The opener was in impressive form after winning the toss and choosing to bat, despatching the opening ball of the match from Lachlan McKenzie to the boundary.

Fellow opener Will Ward (35) also impressed before he was dismissed by Josh O’Flynn and Thatcham’s duel spin threat of Duncan Johnson (3-91) and John Williams (2-42) gradually stemmed the flow of runs to leave Sonning 148-5.

With Clayson departing for a well-crafted 52, it was left to the experienced pair of Mark Richards and JJ Harris to add 44 in nine overs to put the Pound Lane side back in command.

Richards was particularly severe on Johnson, smashing his last three overs for 35 amid a flurry of boundaries and sixes.

He eventually closed on a crucial 46 not out - which contained a quartet of fours and three maximums - when Sonning declared on 233-6 off 50 overs, enabling them to have a potential extra two overs at their opponents if the game reached a tense conclusion.

The Thatcham reply started in slow fashion as Sonning’s left arm pair of Zubair Ahmed and Ghullam Abbas leaked just 21 runs in the first 10 overs, but it was the introduction of spinner Raheem Shaker - fresh off the back of an eight-wicket haul the week before - which prompted the first wicket as he bowled O’Flynn.

Scott Gibson followed in the same fashion before Shaker (3-40) also had Felix Hartley-Russell caught at short leg.

With Thatcham wobbling, the introduction of seamer Alex Jackson (3-23) saw the middle order crumble and the visitors reeling on 99-7 after 35 overs.

With victory highly unlikely, the Thatcham lower order put up a fight as they scrambled to try and secure a draw.

However, the returning Abbas picked up one wicket and Khan (2-39) finished the job as Thatcham were dismissed for 133 with just 10 balls remaining - and two balls later than they would have faced if it were not for the declaration.

The result pushed Sonning out of the relegation zone and up to fourth bottom, 11 points ahead of Thatcham who have dropped into the bottom two, and four ahead of third-bottom Hayes.

Sonning will look to move further clear of trouble when they host third-placed Chiswick & Latymer at Pound Lane this coming Saturday.

• SONNING 2NDS remain in the Division 4b relegation places after they slipped to a 54 run defeat at league leaders Cove 2nds.

Raja Rafaqat (5-29) was the pick of the Sonning bowlers, and aided by Kevan Smith (2-62), high-flying Cove were bowled out for 186, despite an excellent contribution of 64 from Arshad Dilawar.

However, the run chase did not go in the visitors favour, with only Saad Raqeeb (47) putting up much resistance as his side were routed for just 132 - Dilawar again the thorn in the Sonning side by taking figures of 5-30.

The result leaves Sonning second bottom and 13 points adrift of their nearest rivals Slough 3rds.

Sonning travel to fourth-placed Yateley 2nds this Saturday.