RAIN played a major role in he weekend’s Cherwell League programme, with only a handful of matches surviving the downpours.

Every match in Tier 1A and 1B was abandoned, with many games not even having a ball bowled.

Cumnor got just 13 overs in, reaching 49-2 as Oliver Ong took both wickets for visitors Sandford St Martin.

In Tier 2A, just one match survived as Witney Mills fell to a one-run defeat on the Duckworth-Lewis method at Stokenchurch.

Mills opted to bat first, but managed only 94-7 in a rain-reduced 25 overs as Joe Sears claimed 3-22.

Further rain followed, and Stokenchurch were one run above the par score after 14.1 overs when the weather intervened for the final time, Joe Brown’s 45 not out seeing the home side to 87-3, meaning Stokenchurch were declared the winners.

Duckworth-Lewis also came into play in Tier 2B, where Banbury 3rd fell to a six-wicket defeat at home to Leighton Buzzard Town.

Batting first, hosts Banbury posted 142-6 in 33 overs, Chris Phillips top-scoring with 44 not out and Lee Selfe taking 4-12.

Buzzard reached the target in the 28th over as Tom Light’s impressive 78 not out, including seven fours and a six, led the visitors to victory.

Only one game survived in Tier 3A, where Charlbury defeated local rivals Shipton-under-Wychwood 2nd by four wickets.

Jake Godfrey returned fine figures of 4-29 as Shipton were restricted to 102-9 in 33 overs in another

rain-affected clash, Freddie Norridge scoring 39 for the visitors.

Charlbury lost regular wickets in their reply, but with Matthew Doran (26) and James Whybrow (24) looking solid, they reached the target in the 23rd over.

There was a complete wash-out in Tier 3B, while in Tier 4A , East Oxford 2nd needed the Duckworth-Lewis method to beat hosts Oxford Downs 3rd by 41 runs.

Israr Hussain struck 73 not out in East Oxford’s 162-4 in 27 overs before Downs were shot out for 121 in their reply.

Just one match was completed in Tiers 5 & 6 as Great & Little Tew 2nd beat Oxford 4th by 62 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method in the basement division.

Despite the tricky batting conditions, Tew managed to post 152 without loss in just 22 overs as Henry Nicholls struck 84 not out and Tim Merritt 57 not out.

Oxford crawled along to 90-5 in their reply with Adam Din the pick of the Tew bowlers with 2-9 from four overs.