Gavin Baker and Garth Davson produced an excellent opening wicket stand of 132 as High Wycombe breezed past Tring Park on Saturday.

The opener’s contributions with the bat led the Home Counties Premier League Division One champions to a comfortable nine-wicket win.

Despite the victory they remain 41 points behind division pace setters Finchampstead heading into the final three games of the campaign.

While Baker and Davson provided the standout performances, the foundations for Wycombe’s success were undoubtedly laid by their bowlers.

They were on top from the first delivery and some excellent bowling reduced Tring to 13-3 as their top three all departed for less than 10.

Michael Payne coped better with the early onslaught and made a gutsy 35 from 85 balls to stem the flow of Tring wickets slightly.

In truth, Robin Pritchard was the only Tring batsman to get to grips with the Wycombe attack as he scored an unbeaten 48 which included eight boundaries.

His valiant effort mattered little in the final totting up of his side’s innings though, and a slow run rate meant they reached just 156-8 from their 50 overs.

Alan Duncan was the only Wycombe man to bowl his full allocation of 10 overs and made the most of them to take 3-23.

There was a wicket apiece for Xavier Owen (1-8), Cameron Parsons (1-29), Jonathan Burden (1-32) and Conner Haddow (1-35).

The visitor’s small score meant they would need to bowl with control, but they failed to pose Wycombe’s batsmen any serious questions.

Baker found the going particularly easy as he crashed 75 from only 48 deliveries in a knock which included 10 fours and three sixes.

Davson was slightly less attacking but still scored at nearly a run a ball on his way to an unbeaten 72 which takes his tally for the league season to 928.

He and Owen (five not out) saw Wycombe over the line after just 23.1 overs on a torrid day for the Tring bowlers.

The scorecard made for grim reading for those who had ball in hand and Payne’s 1-31 provided the only consolation for them.

Wycombe currently occupy fourth spot in Division One and will have to be near perfect to climb to the top of the table and retain their title.

They will also be relying on results elsewhere and will have to hope Finchampstead, Banbury and Henley all drop points.

Their confidence should be high heading into the match with Little Tew, considering they enjoyed a 107-run victory over them in June.