Knowing a maximum 25 point win was almost certainly going to be Kidmore’s only chance of survival, the visitors elected to bat first after winning the toss at Sadlers End.

Opening batsmen Joe Waldron and Tom Sheldon made a solid start until the latter was dismissed by Jono Fowler with the score on 28.

And Kidmore then suffered a double setback as Martin Wilson reduced them to 45-3.

Abid Ul-Wahab led a fightback for the visitors with a hard-hitting 26, but when he became Wilson’s third victim, his side had fallen to 79-4.

Fowler then made a big breakthrough by dismissing opener Waldron - who had made a patient 24 - with just one more run on the board.

Kidmore End captain Jeff Sheldon attempted to rebuild the wreckage of the innings and shared a 22-run stand with Alex Chrawford, who was caught and bowled by Simon Myles with the score on 108.

The Oaks pushed home their advantage during an extraordinary passage of play which saw three further wickets fall with the score still the same as Myles (2-10) and Paul Dewick (3-32) wreaked havoc to leave the End on 108-9.

However, Sheldon and number 11 James Frost showed tremendous resolve - along with no shortage of skill - to gradually haul their side towards a reasonable score.

The pair’s 45-run stand for the final wicket helped Kidmore reach 153, with Sheldon’s superb innings ending on 59 when he was stumped by Chris Nicholas off the bowling of Dewick.

The Oaks were always in control during the run chase, which finally ended a winless run of five matches which ultimately cost Wokingham their chance of winning the division and promotion to the Home Counties league.

Stuart Parsons was in particularly fine form, hammering a superb 67 from a mere 59 balls before he was caught by Tom Sheldon off the bowling of left arm spinner Crawford to end an 83-run partnership with captain Jack Turner.

If that provided a chink of light for Kidmore, it was swiftly removed as Turner (47*) and Nicholas (31*) eased the hosts to victory, condemning Kidmore to bottom place and relegation.

Skipper Turner is now challenging his players to go one better and clinch promotion next season.

“It was a very pleasing performance,” he said. “Our two opening bowlers put Kidmore under immense pressure right from the start and restricted them to a total we knew we could chase. It was also very crucial that we held our catches.

“Our batting was fantastic. Building partnerships is the way to chase down those sort of totals and we did that brilliantly.

“We have talked all year about people taking responsibility and a top order did it perfectly and saw us home.” He added: “Finishing third in the league was a fair reflection of how we have performed this year. Hopefully, we can kick on next year and improve on this.”