BERKSHIRE CCC kept their nerve to beat Oxfordshire by three runs in a Unicorns Trophy thriller at Wargrave CC, writes Dave Wright.

It keeps alive their hopes of reaching the knock-out stage going into their final Group One match against Devon at Exmouth next Sunday.

In front of a good sized crowd on the warmest day of the season so far, Berkshire made took first use of what looked a good batting strip and made 257-8 in their 50 overs.

At one stage they looked to be on course to reach 300 with Waqas Hussain and Richard Morris both batting well. They took the total to 181-2 but both were dismissed in the 40th over, Hussain for 78 and man-of-the-match Morris for 52.

The sixth wicket went down at 199 before James Morris and Stewart Davidson (27 off 19 balls) added 42 for the seventh wicket in five overs. Skipper James remained unbeaten on 32 when the innings closed.

When Oxon batted, paceman Tom Nugent got Berkshire off to a sensational start, bowling Hugo Darby with his second delivery and trapping Lloyd Sabin lbw with his next delivery.

Opener Richard Kaufman and Harry Stephens added 51 for the third wicket before the former Berkshire player was dismissed for 15.

Kaufman received good support from George Munsey with a fifth wicket partnership of 87, but the former was bowled by Chris Peploe for 89 (off 121 balls) in the 42nd over and Chad Keegan went for 5.

Scotland international Munsey (53 off 52 balls) fell to a fine catch by Euan Woods, with Peploe again the bowler. Skipper Luke Ryan battled hard to keep Oxon in the hunt, but he lost two partners at the other end and it left his side needing 17 runs off the final 11 deliveries with just one wicket standing.

That came down to 10 runs off the final over, with Hussain entrusted with the task of bowling it. He conceded five singles and a wide, leaving a boundary needed off the final ball, but Hussain beat the bat to leave Ryan 45 not out and seal a nail-biting victory for Berkshire.

Their wicket takers were Woods 10-2-44-3, Peploe 10-0-63-3 and Nugent 7-0-35-2 with the other wicket falling to a Richard Morris run-out.

Berkshire visit Devon this Sunday (11am), while Berkshire Women host Warwickshire at Wokingham (11am).