Wokingham’s promotion hopes suffered a major setback when they lost to Home Counties Premier League Division Two champions Buckingham Town by 41 runs at Sadlers End on Saturday.

The Oaks go into their final fixture at Amersham next weekend eight points behind Datchet, who regained second place following their 148-run trouncing of Burnham and will now face final visitors Harefield with confidence.

“It has all come down to the final game, which is not what we wanted, but we will just have to see what happens. We know we must win it,” said player-coach Danny Housego.

If that is to happen, they will certainly need to perform better than they did against Buckingham.

“We had won five in a row, were second in the table and so had the momentum needed going into the game, but sadly the team did not really perform well enough,” commented Housego after seeing the visitors chalk up a useful 272-8 in their 50 overs.

“In the field, we probably gave away 40 to 50 runs too many and that made it even tougher to win, especially when you are up against a side like Buckingham.”

The Oaks did not help themselves by conceding 31 extras, including 17 wides and six no balls, while two overs from James Bird also cost his side 27 runs.

“We should not have allowed them so many runs,” added Housego.

“But in the end, we didn’t deserve to win the game. Buckingham are a good unit and deserve to be where they are in the table. They have got a lot of experience, which is something we probably lack.”

Wokingham made a promising start, dismissing both openers for 25. But two stands of 44 followed to leave the visitors 113-4 in the 27th over.

However, the game swung Buckingham’s way when Andy Hall (83) and skipper Jack Parish (69) put on 118 in 17 overs before they lost three late wickets to finish on 272-8.

Iain Muriden was the pick of the home bowlers with 3-45 from nine overs.

Wokingham openers Stuart Parsons (31) and Jack Wood (37) put on 71 for the first wicket in 18 overs, but both departed in the space of six balls.

Apart from Bird with 21, none of the next six batsmen managed to reach 20 and the Oaks collapsed to 133-7 by the 34th over.

The game was lost, but a late flurry of runs from Muriden (30), Lewis Sharp (22no) and Paul Dewick (36no) lifted the total to 231-9, the last wicket producing 52 in eight overs.

Wokingham 2nds – who did not have a game last weekend – had their relegation from Division 2b confirmed after Royal Ascot beat Aldershot by seven wickets to move 20 points clear of the Oaks.

Wokingham 3rds (152-8) sealed promotion from Division 5b after beating Aldershot 2nds (151-9) by two wickets.

In Division 7a, Wokingham 4ths (145-9) beat Yateley 2nds (112) by 33 runs, Vikesh Patel (4-25) and Muhammed Usman (3-22) starring with the ball.

Wokingham 5ths need just a point to secure promotion from Division 9a after they hammered Yateley 3rds by seven wickets.

Arvind Bhat took 4-24 as the hosts were skittled for 79, with Toqir Khalid then hitting an unbeaten 44 as Wokingham knocked the runs off in 19 overs.