Old Merchant Taylors' slumped to a disappointing eight-wicket defeat in Thames Valley Division Two A to Maidenhead & Bray in their relegation battle.

The result means they will approach the final two games with added anxiety given the defeat plunges them further into trouble. OMTs won the toss and on home turf and a pitch that typically favours the batsmen more opted to bat first.

Almost immediately Maidenhead grabbed the initiative with an early wicket and despite the resilience of the club's leading run scorer Rehan Hasan (44), wickets fell with regularity around him. Frustratingly the OMT middle order all managed starts but nobody went on to build the big innings that their innings badly craved.

Armaan Mahmood (32) seemed the most likely to do that but when he was dismissed hopes of reaching the first key milestone of 200 seemed a long way off being achievable. Suffice to say OMTs' luck was epitomised by Kavir Vedd's unusual dismissal for obstructing the field. Despite some late hitting from the tail OMTs finished agonisingly short of maximum batting points on 195 all out.

In response, Maidenhead eased their own relegation worries with an extremely assured batting performance. OMTs opened with spin and an excellent first ball wicket for Rehan Hasan left the visitors on nought for one.

Will Ballantyne (32) played the important support role to James Billington's (107 not out) aggressive yet controlled attack. OMTs tried to break the Maidenhead partnership by rotating various bowlers through the attack, and although Aaran Amin's 18 over spell was finally rewarded with the wicket of Ballantyne, it just meant James Tattersall (49 not out) was brought to the crease.

An 86-run partnership at this stage of the game did for the home side as Maidenhead cruised home to the win with four overs left in hand.

In all this was a crushing defeat for OMT meaning this weekend's encounter with Harefield Seconds now assumes far greater significance. Effectively if one of those sides can inflict heavy defeat on the other then it could ensure the relegation of the losing side. OMTs can only hope they end up on the right side of that result.

In Division Six A, Old Merchant Taylors' Seconds successfully completed their relegation escape act for the 2015 season with a second successive maximum point victory after a 75-run win at Henley.

OMTs lost the toss and were asked to bat, but due to his late arrival usual opener Suhel Virmani found himself forced down to number four in the order - and it proved a masterstroke for the visitors. The ball did swing early on, accounting quickly for a couple of quick wickets, but Andrew Mizner (24) did a fine job in seeing off the new ball, taking up 83 balls to set up a platform for the middle order to look to exploit, whilst Suhel Virmani started a Sehwag-style counter at the other end.

When Mizner fell in the 26th over, OMTs were 106 for three. Enter Simon Boardley and immediately the run-rate rocketed as the Henley attack started to wilt in the heat. Suhel Virmani brought up his fifty off 49 balls and Simon Boardley achieved the mark not long after off 35 balls.

Virmani finally holed out for 86 in the 43rd over, ending a partnership of 143, with Boardley now on 94. With a declaration in the offing Boardley agonisingly contrived to get bowled on 99, by a sharply-swinging delivery that any batsmen would dread being given in such a score. Ultimately OMTs were able to declare after only 45 overs, with an imposing 266 for six on the board.

But getting the win was far from a formality, despite Henley's lowly position in the league. An opening partnership of 92 between Mick Hilditch (65) and the more obdurate Peter Nevill (28) took over 20 overs to break before the returning Jeremy Mayer provided an inspired spell of bowling, to swing the match back towards OMT.

First Nevill was bowled, bringing the aggressive Jeremy Wright (33) to the crease, who immediately cracked four sixes. Suddenly at 134 for one with over 20 overs left, Henley seemed well in the hunt for an unlikely victory.

Cue the second, and key, breakthrough again from Jeremy Mayer. And when Jeremy Wright finally played one shot too many to be caught in the deep Henley looked less likely to go on and win. The rest of the Henley line-up fell in a heap as OMT leading wicket-taker Neil Richards finally brought two wickets and then the pace of Drij Vyas (three for 28) ripped out the tail to dismiss them for 192 in 45 overs.

Ultimately the scorecard for this one looked comfortable but there were definitely moments of danger and OMTs kept their heads well to clinch a fourth win in five games.