Both Finchampstead and Wokingham enjoyed big wins in the Home Counties Leagues at the weekend.
New-look Finches were still seeking a first victory of the season when they welcomed Oxford and they struggled to make an early breakthrough.
The first wicket finally fell after Oxford had passed the 50 mark when Shivam Jindal picked up his first of two scalps.
But the visitors ticked along nicely, reaching 137 before the third wicket fell, which sparked a mini collapse with James Woodford the leading bowler with figures of 3-43.
And Oxford were bowled out for 220 after 49.1 overs with Craig Hodges (2-36) cleaning up the tail. Muhammad Ayub (43) and Jamie Perkin (42) were the top scoring batsmen.
Finchampstead got off to a poor start in reply, losing both Hodges (14) and Jindal (12) early to sit on 34-2.
But Greg Smith and Dan Lincoln embarked on a big partnership, pushing the score along to 188 before Smith fell for 67 off his 120 deliveries.
Lincoln’s unbeaten 91 helped power his side across the winning post with Josh Lincoln scoring 22 off 11 balls to seal the seven-wicket win.
In Division 2, WOKINGHAM clinched an even more comprehensive victory.
Newly-promoted Oaks have made an unbeaten start to life back in the Home Counties and they added another victory with ease against Shipton-under-Wychwood at Sadler’s End.
Shipton batted first and the top order completely crumbled to 9-4 with Lewis Sharp claiming three early wickets.
Simon Myles then took over with three wickets himself as Shipton could not gain any momentum, incredibly falling to 19-8 before finally beginning to put some runs on the board.
But they were still bowled out cheaply for a meagre 52 with Sharp (4-13) and Myles (3-10) the pick of the bowlers.
And Wokingham eased across the winning line in under 13 overs with Stuart Parsons (16no) and James Bird (23no) completing the job themselves to earn a 10-wicket victory.
