Dropped catches cost Little Marlow dear in Division Three of the Morrants Chilterns Cricket League as they succumbed to a seven-wicket defeat against Coleshill seconds.

In pursuit of 238 and having lost both openers cheaply, the visitors were allowed to recover as third wicket pair Max Deighton and Ali Khan (103) took full advantage of second lives.

Marlow skipper Jack Goss shuffled his attack, but it wasn't until Khan had completed his aggressive century that he lifted a Tahir Rashid off-break to Mohammed Yaqoob at long-on.

That wicket left the score on 179-3 and he was to be the last batsman to fall as 15-year-old Luke Dawson (24*) helped Deighton, who closed on 83 not out, finish the job from 46.1 overs.

Little Marlow had earlier recovered from making a poor start to their innings, losing Imran Ali and Steve Shore with just 12 runs on the board.

However, half-centuries from Rashid (66) and Farooq Hussain (78*) enabled a challenging declaration to be made at 235-7 from 50 overs.

Sunday bought a game against Ibstone for Little Marlow’s second team, but the result was the same as the home side secured a six-wicket success.

Arfan Sharif (2) and Farooq Hussain (20) put on 30 for the first wicket with the help of the Ibstone wicketkeeper, and that proved to be the innings’ biggest partnership as Little Marlow lost wickets regularly.

James Cummins (2), Nicky Marie (22), Tahir Rashid (13) and Kandir Balapandian (0) all fell in quick succession as they tumbled to 82-6.

Useful runs from lower order batsmen Adil Hussain (14), captain Andrew St Maur (21) and Awais Hussain (11*) carried the score to 140 before the final wicket fell in the 34th of the allotted 40 overs.

The total caused Ibstone few problems en route to victory and after an early wobble they cruised over the line with ten overs and six wickets to spare.