Matt Rance’s superb unbeaten century led Chesham to an important 91-run win over Kew in the Thames Valley League Premier Division.

The opening batsman led from the front as he scored 127 from 154 deliveries to set the tone for a commanding innings.

Rance hit 18 fours and a single six in his knock to guide Chesham to 276-4dec as 78 of his runs came via boundaries.

He was not alone in impressing with willow in hand and Luke Webb was in similarly fine form as he made 79.

Chesham’s other batsmen failed to match the standards of their team mates, but Mark Eteen and Pip France both scored 25 to add more weight to the Chesham score.

On a tough day for the Kew bowlers Arshad Baig was the biggest threat with the ball and claimed 3-53, while Kamran Younas finished with (1-89).

The total gave Chesham plenty to defend and Kew struggled to contend with the twin bowling threat of Gift Kwatsha and Asad Rehman.

The duo did for all but three of the Kew batsmen and only Michael Outar (54) and Andrew Lewin (35) made any tangible impact on the scoreboard.

No one else in a Kew shirt made it beyond 22 and Chesham bowled them out for 185 to close out a composed win.

Kwatsha caused them the most problems and finished with 4-68, while Rehman’s economic 14 over spell gave him 3-36.

There were further wickets for Umar Aslam (1-11), Pete Clifford (1-25) and Pip France (1-29).

The result sees Chesham maintain pace with league leaders Stoke Green who are currently 32-points ahead of them.

Both sides’ league standing adds extra spice to their meeting on Saturday where Chesham will look to build pressure on their title rivals with a win.

Chesham will need to improve on their previous performance against Stoke Green, which saw them suffer a 32-run defeat in June, to do so.