Henley are the team to beat in this year’s Home Counties Division One, according to High Wycombe skipper Nathan Hawkes.

Last season the London Road club were forced to settle for second place behind Henley after finishing 33 points adrift of the champions.

In 2011, Henley were also toasting league success while Wycombe endured a tough season, finshing in seventh place.

The current campaign saw both sides make blisteringly quick starts before Slough inflicted Wycombe’s first defeat of the season while Henley made it five out of five with a five wicket win against Harefield.

Hawkes, in his debut season at the club, is intent on helping his new team reclaim the crown they last captured in 2012.

“They (Wycombe) haven’t won the league in the last couple of years, Henley have pipped them to that,” he said.

“The main aim when we sat down at the start of the season was to be challenging for the league and winning the league.

“There’s a few people out, a few people in, so there’s a lot of new faces and everyone’s still settling in. The main aim is winning the league.”

Hawkes’ old team Oxford sit bottom of the table, having lost all five of their matches while at the other end only Banbury have managed to win as many games as Wycombe.

The 26-year-old, who has played minor counties cricket for Oxford, believes there are two clear rivals for this year’s Home Counties crown.

He said: “Every year you can’t really see past Henley and the strength they’ve got with bat and ball. I think they’ve been the hot favourites over the last couple of seasons and this season.

“You can never write Slough off and I’d like to think that we’d be second favourites.”