An excellent century from Nathan Hawkes helped High Wycombe return to winning ways in the Home Counties Premier League Division One on Saturday.

Hawkes’ 115 from 84 deliveries set the tone for his side’s resounding 205-run win over relegation threatened Harefield.

His impressive score came in under two hours and he accumulated 80 of his runs from boundaries as he hit 14 fours and four sixes.

Alistair Haynes (52 not out) and Garth Davson (48) also made important contributions to the Wycombe effort as they scored 311 runs before declaring with seven wickets down.

The value of the trios scores were highlighted by the failures of the other batsmen around them as three of their number failed to make it beyond 15.

Part of Davson’s knock played a particularly important role early on with he and Gavin Baker (29) putting on 43 for the first wicket.

The Harefield bowlers toiled on gamely in the face of such a dominant batting display and Daniel Evans (3-74), Dhavalkumar Norotam (2-55), Scott Morris (1-40) and Douglas King (1-59) were all rewarded.

A bright start was of the utmost importance if Harefield were to snatch an unlikely victory but such an opening did not materialise.

A slump to 41-5 saw both openers depart for ducks as Cameron Parsons and James Benning bowled superbly and ripped through the top order.

The host’s only resistance came from Scott Friend and King and in truth their respective scores of 20 and 22 were never likely to concern Wycombe.

They were the only Harefield batsmen to make it into the 20’s and their team mates were powerless to resist a Wycombe attack which was firing on all cylinders.

The paucity of quality in the Harefield batting line up left them staring defeat in the face early on, and George Shiel (1), Evans (4), Norotam (6) and Thomas Day (7) were all guilty of being dismissed cheaply.

Benning was Wycombe’s main danger with an impressive 4-46, which included trapping Jack Shiel in front to get the ball rolling.

His devastating early partnership with Parsons led Wycombe’s other strike bowler to claim an economical 3-23 from his seven overs.

Alan Duncan (2-28) was also productive before Adam Dobb (1-4) sealed the victory with the wicket of King.

The morale boosting victory comes at the ideal time for Wycombe as they face a potentially crucial match against fellow title chasers Finchampstead in their next match on Saturday.

The sides’ last meeting came in May and was a frustrating match for both teams as poor weather conditions meant the game was abandoned and ended in a stalemate.