HIGH Wycombe's dream of reaching Lord's ended in the drizzle and fading light at London Road on Sunday evening as Bath eventually triumphed in the semi-final of the National Knockout Cup.

The clash, which had been postponed from the previous weekend because of rain, was decided in a nail-biting conclusion which for periods had looked in danger of being dashed by the weather again.

But this time the teams played through the early evening drizzle and it was Bath who earned the big prize of an appearance at Lord's in the final of the competition with a three-wicket victory over their hosts.

Wycombe had gambled heavily on the clash, flying bowler Tim Scriven back from a holiday in France at the cost of around £500, but it failed to pay off.

Appropriately though, it turned out to be a game all about the bowlers.

For much of the afternoon it was not perhaps the most exciting match for the several hundred noisy supporters at London Road, with neither side really letting rip with the bat, but by the end it had enough tension to make it an entertaining spectacle.

Wycombe had got off to the worse possible start, losing captain and opener Jason Harrision in less than two minutes, as he went for a duck.

It was all the more frustrating for Harrison because he had gone to the effort of getting out of his county duties with Lincolnshire for the match.

Adam Cole, who had similarly juggled work commitments so he could make the Wycombe team, didn't last long either. He was run out for eight after surviving an almost identical incident moments earlier.

Paul Sawyer made the biggest contribution to the Wycombe innings, scoring 30 before being caught by Grant Shephard.

James Benning (11), Mark Morgan (13) and Tim Russell (11) were the only other Wycombe batsmen to reach double figures as Bath's lively bowling stifled the home side's game. Scriven, who had interupted his French holiday, was stumped for nine.

Former Somerset player Stuart Priscott claimed three of the Wycombe wickets for just 11 runs, with team-mates Stuart Barnes and Gordon Swinney weighing in with two each.

But even as Wycombe went in for tea with just 117 for nine to their name, Harrison later admitted he was still confident of victory.

He said: "Even though we only got 117 we were still confident we had a chance of winning. We defend well and we've got a good fielding side but unfortunately we let ourselves down in the first half of the game."

Even when Bath whacked out two fours in their opening over, Wycombe looked on course to snuff out their attack as they quickly dismissed openers Priscott and Dave Pippett for nine and nought, respectively.

By the half-way stage Bath were standing at 51 for four and looking shakey. When they lost further wickets thanks to some brilliant Wycombe catching, three of which fell to Sawyer, the travelling supporters were left biting their nails with their side on 89 for seven.

But with victory still well within their grasp, Bath's Gregg Brown (27 no) and Steve Griffiths (12 no), kept their heads with some sensible cricket which saw them chip away at the Wycombe total.

It was the best batting display of the day as the pair carved out singles and stroked the odd four off Wycombe's fast bowling to steadily and slowly erode the home side's hopes.

With four overs remaining, Brown pushed a four out to the boundary to send the visiting players into dreamland while Wycombe's sunk onto the soggy pitch in despair.

Harrison admitted: "They just played better than we did today. Bath were the better side than us."