High Wycombe closed to within three points of Home Counties Division One leaders Henley after trashing Burnham by nine wickets at London Road on Saturday.

A draw against Banbury in June had left Nathan Hawkes’ side 39 points adrift of the table toppers, but a third straight victory, including a five-wicket success against Henley, has put them firmly back in contention to win their first title since 2012.

Wycombe’s bowlers have come to the fore in recent weeks and they took ten wickets for the third successive match as Burnham were bowled out for 201 in the 51st over.

Alan Duncan (2-44), Jonathan Burden (2-41), Kyle Simmonds (2-26), Adam Dobb (2-2), Gavin Baker (1-44) and Paul Sawyer (1-42) did the damage with the ball for the hosts.

Hawkes said: “The bowlers in the last few weeks have hit their straps and we’re bowling teams out convincingly, whereas, like I said at the start of the season, we were struggling to bowl teams out. On a fresh, batter-friendly wicket it was good to get all ten wickets.

“All the wickets were shared out and I think that everyone put on the pressure and bowled well. There were partnerships at both ends which bought the wickets, it wasn’t just one end that was dominating.”

The bowling display was particularly pleasing for the skipper given he was unable to utilise all-rounder James Benning as he struggled to overcome a calf injury.

The former Surrey man has taken 15 wickets so far this term, but the injury, which ruled him out of the win against Henley, curtailed his involvement in the match when he retired hurt when batting.

“Unfortunately for James, his calf hasn’t got any better and he pulled up injured again on Saturday, but it’s nice to have players like Gavin Baker, who hasn’t bowled for the last few weeks but took a three for when he last bowled and then he came in and bowled really well on Saturday,” explained Hawkes.

“It’s quite nice to have seven, eight bowlers in the team, and if someone’s not performing you can just throw the ball around the field and trust them to pile on the pressure and take a wicket.”

The home side wasted no time in knocking off the runs, bludgeoning their way to victory for the loss of just one wicket after 21.3 overs.

Opener Adam Hose hit a blistering 108 off 69 balls before Hawkes (66*) came in to finish the job after Baker (22) had been caught and Benning (2*) limped off.

It was the first time Hose has reached three figures this season – an achievement which had seemed inevitable for a player averaging 45 this campaign.

Hawkes commented: “It was nice to see him get a hundred because he’s got a few starts but hadn’t gone onto get that hundred that we were hoping he would get. He played really well on Saturday and me and the lads were really happy for him.

“He likes to play his shots, like any batter these days, but he’s technically very correct. He played really well and it was nice to see it come off for him on Saturday.”

The attacking brand of cricket being played by Wycombe this season has set them apart in Division One, and Hawkes believes their batting line-up is the envy of the other sides.

“We’ve got Adam Dobb and Kyle Simmonds, our two overseas players, batting at nine and ten, whereas in other teams in the league they could easily bat at five, six or in the middle order, so it’s quite nice to have the options go deep,” he said.

“It (Saturday) just showed what we’re capable of really. If you go out and put on pressure, like Adam did and Gav Baker, then it puts the fielders under pressure.

“It then gives you those balls that you can then take advantage of, and the more you do that the more regularly they’ll come round.”