TITLE-CHASING High Wycombe kept the pressure on leaders Henley but they made hard work of their latest victory over Reading.

Opener Keith Newell scored decisive runs in the Wycombe win but they will no longer be able to call on his services as he now takes up a teaching position in Ealing.

On their own pitch they won the toss and put their opponents into bat, bowling them out for 185 in 49.2 overs.

This was thanks to an excellent performances from Adam Dobb who took 5-35 and Paul Sawyer with 3-69.

Wycombe’s reply began well with Newell providing 54 before he was caught by Sukhmeet Khan off Ian Slatcher.

Sawyer, batting at number three also scored 50, and with Gavin Baker and Nathan Hawkes both scoring in their twenties, Wycombe looked to be well and truly on course.

But then the wickets tumbled and they needed the services of another six batsmen to pass the winning post on 188 for eight after 40 overs.

Captain Hawkes said: “It’s another 25 points and that’s the main thing. It has kept us just five points adrift of Henley but we should have won more comfortably. We never should have lost eight wickets. Only one or two players didn’t give their wickets away. I think a touch of complacency crept in because we were chasing not a very big total.”

In the last few weeks Wycombe have had their problems with their batting and they will need to correct that ahead of this weekend’s clash against Slough, who are the only team to beat them this year after chasing down Wycombe’s match-winning looking score of 358.

With Newell leaving, Teddy Casterton, who scored a ton for the second team last week, will step up while Cameron Parsons looks set to replace David Cranfield-Thompson.

On the bowling side, Jamie Benning is again unavailable to bowl because of his calf strain but is fit enough to bat.

Hawkes knows there is no margin for error with Wycombe having four more matches to play before they face Henley in a potential title decider on the final day.

He said: “It’s a four-game shoot-out until then. We have got to make sure we take it to the final day.”

While Wycombe lock horns with Slough, Henley visit lowly Harefield.

Meanwhile Gerrards Cross’ away woes continued as they fell to a five wicket defeat at Shipton-under-Wychwood in the second division.

After choosing to bat, the Cross were in disarray at 23-5 as Anupam Sanklecha ripped through the top order. The innings never recovered and Cross were 85 all out.

Shipton reached 45-1 in reply and were heading comfortably towards victory before Elliot Green (4-20) gave Cross a glimmer of hope as Shipton crashed to 45-5.

But Simon Hole, 43 not out, and Sanklecha who finished unbeaten on 20 steadied the ship and guided Shipton across the line.