siddique gave them hope, but the wickets tumbled as the run rate increased.
Ryan and Sabin also picked up wickets, but leading the way was seamer Ollie Wright with 3-35 including the final one which ended the Burnham innings  in the 18th over.
Banbury are joint top of the table with Henley, who beat Reading by seven wickets after bowling them out for 69 before the arrival of the rain.

Great & Little Tew’s attempt to chase the target of 253 set by hosts Slough, lasted just three balls in which they lost opener Joe White for a duck before the rain came.
Choosing to bowl first, Tew claimed two early wickets thanks to Lawrence Brock and Robbie Shurmer, but a fine 79 from Bucks player Shaan Khan put Slough on the way to useful total.
Bobby Sher added 46, while Slough’s total of 252-8 from 50 overs was swelled by 38 extras, including 19 wides.
Shurmer was the most successful Tew bowler with 3-53.
Rain had the final say, but not before White fell for a three-ball duck.

A brilliant century partnership between Chris Watling and skipper Josh Smith was the feature of Aston Rowant’s Division 2 derby at home to Oxford.

But it was all in vain as rain presented Oxford’s reply.

Oxford’s decision to bowl first reaped early dividends when Mark Beer dismissed Rowant openers Chris Eaton and Miles Hammond with 20 runs on the board.

Hammond was allowed to play by the league, after his registration form had been corrected.

The original wrong registration resulted in a 20-point deduction which has placed Rowant bottom of the table.

Watling, who made 75 and Smith, whose fluent 82 came off only 95 balls and contained six fours, took the hosts to 217-5 from their 50 overs.

Beer was the best Oxford bowler with 2-34.

But then came the rain to halt an intriguing contest.

Horspath had lost two early wickets chasing Thame Town’s 199 all out at the Recreation Ground when rain washed out their Division 2 clash.

The hosts were 12-2 at the time with Jimmy Phillips and Shahbaz Ali falling to catches off Michael Beard.

Earlier, Thame had recovered from 32-4 to post a challenging total after being put in to bat.

Horspath skipper Will Eason picked up the first three wickets, and then Adam Price removed Thame captain Michael Higgs.

But the visitors’ middle order rallied with Honey Garg hitting 55 off 97 balls with three fours before he became Eason’s fourth victim.

Garg was well supported by Matthew MacDonald (36) and Hassam Mushtaq (31).

Eason, who took some punishment, finished with 4-60, while there were tidy ten-over spells from Price (2-21) and Lloyd Belcher (2-33).

Shipton-under-Wychwood’s game at home to Amersham was abandoned without a ball being bowled.