Chilterns League: Braywood beat Great Kingshill by three wickets to hold off rivals

Jack Stemp hit 79 as Pinkneys Green drew with Littlewick Green.

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Braywood beat Great Kingshill by three wickets on Saturday to hold off their rivals for a top three finish in the Chilterns League Championship.

With Emmbrook & Bearwood having opened a 58-point lead over third placed Braywood, the title looks to be beyond them this season, however, they continue to show consistency with this, their sixth win of the eight matches they've completed this summer.

Having won the toss and elected to field, Braywood restricted Kingshill to just 166 runs in 44.4 overs, thanks to some assertive bowling from the likes of Mudassar Yasin (4-19) and Rayan Waheed (3-31). Kingshill's top order performed reasonably well, with Mark Mackenzie Crooks opening with 35, however, their mid and lower order was gutted, despite the resilience of Alex Dashwood (50) and captain Archie Scott (27). In reply, Syed Kazmi helped the hosts chase down their target with a magnificent 97. Few others managed big scores but there was enough support to get Braywood over the line with three wickets in hand.

In the Premiership, second bottom Littlewick Green look to be struggling to avoid the drop after they could only manage a draw at sixth-placed Pinkneys Green.

Having put their hosts into bat, Pinkneys managed 265 from 44.4 overs before being dismissed. Uday Tikoo was an early faller for 0, but Jack Stemp played a captain's innings of 79, with support from Jagsit Dhillon (60).

In response, Freddie Wynn batted superbly for an unbeaten 120 from 133 balls and shared an opening stand of 130 with Johnny Evans (42). However, the visitors were perhaps a little too patient in their approach and the loss of Christie Green (1) and Oscar Mcculloch (2) put the brakes on their chase. They finished on 216-6 after 45 overs.

Holyport are safely nestled in mid-table after they drew with Wendover at the weekend.

Chasing 254-3 from 47 overs, Port could only manage 208-8 from 43 overs in their reply. Their chase included impressive knocks from Harsham Singh (47) and Amir Ahmed (39no).

Little Marlow are 60 points adrift of leaders Fulmer in Chilterns League Division 1 after Saturday's six-wicket loss to Knotty Green. Marlow had hoped to keep pace with the leaders but instead they handed their opponents 35 points after seeing their total of 217-9 chased down in comfortable fashion.

Having elected to bat, Marlow's top order struggled before Tahir Rashid (31) and Umar Islam (59) provided some much-needed stability. Despite their best efforts, the total was a little underpar and Green chased it down for the loss of four wickets. After losing opener Arpit Shah for a duck, Shambu Reghunath (59) and Parth Adhyaru (76no) picked up the pace, with Chandresh Kotiya adding 44.

Elsewhere, seventh placed Hurley lost by eight wickets to eight placed Winchmore Hill.