Bucks County Cricket Club lost their opening match of the Unicorn Trophy on Sunday as they fell to a seven wicket defeat to Staffordshire at High Wycombe.

Bucks, who were drawn in group four alongside Oxfordshire, Herefordshire and Berkshire as well as the weekend’s opponents, batted first posted 284 all out from 49.2 overs.

Just five runs were on the board when opener Matt Watson departed first ball and the hosts struggled to 56-4 after 12 overs.

A partnership of 89 between Michael Payne, who made 96 off 133 balls, and Jack Scriven (43) steadied the ship before Dan Hampton (59) helped propel the home side to a decent total.

Early wickets were the target for Bucks as they took to the field, but their hopes of doing so were blown away by a century from Kadeer Ali, brother of England test star Moeen.

The Staffs opener bludgeoned 106 off 119 balls and was ably supported by Alex Mellor (77) as they shared 116 for the first wicket.

Hamzah Riazuddin picked up two wickets and Matt Rance one as Bucks put up some resistance before Ali his side to victory with 4.2 overs to spare.

Berkshire are the opponents this Sunday when Bucks travel to Wokingham looking to bounce back from their opening game defeat.