Oxfordshire slipped to a humiliating 166-run defeat against Devon at Challow & Childrey yesterday to end their hopes of progressing in the MCCA Trophy.

Chasing a gettable 278 to win the Group 1 encounter and reach the quarter-finals, Oxon’s batsmen crumbled to 111 all out in 33.1 overs.

They never recovered from losing three early wickets, while, aside from Alex Jewell, who was batting with a finger injury, no-one showed the patience and application to hang around.

Devon’s star man was captain and off-spinner Chris Bradley, who took 5-10 in 9.1 overs.

Oxfordshire inserted Devon in cold conditions on a pitch they hoped might offer a bit for their bowlers.

Things did not look good when opener Rob Woodman and David Lye put on 129 for the second wicket.

Woodman’s 79 came off 107 balls, while Lye was more expansive, with his 73 coming off just 58 with nine fours and a six.

This partnership meant Devon were scoring at above a run a ball, but Oxon managed to tighten things up.

A steady flow of wickets in the closing ten overs certainly helped their cause as Devon failed to get the score their start might have suggested.

Banbury seamer Ashley Blanchard picked up three wickets, while strike bowler Chad Keegan performed better than his figures suggested.

Daniel Rowe bagged the first wicket of the day then bowled Matthew Wood in the 44th over just as he was looking to accelerate.

While there were some good moments in the field such as Lloyd Sabin’s boundary catch to remove Gary Chappell, Oxon conceded 31 extras including 21 from wides.

Oxon’s reply got off to a poor start, with Sabin, Richard Kaufman and Craig Haupt all falling cheaply.

That brought Nathan Hawkes and Jamie Perkin together and they set about restoring the advantage with gusto.

They had reached 56-3 after ten overs, which meant that Oxon were up with the required rate.

But Hawkes was caught at deep square leg in the next Bradley over to leave them back in the mire.

Bradley’s second over also yielded a wicket, this time bowling Perkin.

Jewell and Keegan struggled to get the scoreboard moving before the latter was expertly caught driving to a diving Woodman.

It wasn’t long before Rowe chipped one to Ryan Bougourd at mid off to make it 78-8.

Oxon captain Ian Hawtin was well caught by Rob Holman at second slip after flashing hard at the ball and the only question was whether they would pass 100.

Fortunately, Blanchard managed that with a four through mid-wicket.

Jewell was the last man out to give Bradley his fifth wicket.