Old Merchant Taylors’ earned a six-wicket win at British Airways in their crucial Thames Valley Division Two A  relegation battle.

The home side won the toss and opted to bat on what looked to be a good batting track. But OMTs made early inroads into the British Airways top order. The new-ball pace of Russell Henley (three for 33) in particular was too much for the batsmen and they soon found themselves struggling at 62 for five in a game that, in truth, they could ill afford to lose.

British Airways staged a fightback led by Matt Sawant (102), who batted superbly on the counter-attack. Ably supported by the lower-middle order, Sawant pushed the home side over the 200-mark to secure maximum batting points, before he finally succumbed to a rare loose shot. With his dismissal British Airways’ resistance ended and they finished up posting 215 all out.

That total had seemed a relatively straightforward one to chase down, until the very early dismissal of Nikhil Rawal before the scoreboard had even started ticking over meant it seemed a lot more daunting a target. Another couple of wickets fell to leave OMTs at 46 for three and feeling a little nervy about things.

But out of the adversity Kavir Vedd (58) played a vital role in stabilising the innings, before skipper Paul Marshall (51 not out) and Ed Jones (71 not out) saw OMTs home with a full seven overs left.

This could be a result that goes a long way to deciding the fate of the two teams involved and it means OMTs continue to hold their own destiny and chances of staying up in their own hands.

In Division Six A, Old Merchant Taylors’ Seconds continued their recent resurgence with an emphatic 186-run victory over the Barnes Wild Geese.

On a pitch that looked unusually green, Barnes won the toss and elected to bowl. Despite the early loss of Suhel Virmani, OMTs’ scoreboard was soon ticking along at a good rate – with Rahul Patel stroking a sublime 81, supported by Rohit Maini (33) in a partnership of 139.

The platform was set and although Patel and Maini fell in successive deliveries, James Worthington and Dylan Amin continued the flow of runs. However with the fall of three quick wickets the OMT innings was in danger of fizzling out at 207 for six, only for Andrew Wingfield and Owen Bidder to add a quick 57 allowing a declaration to come after 51 overs at 264 for seven.

In response the pace of Drij Vyas (three for 17) in particular exerted significant pressure on the Barnes top order and although wickets didn’t quite fall as quickly as OMT would have liked, the fact that only 28 runs were scored in the first 20 overs soon ensured Barnes only had a draw to aim for.

At 65 for four, OMTs were beginning to wonder if they might run out of overs, but a belated switch to spin did the trick as Rajiv Radhakrishnan (three for six) and Neil Richards (two for three) continued their recent good form and went through the rest of the Barnes order to dismiss them for just 78.