READING ended their Division 2b season with a 79-run away win at Royal Ascot, writes Richard Ashton.

Andrew Murray took 3-19 as the basement side dismissed their visitors for 225, Jack Beaven top-scoring with 52 and Hamish Scott adding 42 after being promoted to open.

The Ascot reply never really got going as Sunny Jheeta (4-39) and Waqas Ahmed (3-33) excelled, the home side dismissed for 146.

Hurst finished the season in third place after beating Thatcham Town by 44 runs.

Skipper Lewis Smith (65) and Phil Higgs (41no) were among the runs for Hurst (209-6), and Andrew Ruddock (4-27) and Smith (3-25) then did the damage as the home side were bowled out for 165.

Wargrave held their nerve to seal the Division One title following a 58-run home win against Falkland.

It was a remarkable effort by a club playing at this level for the first time, and was built around fine batting performances from openers Mark Firth (77) and Mandip Sohi (49).

Having scored 282-9 in their 50 overs, Wargrave then kept their visitors to 224-6 in reply, securing promotion to the Home Counties Premier League for the first time.

Eversley’s hopes of snatching the Division 2a title were thwarted following a three-wicket reverse at Kidmore End.

Chris Last (60) and captain Tom Howorth (47) helped the Boars post 207-7, Alex Crawford grabbing 3-24.

In reply, debutant Jake Goodwin blasted a remarkable 102 from just 68 balls, and despite Tom Magowan snaring 6-40, Kidmore reached 208-7 in 37.1 overs to ensure their survival and a third-placed finish.

Division 3a champions Binfield crushed Purley on Thames by 191 runs to consign the Potters to relegation.

The hosts were wobbling on 100-5 after Robbie Jeffrey (3-57) produced a fine new-ball spell, but a wonderful 101 from 77 balls from Duncan Wessels, added to by Shaun Miller’s 59 from 50, ensured Binfield posted a commanding 303-7 from their 45 overs.

Purley (112) struggled in reply, with Wessels (3-26) and Ian Goddard (3-8) doing the bulk of the damage for the home side.

Sulhamstead ended the season in seventh after losing by 71 runs to Farnham Royal.

Doug Macdonald (3-34) and Charlie Baker (3-33) bowled well for Sully as they restricted the visitors to 192-9, but only Stuart Hornby (69) got going in reply as his side were bowled out for 121.

Peter Dean (107) made his fifth century of the season as Division 4a champions Sonning (213-2) signed off in style with an eight-wicket triumph at home to Wargrave 2nds (208).

Taran Sohi top-scored with 50 for the visitors, but Andrew Niblett took 3-45 before Dean and Manu Rawat (42no) did the bulk of the scoring to lead Sonning home with more than eight overs to spare.

Basement boys Bracknell (140) lost to Reading 2nds (141-7) by three wickets, Aditya Srinivasan (3-22) and skipper Kurram Mahmood (43) the stars of the show for the hosts.

James White struck a wonderful unbeaten 117 for Theale & Tilehurst (247-5) as they beat Bagshot 2nds (219-9) by 28 runs to finish seventh.

Mo Jamil was the pick of the T&T attack with figures of 3-67.

In Division 6b, Richard Moolman blasted 130 from just 160 balls as champions Bradfield (244-5) battered Sulhamstead 2nds (79) by 165 runs.

Purley on Thames 2nds sealed the runners-up spot with a 65-run success at home to Theale & Tilehurst 2nds.

Anwar Subhani (70) led the way as the Potters amassed 182, despite the best efforts of Mark Mason (4-26).

T&T struggled in reply, and with Ijaz Rahman snaring 4-18, they were bowled out for 117.

Daniel Harris top-scored with 53 as Hurst 2nds (203-7) edged out Finchampstead 4ths (195) by eight runs.

The stand-out performers for Finches were Joe Sheldon (66), Michael Simmonite (52) and Adil Mohammed (4-42).

Mark Richards smashed a sensational 167 and then took 4-60 as Sonning 2nds (293-2) beat Fleet 2nds (276) by 17 runs.

It left the powerful opener with seasonal stats for the 2nds of 1,068 runs at an average of 97.09.

Reading 3rds (185-9) squeezed past Cove 3rds (184-7) by one wicket.

Royal Ascot 3rds (91) lost by 52 runs to Kidmore End 2nds (143) in Division 7a, Attiq Uddin grabbing 4-17 for the victors.

Runners-up Wargrave 3rds (170) suffered a bad final day as they went down by 117 runs to Slough 5ths (287-8).

Bob Bolton took 5-23 for Division 8a runners-up Bradfield 2nds (76-1) as they cruised to a nine-wicket success against Bracknell 2nds (75), while Theale & Tilehurst 3rds (94-1) thrashed Thatcham Town 3rds (93) by nine wickets.

Eversley 4ths secured the runners-up spot and promotion from Division 9a as they hammered Wargrave 4ths by 145 runs.

Dave Howorth retired hurt on 111, Anup Urath smashed 102 and Dave Kirby weighed in with 87 as the Boars blasted their way to a colossal 318-2 in 40 overs.

And despite Kieran Lall’s 86, that target always looked too many for the hosts, with Henry South taking 5-19 as they were restricted to 173-9 in reply.

Jay Rathore smashed 156 and Nathan Ruegg added 75 as Kidmore End 3rds (284-5) beat Marlow Park (241) by 43 runs, while Reading 4ths (191) beat Newbury 3rds (114) by 77 runs.

Shamitha Widanapathirana (125) and Wazir Khan (67) were among the runs for Sonning 3rds (240-4), but they were edged out by two wickets by Slough 6ths (242-8), finishing seventh in the 13-team table.