HIGH Wycombe's championship challenge was left in tatters when they were resoundly beaten by Finchampstead in the battle of the top two on Saturday.

The London Roaders went into the clash 60-points behind the Finches but now trail the runaway leaders by 80 points after a crushing defeat.

They were undone by Aussie all-rounder John Moss who returned to the Finchampstead side after a five-match absence with devastating effect.

He claimed five wickets for 74 runs as Wycombe missing Adam Coles, Matt Eyles and Paul Swayer on Test Match groundstaff duty were skittled all-out for 169.

Moss then hit an unbeaten 107 with the bat as the Finches reached the victory target with the loss of only three wickets in 44 overs.

Finchampstead took the maximum 25 points from the clash, for the ninth time this season, while Wycombe earned just five.

But they held onto second place in the table thanks to Beaconsfield's 32-run victory over third-placed Banbury.

Fast bowler Anatole Thomas made a successful return for Beaconsfield as they put one over the reigning Home Counties Premier League champions at Wilton Park on Saturday.

The 33-year-old paceman, known as Tolly, took a match-winning five for 57 on his first appearance for the club in three years, as Beaconsfield won a close-fought game with ten balls to spare.

It was a sweet moment for Beaconsfield whose bowlers had been on the receiving end when Banbury rattled up 313 for nought declared earlier in the season.

Craig Haupt, who made a double-century in that game, looked on course for another great score as Banbury went in pursuit of their victory target of 210. Haupt hit four fours off one over before becoming Thomas's third victim.

Banbury were always in the hunt, but after Nayan Doshi had dismissed dangerman David Taylor, Thomas returned to mop up the tail and give Beaconsfield their second league win of the term.

Earlier an unbeaten 60 from Jim Chaudry and a fluent 39 off 49 balls from Steve Lynch helped Beaconsfield to reach 209 for six, against an attack including former England seamer Neal Radford. There were also useful contributions from Martin O'Reilly and Danny Drepaul.