Stanmore Cricket Club got their season underway with a 34-run victory against Buckingham Town in the first round of the ECB National Club Championship.

Stanmore, who are in group 12 of the competition, batted first and made steady progress throughout their innings.

Steve Mehra struck 43, while Rishi Pandya performed well to top score with 60. Chanmeet Kohli hit a productive 41 to help Stanmore reach 216 for five from 45 overs.

With the ball, Stanmore made early inroads into the Buckingham top order and Talha Azam did well to stump Steve Brunning with the batsman on 37.

Mukesh Bhatt (three for 38) and Marc Reingold (two for 20) worked their way through the Town batsmen, and despite the best efforts of tail-enders James Gear (24) and Jason Ell (13), Buckingham fell short.