High Wycombe reaffirmed their place in the Home Counties Premier League Division One title race with a thumping 107-run win over Great & Little Tew.

Saturday’s victory leaves Wycombe five points behind league leaders Banbury as they look to defend their title.

Wycombe batted first and were handed a fine foundation by openers Gavin Baker (36) and Garth Davson (39) to take them to 76 without loss.

The relative calm of the opening exchanges was broken in dramatic fashion though as five wickets fell for just nine runs and left Wycombe reeling on 85-5.

The collapse, which saw Paul Sawyer (4), Nathan Hawkes (1) and James Benning (0) all depart, threatened to undo the work of Wycombe’s openers, and the dismissal of David Cranfield-Thompson for six only made matters worse.

Wycombe were now in dire need of a score to prevent their innings becoming a total non-event.

Their call for runs was answered by wicket-keeper George Russell who scored a priceless 72 to add some serious bulk to the Wycombe score.

Russell came into the match having scored only 35 runs from his previous four innings this season and his return to form, which featured nine fours and one six, was hugely timely for Wycombe.

Jonathan Burden (26) was the only other Wycombe batsman to reach double figures as they ended their innings on 208-9.

Joseph Thomas provided the main threat with the ball for Little Tew as he claimed 5-46 while Andrew Harris was also on form with 3-67.

Wycombe’s success this term has stemmed largely from their batting ability rather than their bowling and they would need to find a better rhythm in the field to secure victory.

They did exactly that and stamped their authority on matters from the outset to reduce Little Tew to 43-5 with a solid all-round bowling display.

While Wycombe shared the bowling duties between a four pronged attack, it was undoubtedly Cameron Parson who made the biggest impact early on.

His impressive spell saw him take the wickets of Jordan Garrett and Dain Moreton to reduce Little Tew to 34-2 before he returned later in the innings to dismiss top scorer Harrison Smith for 27.

A floundering Tew order stumbled on and their struggles with the bat were epitomised by the fact only Smith made it beyond 20 runs as they finished on 101 all out.

Parson’s efforts saw him finish with of 3-24, while Sawyer (4-17) collected the best figures of the day and Benning chipped in with 3-37.

Wycombe will look to build on the momentum gained from the win over Little Tew when they take on fourth placed Henley on Saturday.