All News Archive

Letter no.21 from the Mighty Riverside Blues

Monday March 8th: ..... Gibbo is chirping off, Creedy has popped in for a few beers. Sounds familiar to followers of the 'Path...............!! It's all here.

Quote of the week: no 5

Monday March 8th: David Gower, when England Captain in the West Indies. In response to his opening bowler's request "Can I have Mike Gatting wider?"

Gower - "impossible!!"

Welcome to the world Evie Thompson!

Friday March 5th: Many congratulations to Ben & Allie Thompson on the arrival of their baby daughter Evie, on Thursday March 4th at 7.30pm

Letter no.20 from Gibbo - Sam Hay finding form!

Tuesday March 2nd: ..... it must be his imminent return to the 'Path, as the Gibbo is in reasonably cheery mood again! Fellow 'Path bound Tassie, Sam, is also getting some runs in advance of our new season. Tidy! Read all about it here.

 

Quote of the (St David's Day) week: no 4

Monday March 1st: The Shark has taken a week off, so this week it's to the library of Dick Decaires that we turn for our pearl of cricketing wisdom...........

 

"Man, it don't matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero." Viv Richards to Sunil Gavaskar at Madras 1983. Gavaskar had decided to come in at no 4 for that test - but Malcolm Marshall got Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks so Gavaskar had to walk in at 0/2. Gavaskar made 236no.....!!

 

Letter no.19 from Gibbo - happy for 2 weeks running!

Friday February 26th: ..... not much grumpiness from the Gibbo this week! Read all about his past weekend here.

The Knockout Twenty20 Cup: Cardiff, 8-11 August 2010

Wednesday February 24th: Having ruled out that rather average tour destination of Barbados we're now getting serious. Really serious. Cardiff. Tidy. In a "nutshell" the KO T20 in Cardiff is the UK’s first Twenty20 festival that is solely for the grassroots of the game. They aim to bring all the panache and party-ing of the professional game and give it back to Village, Social and Amateur teams from across the country.

 

Read more HERE in the comprehensive attachment from SkyHigh Sports. I will be canvassing for interest at the nets over the next couple of weeks.

Cheers, P o P

Paddles Up!

Wednesday February 24th: As we cleared out the Scout Hut for our new changing rooms project on Sunday (and MANY thanks to all those who turned up to help, great numbers) we "unearthed" an 8 foot long, fibreglass, one person canoe. It's in very good condition and is held in the safe custody of that well known Prince of the Paddles, Derek Newell. If you're interested then please contact Derek on 01865 450120 or dereknewell60@yahoo.co.uk. If it's not claimed by Friday March 5th then it will be donated to the local home for retired canoes & kayaks......................

Umpires & Scorers for 2010: Update

Monday February 22nd: Dave "Min" Hutton has agreed to be our MP Sports Cherwell League panel umpire for 2010, having earlier decided to go "independent", which we are all delighted about. We hope we can continue our relationship with him for many seasons to come.

 

Additionally, it is good news that Gordon "Hammy" Hamilton has agreed to umpire most of our 2nd XI games this coming season. Tony Herman and Dean Holmes will cover the 4th XI umpiring requirements when needed, along with their captaincy roles, with Frank O'Connor agreeing to make himself available regularly to umpire for the 3rd or 4th XI too.

 

Scorers are still proving a little more of a challenge, so if any of our younger players would like to contribute to adult cricket on a Saturday by scoring, it would be appreciated. If there are any adults out there, too, keen to be a part of our Div 1, 6, 7 or 10 campaigns in 2010 then please get in touch ASAP. Jonathan: jonathan@horspathcricket.com or 07767 613322.

 

Barbados Tour, March 2011: OFF

Monday February 22nd: Regrettably, due to lack of interest - from players in particular - Hammy has had to cancel the plans for proposed Tour.

 

Quote of the Week: no 3

Monday February 22nd: Another cracker from the library of Adrian "The Shark" Manger:

 

English slip fielder Raman Subba Row to Fred Truman on failing to stop an edged delivery "Sorry Fred, I should have kept my legs together". A furious Fred in reply: "No Lad, your mother should have!!"

ECB Live Scores now at horspathcricket.com

Friday February 19th: We have made a few changes today to the website, a lot of them "behind the scenes".

 

One significant change is that we've added an ECB Live Scores update (bottom of the left hand column) so now you can get real time scores on all International and County cricket matches all year round. Not as important as how the 'Path are doing, of course....... We also have our "countdown" at the top to April 10th and Game 1!!!

 

New health unit stops play

Wednesday February 17th: A century-old Oxfordshire cricket ground will be dug up to house a new adolescent psychiatric unit. Read the Oxford Mail story here.

Quote of the Week: no 2

Tuesday February 16th: Second of our new feature, from the library of Adrian "The Shark" Manger, in the run up to the new season.

 

" This bowler's just like my dog - four short legs and balls swinging both
ways"  Brian Johnston, late BBC commentary legend.

Letter no.18 from Gibbo, his U16's have him smiling....

Tuesday February 16th: .....although the chaps could have done better, again! Read all about it here.

Alva Peachey

Monday February 15th: Alva's funeral will be at 12noon on Tuesday February 23rd at the Oxford Crematorium, followed by refreshements at the Village Hall where the bar will also be open.

 

Scout Hut Sunday II

Monday February 15th: All hands on deck please, this coming Sunday morning, Feb 21st, to strip out all the internal fixtures and fittings that will not be needed for the new changing rooms etc. 09.30 start for an anticipated retiring to the Bar as close to noon as is possible.

Alva Peachey

Tuesday February 9th: It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Alva, following a brave battle against cancer. Alva was many things to the Cricket Club - Vice President, Committee member, Player and Supporter.

 

As a player Alva scored many quick, late order runs mixing a delicate late cut with a favourite sweep and thump over mid wicket. He was a purveyor of leg spin, when it had gone out of fashion, and the possessor of a powerful arm. Alva made the successful transition from cricketer to golfer but retained his interest and participation in cricket by becoming an indispensible member of the Coppocks Colts when it reformed.

 

Alva's expertise as a craftsman was always available to the Club and he was largely responsible for the conversion of the old library into the existing clubroom.
His presence on the ground watching the cricket will be sorely missed and our thoughts, and deepest sympathy at this time, are with Lucia, Simon and Nicola.

 

Tony Richards

Tuesday February 9th: Correcting our earlier item, Tony's funeral will be at 3.45pm on Friday 12th February at Oxford Crematorium.

 

Quote of the Week: no 1

Tuesday February 9th: First of a new feature, from the library of Adrian "Cherwell Junior Cup holder forever" Manger, in the run up to the new season.

 

"There's nothing wrong with being aggressive - the bloke down the other end
has a bat, some pads and a helmet!" Simon Jones, ex- Glamorgan,

ex-Worcestershire, Hampshire (if he actually makes it onto the field this season) and, of course, England (& Wales!).

 

Letter no.17 from Chef Gibbo

Tuesday February 9th: You thought things could get no worse? Gibbo has been cooking for the team. Read all about it here.

A look back at 2009 - No.15: Tom Murray

Monday February 8th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on last season.

 

Most Memorable Moment: winning the 'prestigious' Tom Murray cup for the 3rd year running - plus ANY wicket taken for any Horspath team.
Worst Moment: being last man to fall against Cumnor in the pitch black at Exeter College.
Best Away Tea: Bletchley was OK, no match for Horspath teas though.
Toughest Opponent: we shouldn't be finding anyone tough in divisions 6 and 7.
Best Umpire: anyone who give me an LBW! It NEVER pitches outside leg!!
Sum up season in 10 words: time to forget 2009...2010 we're going to nail it!

Tony Richards

Thursday February 4th: We are shocked and saddened to report the death earlier this week of Tony Richards.

 

Tony was a good friend and supporter of the Club through his generous sponsorship and for his Annual "Builders" cricket match which was always a highlight for the fun and humour it generated off the pitch as well as on it.

 

Our thoughts are with Sue, and Tony's daughters Alison, Kate and Claire.

 

The funeral will be at 4.00pm on Friday 12th February at Oxford Crematorium.

Horspath Parish Council notice

Thursday February 4th: The Parish Council and Horspath Village Sports Association are holding an open meeting on Tuesday February 16th at 8pm to review the way the Village Hall is managed in future. Read more here.

 

Coming Soon: Indoor Nets & Circuit Training

Tuesday February 2nd: Indoor nets will start on Sunday 28th February 2010 at Magdalen College School, from 7pm to 8pm for the U13's and U15's and from 8pm to 9.30pm for the U17's and adults. This will be for FIVE weeks, then we will move to outdoor training after Easter.

 

From Monday March 1st, for four Mondays, we will have circuit training indoors at the Village Hall from 7pm to 8pm for the U17's and adults.

 

Indoor training for the U9's and U11's will be on Sunday, starting on 28th February from 5.30pm to 6.30pm and then from 5pm to 6pm for the next FOUR weeks.

 

Letter no.16 from the Mighty Unhappy Blue

Monday February 1st: Oh dear, oh dear. It's worse this week than last!

Read all about it here.

 

A look back at 2009 - No.14: Alister Gibbins

Sunday January 31st: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: the smell walking into the changing rooms for the first time....seriously can someone please get the dead cat wrapped in grass clippings out of the ceiling!
Worst Moment: getting out to the opposition's worst bowler EVERY week (though technically half of them threw it so my average should be doubled!)
Best Away Tea: not Bicester, what's their deal? To be honest once Sandra's efforts have been tasted nothing is ever going to be the same again...
Toughest Opponent: the tall spinner for Cumnor (that throws it), gets a lot of late drop.
Best Umpire: errr, best make no comment.
Sum up season in 10 words: Enjoyable times, best club, few more sit ups we win!

A look back at 2009 - No.13: Robbie Cooke

Wednesday January 27th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: coming in at 2-2 against Bicester & NO and then hitting an unbeaten partnership of 154 runs with Tom Holmes to win us the game.
Worst Moment: Krolly bowling me, around the wicket, up the hill and round my legs on Feast day!
Best Away Tea: Bicester & NO's chips and doughnuts - a real two fingers salute to the 5-a-day rule!
Toughest Opponent: Ned's middle class foot.
Worst Umpire: Me - I mistakenly gave out Gazza lbw. Cropredy were literally shocked. Probably because everyone apart from me thought it was a mile down the leg side ....
Sum up season in 10 words: Youth. Talent. Cup finals. Gibbo. New Square. Pitchforks. B****y hell!

Letters from an unhappy Gibbo (No's.14 & 15)

Monday January 25th: Latest from the Gibbo, who is not at all happy, and I don't think it's entirely down to me forgetting to post letter no.14 that he sent me a week ago............................... Read both instalments from Tasmania here.

Umpires for 2010 - another reminder

Monday January 25th: We are still looking for several new faces to step forward next season. Our primary need remains for a fully qualified Umpire to represent us on the Cherwell League panel, plus ideally another 3 or 4 cover our 2nd's, 3rd's and 4th's on a Saturday and also to help with Sunday League, friendly and Youth matches too.

 

Fees are paid for Cherwell League match umpiring, increased to £40 for 2010, and the Club will pay towards the cost of training, if it's needed. Please contact jonathan@horpsathcricket.com (07767 613322) ASAP if you're interested - or know anyone who is.

 

Uhuru Peak preferred to the Rec......what a shocker!!

Saturday January 23rd: On June 18th 2010 Tom Holmes, his girlfriend Emily Goodwin and Matty Herman will be on the plane en route to Nairobi airport to then catch a 7 hour bus to Mount Kilimanjaro National Park, getting ready to begin their 10 day hike up to the 5,895m high Uhuru Peak at the top of the mountain. The reason they're taking up this challenge is to raise money for a charity called Childreach International. In order to take part they need sponsorship and this is where we need the help of the generous people at the ‘Path to help out!

 

Childreach works across Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and India, with theaim of allowing every child to reach their potential through providing tools and skills to make communities self sufficient.

 

Childreach website: www.childreach.org.uk

Tom’s sponsorship page: www.virginmoneygiving.com/tomholmeskili

Emily’s sponsorship page: www.virginmoneygiving.com/emilygoodwinkili

Matty’s sponsorship page: www.virginmoneygiving.com/mattyherman

Any questions email tomholmes@hotmail.co.uk

Another Mighty Blue for 2010

Saturday January 23rd: Along with the return of the Gibbo for the new season, we will also welcome 21-year old Sam Hay to The Rec. A middle order batsman, Sam also bowls some spin and is an excellent fielder with a very strong arm. Unlike Gibbo, who will concentrate on coaching in 2010, Sam will qualify for MP Sports Cherwell League selection and while he's struggled a little bit for runs in Tasmania this season, Alister has confidence in him to do well here and is sure he will fit in.

 

A look back at 2009 - No.12: Andy Cummings

Friday January 22nd: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: winning Village Cup semi-final against Cumnor.
Worst Moment: losing to Aston Rowant in Village Cup Final.
Best Away Tea: Sandford St Martin.
Toughest Opponent: My Mrs.
Best Umpire: Mick Stockwell (except for Bicester in the rain!!).
Sum up season in 10 words: Great fun! Great fun! Great fun! Great fun! Great fun!

 

U11's and U13's Coaching Courses

Tuesday January 19th: Attached courses being held by two Sport & Coaching degree students that may be of interest to our younger players. Read more HERE.

 

New Kit Supplier for 2010/2011: Gray-Nicolls

Monday January 18th: We have now finalised our arrangements and negotiations with our principal and main sponsors for the next 2 seasons and, encouragingly, with 5 weeks to go we have now secured just over 40 player sponsors too out of the 60 we are targeting.

 

Thanks to the continued support of our current sponsors, and the new sponsors we've managed to attract, we will be able to provide a lot more kit free of charge for players this coming season.

 

Headlines of the new kit arrangement with Gray-Nicolls (www.gray-nicolls.co.uk), who will also be a Club sponsor in 2010 and 2011, are:-

 

ALL youth & adult players will receive a FREE playing shirt and t-shirt (these will carry the club badge aswell as Oxford Marquees, Finders Keepers and one other sponsor logo to be confirmed).

 

ALL those who play regular U17's & adult cricket will additionally receive a FREE training shirt, training shorts and (subject to player sponsorship targets being met) a tracksuit (top & bottoms).

 

What I do need ASAP please, is confirmation of the sizes you would like your kit in.

If you've played U17's or adult cricket and have not yet had an email from me regarding sizes, please contact me - jonathan@horspathcricket.com OR 07767 613322.

 

Many thanks, PoP

A look back at 2009 - No.11: Stu Berry

Monday January 18th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: scoring 59no for the 2's at Wolverton to help win the game.
Worst Moment: losing to Oxford IV at home after racking up 283 for 5 declared (see story below!!).
Best Away Tea: Wolverton (although disappointed no roast potatoes this year!).
Toughest Opponent: Didcot
Best Umpire: Chap at Great Tew who gave me an lbw on half an appeal.
Sum up season in 10 words: Unlucky really, just need to win a few more tosses.

 

Jones is first new signing for 2010

Friday January 15th: A big welcome to Chris Jones, who has confirmed he will play his cricket at The Rec in 2010. He joined Oxford & Horspath in 2001 and has spent the last 6 years with Oxford playing in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th XI’s. He considers himself a batsmen first and foremost, who is also more than useful behind the stumps.

 

Adrian Manger, our 2nd XI Captain for most of 2009, still has recurring nightmares about July 4th 2009. Having won the toss and batted, he saw Matt O'Connor's 137no form the foundation of our 283 for 5 declared but he did not count on Chris, the Oxford 4th’s wicketkeeper/batsman that day, scoring a swashbuckling 93 (supported by A Hall and Mursaleen Sadiqi who chipped in with 60's each) to see Oxford 4th’s to 25pts with their 284 for 6!!

 

I am sure we will all give Chris a proper Horspath welcome when he joins us either for pre-season circuit training in the next few weeks, or at indoor nets from the end of February.

Barbados Cricket Tour - March 2011

Tuesday January 12th: We need more interest on the playing side for the above - and indeed from anyone else who wants to go - but we don't have too many players currently.

 

We have a new price now, £1,655 per person, based on 2 adults sharing a beachside studio at the Escape at the Gap on an "all inclusive basis". This is for a minimum booking of 26, anyone booking after the first group will not get as good a price as that. We cannot be sure, either, how long the rooms and flights at this price will last so please get your names to Hammy ASAP (anne.hamiliton@ntlworld.com) and your £150 deposit.

 

The tour date this is based on is Monday March 14th 2011 for 14 nights, flying Virgin from London Gatwick.

Letter from a snowless Gibbo (No.13)

Tuesday January 12th: Latest from Gibbo, with no news of any snowball fights at The Mighty Blues............ Read here.

 

2010 Fixtures - ALL now updated

Sunday January 10th: All of The MP Sports Cherwell League fixtures for our 1st, 2nd and 3rd XI's are now updated under the "Adult Cricket" tab and the 4th XI ones will be there as soon as we've added a new section to the "Adult Cricket" menu.

 

The remaining Adult Fixtures are also updated in the three other sections under "Adult Cricket" - Competitions (nPower Village Cup and MP Sports Cherwell Cup), Sunday League (Thames & Chilterns Sunday League) and Sunday Friendly (all other matches, incl. Tour matches).

 

PoP

The MP Sports Cherwell League - 2010 Fixtures now out

Saturday January 9th: The fixtures have now been finalised for the upcoming season, and we will get them all up on the website in the next few days. Our games for the opening day of the 2010 season on Saturday May 8th are:

1st's: HOME to Bourton Vale

2nd's: AWAY to Bourton Vale 2nd's

3rd's: HOME to Oxford 5th's

4th's: AWAY to Oxford 6th's

Ken Shepherd - Birthday Bash *Postponed*

Friday January 8th: Due to the current weather, and the forecast for Sunday being equally poor, the celebration of Ken's birthday has been postponed.

P o P

Ken Shepherd - a Birthday Reminder

Thursday January 7th: Please come along to the Club on Sunday January 10th to join us, with Ken's family, in a celebration of his birthday.

P o P

A look back at 2009 - No.10: Ned Murray

Thursday January 7th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Lee 007 Mason bowling out Buckingham at the Rec
Worst Moment: 'Forkgate'
Best Away Tea: Bletchley Town
Toughest Opponent: James Sprittles, Bletchley Town
Best Umpire: Andy Grose
Sum up season in 10 words: Middle class people do not do manual labour, b****y hell!

A look back at 2009 - No.9: Adam Thompson

Monday January 4th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Taking my 15th wicket to make it into the 2010 Cherwell League Handbook. What a catch Sam Watts!!
Worst Moment: Losing the final game of the season and missing out on 2nd place.
Best Away Tea: Bletchley
Toughest Opponent: Big Gus at Cumnor.
Best Umpire: Dean Holmes.
Sum up season in 10 words: Great season, shame we couldn't go up - come on 2nd's..... lol

Ken Shepherd - Penblwydd Hapus!

Friday January 1st: Please come along to the Club on Sunday January 10th to join us, with Ken's family, in a celebration of his birthday.

P o P

Happy New Year!

Thursday December 31st: To all our sponsors, members, players, volunteers and spectators - thank you for all your support and efforts that made it such a great year for the Club, both on and off the cricket ground. Here's to a promotion packed, trophy laden, new square christened 2010!!

P o P

A look back at 2009 - No.8: Will Eason

Tuesday December 29th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Defending 110 against Bletchley down at St Caths was a great achievement.
Worst Moment: Village Cup Final. Enough said.................
Best Away Tea: Bletchley wasn't bad, to be fair.
Toughest Opponent: Keith Arnold.
Best Umpire: Rob Jennings.
Sum up season in 10 words: The best team in the League only finished third unfortunately.

Letter from Santa Gibbo (No.12)

Tuesday December 22nd: Latest from Gibbo on his sleigh............ Read here.

Barbados Cricket Tour - **late Feb/Mar 2011**

Sunday December 20th: Due to issues with availability for some people in April 2011, Hammy is looking to revise the dates of the Tour, bringing them forward to late February or March 2011. Please add your name either to the list on the Clubroom noticeboard or email Hammy at anne.hamiliton@ntlworld.com. It is proposed that the list will close on 31st Jan 2010.

A look back at 2009 - No.7: Adam Krol

Wednesday December 16th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Home win vs Buckingham, a cheeky 50 for myself after a bad run and a massive 25 points to start our title push.
Worst Moment: Away at Bicester, both personally and for the team, the title could have been ours...
Best Away Tea: I was a big fan of Banbury XX.
Toughest Opponent: Philip Evans.
Best Umpire: Les Burry.
Sum up season in 10 words: Great progression for all sides, promotion for all next year!!

Congratulations to Jack Biggs

Tuesday December 15th: Well done to Jack Biggs, who has been selected for the Oxfordshire U16's squad for 2010. Also, well done to Eddie Neil and Dom O'Connor, both selected for the City District U14's squad for 2010.

Letter from the Top of the Table (No.11)

Tuesday December 15th: Latest from a modest Gibbo, as they go top!! Read here.

Scout Hut Sunday - December 20th

Tuesday December 15th: As we await final permissions to convert part of the old Scout Hut into changing facilities for the new pitch, there is a fair amount of "de-junking" to do which will require many hands on deck. Please come along at 9.30am and work up a thirst for the opening of bar for Christmas drinks at noon. Many thanks in advance for your help.

"Charles Clarke"

Parker Prominent for P.M.T

Monday December 14th: Game 3 of the Horspath Cricket Winter 5-a-side took place last night at the Park Sports Centre, and it was Parker Meredith Town who ended Gingenham Hotspur's unbeaten record.

 

Starting at 5-a-side it was a tight first 10 minutes, with P.M.T only 2 nil ahead, when Joe Parker arrived and began firing shots on goal from all angles, most of them way too good for the PoP who was really missing the injured Rock of Gingebraltar in front of him (and also more to the point missing any semblance of goalkeeping ability, too......).

 

After 40 mins, P.M.T had stretched out a 9-3 lead with Joe Parker obviously having learnt a lot from Andre Arshavin's finishing from earlier in the afternoon, and Tom Holmes was fairly deadly too when within sight of goal. At the back, Lowe and Berry were solid throughout, despite the best efforts of Creedy down the Spurs right who played his usual mix of rugby, gaelic football, Aussie rules and a minimal amount of football, and Moonpig.com for P.M.T who did some useful stuff in the middle and also between the sticks.

 

The final 20 mins, though, saw an unexpected but spirited fightback from the Spurs, with Mitch in particular finding the net regularly as an 80% fit Headley and Adi provided an improved supply from the middle to the Tornado - while his Dad proved equally deadly at the other end given the chance. With less than 5 mins to go the scores were tied at 13-13, but the better side won on the night with late goals from Parker and Meredith.

 

Final score: P.M.T 15 Spurs 13

 

P.M.T: Lowe, S Meredith, Moon, T Holmes, Berry, Parker

Spurs: Stobart, Thompson, M Meredith, Manger, Creed

 

"Ark Royal"

Barbados Cricket Tour - April 2011

Sunday December 13th: Hammy is looking to put together a tour to Barbados for April 2011. Brief initial enquires indicate a cost of around £1,700 per person fully inclusive of accommodation and cricket (assuming we get a minimum of 26 people). It's very much a case of first come first served and once the booking is made for the final numbers anyone who wants to come after the closing date will either have to make their own arrangements, or Hammy can try to get more places, but not at the initial price. Please add your name either to the list on the Clubroom noticeboard or email Hammy at anne.hamiliton@ntlworld.com.

 

It is proposed that the list will close on 31st Jan 2010. See here.

Umpires for 2010 - a reminder

Friday December 11th: We are looking for several new faces to step forward next season. Our primary need is for a fully qualified Umpire to represent us on the Cherwell League panel, plus ideally another 3 or 4 cover our 2nd's, 3rd's and 4th's on a Saturday and also to help with Sunday League, friendly and Youth matches too.

 

Fees are paid for Cherwell League match umpiring and the Club will pay towards the cost of training, if it's needed. There are courses being run early in 2010, so please contact jonathan@horpsathcricket.com (07767 613322) ASAP if you're interested.

A look back at 2009 - No.6: Tom Smith

Wednesday December 9th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Taking a hat-trick away at Leighton Buzzard in Round 1 of The Cherwell League Junior Cup.
Worst Moment: Not Getting promotion with 2nd XI, this was frustrating and hardwork in 2010 will get us up!
Best Away Tea: Wolverton.
Toughest Opponent: Great Tew (Team); Neil Smith, Tiddington (Player)
Best Umpire: The 70 yr old chap at Bourton Vale.
Sum up season in 10 words: Good overall, but another frustrating one for the 2nd XI.

Christmas Gathering At The Club Sunday 20th December

All are welcome at the club for Christmas drinks at lunchtime on Sunday 20th December. Please bring a plate of nibbles if you can. We will be having a Christmas Meat Draw, £1.00 per strip. If you can't get to the Club before Sunday 20th, email jonathan@horspathcricket.com and we can reserve your tickets.

Draft minutes of the AGM now available. Click here

Ginge overcomes P.M.T for first time........

Monday December 7th: Game 2 of the Horspath Cricket Winter 5-a-side took place last night at the Park Sports Centre, and it was Gingenham Hotspur who maintained their unbeaten record against a strong challenge from P.M.T (Parker Meredith Town).

 

Playing a man short, after Headley trudged off after 1 minute with a strained ego, P.M.T started well and at one point led 5-2, but a much changed Spurs (the gaffer, Andy Maldini, and Will the only survivors from game 1.....) struck back strongly with a hat-trick for debutant Dan McNiffe who also looked more than handy when in goal on rotation - as did another new boy, Guy Lowe, who was the steady influence at the back for the Spurs. Will Eason down the Spurs right showed a gentle touch throughout, no doubt following some extended practice on his weekend away with Birthday Girl, Lianne.

 

Playing mainly as sweeper for P.M.T, Joe Parker on debut consistently showed his Liverpool heritage, nicking the ball off unsuspecting attackers, while another debutant, the canary shirted Garth Hamilton was David Beckham like in his forays down the P.M.T right (.......or was it David Brent?). For the Spurs, Big Al was menacing down the middle, frequently hitting the big target (the net, not the keeper) while the hockey convert and debutant Jack Biggs ran and ran all hour long, in a performance not reminiscent of Chuck last time out.

 

It was good to see the almost fully fit Tornado unleashed following his stint in goal last time - and he fortunately showed a cooler head in front of goal than he did during Gibbo's Tuesday training sessions!! Meredith Snr and debutant Skelly combined well throughout, the latter showing a keen eye for the target, despite the best efforts of Spurs midfield destroyer, Bish, who had a similar eye for the target when closing in on goal, unfortunately the target turned out to be the basketball hoop.......

 

Final score: Spurs 16 P.M.T 15

 

Spurs: Cummings, Lowe, W Eason, A Eason, Bishop, McNiffe, Biggs
P.M.T: Stobart, S Meredith, M Meredith, Parker, Skelton, Hamilton

 

"Ark Royal"

A look back at 2009 - No.5: Daniel Todd

Friday December 4th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Winning Cherwell League Junior Cup.
Worst Moment: Losing to Great Tew in U17's Final.
Best Away Tea: Cropredy.
Toughest Opponent: Jack Taylor, Great Tew.
Best Umpire: Paul Smith
Sum up season in 10 words: Good season for Horspath all round, including the younger ages.

New 2010 Sponsorship leaflet

Tuesday December 1st: It is with the help of our sponsors that we can provide playing and training kit, develop and maintain our playing facilities and expand opportunities for all to play cricket. Why not join them and help support sport in your community?

 

Our new 2010 Sponsorship leaflet can now be read here.

Finders Keepers agree 2 year Major Sponsorship

Monday November 30th: Following the agreement reached with Oxford Marquees at the end of October to remain our Principal Sponsor for the next 4 seasons, we are delighted to confirm that we have also reached agreement with Finders Keepers to be one of our two Major Sponsors for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

 

This will build on our existing relationship that has been in place for a number of seasons and, as a Major Sponsor, will see the addition of the distinctive Finders Keepers logo on the sleeves of our new playing and training kit that we are in the process of ordering.

 

The Club would very much like to thank both Simon Tyrrell and Frank Webster of Finders Keepers for their support over recent seasons and for significantly increasing that for the next 2 seasons.

Annual General Meeting & Players Meeting

Monday November 30th: The Club AGM was preceded by a Players Meeting on Sunday evening, and the key decisions from both were as follows:

 

1st XI Captain 2010: Robbie Eason

2nd XI Captain 2010: Mark Skelton (vice capt: Andy Cummings)

3rd XI Captain 2010: Adam Thompson

4th XI Captain 2010: Tony Herman & Dean Holmes

 

Bob Walker (President), Ed Murray (Chairman), Julian Edwards (Treasurer) and Max Eason (Secretary & Welfare Officer) were all re-elected unopposed, with Graham Plested joining the Committee along with the four Captains plus the existing members who were all re-elected: Gareth Hamilton, Tony Herman, Adrian Manger, Paul Smith, Jonathan Stobart and James Whittenbury.

Letter from the Apple Eater No.10

Monday November 30th: Latest from a happier Gibbo, following an exciting win with the Pommie import lending a big big hand (and bat....). Read more here.

A look back at 2009 - No.4: Gareth Hamilton

Friday November 27th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Bowling the final over of the league season. A dirty maiden, get in!
Worst Moment: Getting banned......
Best Away Tea: I don't actually eat tea, but there looked like a good spread at Cumnor.
Toughest Opponent: Great Tew.
Best Umpire: Tony Herman.
Sum up season in 10 words: Solid season for all teams, more silverware needed next term.

Fundraising & Social Events

Thursday November 26th: At the latest Committee Meeting last night, Katy Eason and Gareth Hamilton presented their ideas for an excellent fundraising event in Summer 2010, of which you'll be hearing more very soon.

 

The Committee would love to hear from anyone else who has ideas for a Fundraising or Social event - contact jonathan@horspathcricket.com and the Club will give you all the support it can to help your idea happen.

Letter from Ludlow Land No.9

Tuesday November 24th: Latest from the Mighty Riverside Blues, where Ludlow of Dinton is settling in well. Click here to read.

Spud the Spur Spanks 'em.........

Monday November 23rd: Game 1 of the Horspath Cricket Winter 5-a-side took place last night at the Park Sports Centre, and it was a game of one half as the white shirted 6 of Gingenham Hotspur saw off a spirited challenge from the 7 man coloured shirts of Eason Park Rangers by 15 (ish) goals to 8 (ish).

 

Playing his third game of the weekend, Spuddy looked sharper than Jermaine Defoe throughout and was top scorer of the evening, and may have got more were it not for the excellent keeping of the limping Tornado in the E.P.R goal. Had Mitch been at the other end, his Dad may well not have bagged the hat-trick he put past the Prince of Pickle, who moved around his area like an aircraft carrier in a small lake..........

 

Everyone made a contribution, with Headley and Creedy particularly prominent with their interesting brand of indoor 5-a-side that more resembled a cross between Gaelic and Rugby Football, while EPR's very own midfield maestro, the Moon showed Jan Molby like mobility throughout. Spurs' composure at the back, mainly through Andy Maldini and Razor (Ruddock) Berry, shielded the PoP while Eason Junior ran for an hour like a man who wanted to be too tired to do the
washing, ironing and cooking when he got home.

 

The Claw let very little through at the rear for the Rangers and looked dangerous on his journeys forward, while elder brother Alex showed a keen eye for goal while Adi Manger seemed to run and run in a performance probably reminiscent
of his 1965 Lady Ottoline Morrell School Football Shield one (see below).

 

Keep an eye on the photos page for updates as we had Sophie "Snapper" Smith there flashing away at the lads all evening long.

 

Spurs: Stobart, Berry, Cummings, W Eason, Thompson, Alder
Rangers: M Meredith, R Eason, Moon, Creed, Manger, A Eason, S Meredith

"Ark Royal"

A look back at 2009 - No.3: Adrian Manger

Saturday November 21st: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: Winning the Cherwell League Junior Cup. First time I've won a cup with Junior on it since the Lady Ottoline Morrell (yes, she of brewery fame) School Football Shield for Wheatley Primary v Kidmore End Primary at
Sonning Common in 1965!!
Worst Moment: Losing the extra over at Didcot that would have given us every chance of a win - and arguably promotion. (see worst umpire, below).
Best Away Tea: Sandford St Martin - enormous Cakes! (Worst tea, but best 'totty' - Bourton Vale)
Toughest Opponent: My old team-mate Neil Smith (Tiddington), when he feels like it can do anything he likes on the field and unfortunately he did twice against us
this year!
Best Umpire: Asad Rauf - helped win the Ashes for England at the Oval!! Worst Umpire - Didcot's, for deciding the fielding side get time-penalised for bowling
over and round the wicket with the batsman moving the sightscreens -
dreadful (see above).
Sum up season in 10 words: Curate's egg - excellent in parts but dodgy in the middle

The Cherwell League AGM: “highlights”

Friday November 20th: Rumours that Russell Smith was prepared to take a drop in salary in order for The Oxford Times to be able to continue their sponsorship of the Cherwell League proved to be baseless as they bowed out as sponsor at the AGM last night. Initial thoughts that it was to be The Mossy and Pinchy (aka Onhand Sports) Cherwell League, or that Martin Phillips was diversifying, were dashed as it was revealed to be MP Sports (Thame). The Rana boys had better face up to the challenge – indeed will this now result in Onhand merchandise being banned from The MP Sports Cherwell League……!!?? The decision also meant that the usual rant about the quality of the league balls, led by Pete Ludlow, would be completely fruitless as MP Sports are, of course, the supplier of those balls. However each Club is to receive a free set of stumps, whether these will be suitable for use in Adult cricket, Junior cricket, Kwik cricket or the beach wasn't made clear.

 

The Treasurer’s report showed over £3,600 was collected in fines, approx £100 per Club - full marks to the “PoP” for Horspath coming in below that average. Clubs were also reminded that in 2010 they only have till 11pm Saturday night to cock up their result reporting!! In order to fill the expected black hole in the coffers subs will increase to £125 per Club (to include 5 Presentation Evening tickets) – overall still cheap cricket.

 

The short amount of time spent discussing the long winded Great Brickhill proposal was wasted as it didn’t even find a seconder - where were Twyford in Brickhill’s hour of need!?

 

The Executive were re-elected, including the absent Ricksy who was avoiding the Sky cameras in Malta. A.O.B saw the Bledlow Villages united in their condemnation of the “play will continue till 7.30” nonsense. Pete Tomlin and Don Brooks from the executive offered a very weak defence of the status quo, but received no support from the floor. The issue is going back to the Rules committee, whilst there is some hope that the Lower Divisions may end up just playing overs cricket, the top Divisions are likely to have to put up with the ridiculous, and the totally unnecessary, bad feeling that can entail.

 

At that juncture an increasingly bored looking Martin Phillips finished his pint and closed the meeting.

“Charles Clarke”

Letter from the home of the Tasmanian Devil No8.......

.......unwell and unhappy with news of a defeat this week. Click Here to read.

A look back at 2009 - No.2: Hayden Moon

Thursday November 19th: Latest in our regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: winning the Cherwell League Junior Cup and taking the last wicket!
Worst Moment: losing the Oxfordshire Club Championship Under 17 Final, especially as we got so close.
Best Away Tea: Sandford St Martin, Sunday friendly game (a cheeseboard, what a genius idea!)
Toughest Opponents: Great Tew U17's
Best Umpire: Peter Fenn
Sum up season in 10 words: An exceptional season and the best is still to come!

Rowant get a reprieve

Wednesday November 18th: Aston Rowant say justice has been done after winning their appeal against a points deduction for an on-field punch-up. Rowant are confirmed as winners of Division 2 West in the Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League, winning promotion to the top flight. Their promotion means they will not now be able to play in the 2010 nPower Village Cup.

 

The Oxford Mail have the full story here.

A look back at 2009 - No.1: Robbie Eason

Tuesday November 17th: The first of a new regular feature, with Players answering the following six questions on the season just ended.

 

Most Memorable Moment: leading the team to 3rd place, so close to promotion and some brilliant performances
Worst Moment: losing the Village Cup final to Aston Rowant with a scratch XI
Best Away Tea: Banbury XX
Toughest Opponent: Mark Ludlow, Dinton
Best Umpire: two, Rob Hutchins & Andy Grose
Sum up season in 10 words: Outstanding season by a side destined for years of success

Aspiring Umpire? Please read on.....

With the launch of our 4th XI in 2010, and the need to replace our long standing Cherwell League panel umpire Dave "Min" Hutton (who has decided to move on to pastures new as an independent umpire), we are looking for several new faces to step forward next season.

 

Our need is for a fully qualified Umpire to represent us on the Cherwell League panel, to prevent Max having to do it each weekend, plus ideally another 3 or 4 cover our 2nd's, 3rd's and 4th's and also to help with Sunday League, friendly and Youth matches too.

 

Fees are paid for Cherwell League match umpiring and the Club will pay towards the cost of training, if it's needed. There are courses being run early in 2010, so please contact me (jonathan@horpsathcricket.com or 07767 613322) ASAP if you're interested.

Letter From Down Under No7

The Gibbo appraises a remarkable game against Wynyard - hometown of the irrepressable Shannon Bakes! Click Here to read.

nPower Village Cup 2010

Monday November 9th. The new rules, and the dates for all rounds of the 2010 competition, are now on the nPower Village Cup section of The Wisden Cricketer website. We have a link to it on our menu, on left hand side of this website.

 

The new rules as regards eligibility require a player to have appeared for the club

8 times in 2009 and 2010 with a minimum of 4 of those appearances being in 2009. This means that both our new 2009 signings, Adam Krol and Mitchell Meredith, will be eligible to play in 2010 although the "no overseas player" rules remain, and so Alister Gibbins will not be able to play when he returns for next season.

 

"Prince of Pickle"

Oxford Marquees renew Principal Sponsorship

Friday November 6th: We are delighted to confirm that we have reached agreement with Oxford Marquees to remain our Principal Sponsors for the next 4 seasons.

 

When the new agreement concludes, at the end of the 2013 season, that
will be the 10th Anniversary of Oxford Marquees involvement with the Club, following the Oxford & Horspath demerger in 2003. The distinctive Oxford Marquees logo will continue to be prominent on all of our match, training and leisurewear, together with a presence on our website, fixture card, a banner at the Rec and other materials.

 

The Club would like to very much thank Peter Walker and Lianne Hayday of Oxford Marquees for their support, which has been one of the foundation stones of our development as a Club in the past 6 seasons.

Get Well Soon Ken

Monday November 2nd: As those who were at the Annual Dinner on Saturday will know, Ken Shepherd was taken ill during the course of the evening. Fortunately it was nothing too serious and he is on the road to recovery and we look forward to seeing him again soon, back to his usual top form.

New Oxfordshire Cricket Board website

The OCB is the governing body of cricket in Oxfordshire. It is one of 39 local boards within the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) structure. The OCB recently relaunched their website, and it's well worth a look. We have a link to it on our menu, on left hand side of this website.

"P o P"

The Roll of Honour from the Annual Dinner on Saturday!

1st XI Players Player of the Year: Lee Mason
2nd XI Players Player of the Year: Stephen Green
3rd XI Players Player of the Year: Adam Thompson
Captain's Player of the Year: Will Eason
Most Improved Player of the Year: Dan Todd
Managers Player of the Year: Adam Krol
Leading Wicket Taker: Lee Mason
Leading Run Scorer: Robbie Eason
The Duck Award: Carl-John Thompson
Fantasy League Winner: Badmen, managed by Tom Smith

Letter From Down Under No 6

News from Ponting Island as the mighty Riverside go into 20/20 action. Click here

Letter From Down Under No 5

More newsfrom Tasmania as the season opens with a game against Georgetown. Click Here to read.

Letter From Down Under No 4.

Our man in Australia, Gibbo Gibbins continues his commentary on early season events at Riverside CC including a review of his younger brother's talents. Click here to read it.

4th XI for 2010

We have had our application to enter a 4th XI in The Oxford Times Cherwell League for next season accepted, subject to final approval, by the League Executive. In an ideal world we will play 3rd XI and 4th XI Fixtures on the new pitch at some point next season, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Watch this space for more information. "Prince of Pickle"

Greeny tops 30 while Mase & Andy are meanest, Will most lethal and Robbie passes the 1,000.....

Here are the highlights, having reviewed ALL the Moon stats and averages for the season from the Cherwell League and all the other matches.

Most Appearances: Stephen Green with 31.

The 500 Run Club: Most Runs in 2009 1st Robbie Eason with 1,042 (at 52.1 average), 688 in the Cherwell League and 354 others. 2nd: Stephen Green with 794 (at 34.5); 3rd: Alister Gibbins with 727 (at 42.8); 4th: Adam Krol with 603 (at 35.5); 5th: Matt O'Connor with 524 (43.7); 6th: Adi Manger with 510 (at 34.0); Highest Score: Matt O'Connor, 137no .v. Oxford IV

The 30 Wicket Club: Most wickets in 2009 Lee Mason with 44 (at 11.9 average), all 44 in the Cherwell League. 2nd: Ben Cook with 41 (at 16.9); 3rd: Will Eason with 39 (at 14.1); 4th: Tom Smith with 38 (at 18.3); 5th: Stu Berry with 37 (at 16.5); 6th: Dan Todd with 36 (at 22.4); 7th: Andy Cummings with 33 (at 14.9); Best Bowling: Lee Mason, 7 for 29 .v. Bletchley Town (A)

Most Overs Bowled: 1st: Lee Mason with 212, 2nd: Ben Cook with 209; 3rd: Andy Cummings with 197; 4th: Dan Todd with 195 (209 if you include his 14 overs for the U17's!!); 5th: Tom Smith with 193; 6th: Will Eason with 175; 7th: Stu Berry with 170

Most Lethal: Will Eason, a wicket every 27 balls (just ahead of Chuck, wicket every 28 balls and Mase every 29).

Most Maidens: Andy Cummings with 58 (29% of all the overs he bowled!)

Most Economical: Lee Mason, 2.47 runs per over (just ahead of Andy with 2.49)

"Stat Geek"

Reg Hollis

We are terribly sad to report the death of Reg Hollis on Friday morning in hospital. Reg was a Vice President and long standing friend and supporter of the club and, with Anne, loved to spend time watching games and especially youth matches. Reg will be sorely missed by members of all ages.

The funeral will be held on Monday 26th October at 10.30am at the Oxford Crematorium. Family flowers only please but donations to the Stroke Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital will be welcome.

2009 Non League Averages Now In. Click here to see

Non-Cherwell League Averages - Gibbo tops 500 as Cooky takes 20.

We have now finalised all the non-League averages for the 2009 season. This covers all cricket that was 35 overs and above - nPower Village Cup, the Cherwell League Cup, the Sunday League and friendlies.

Cooky topped the wicket-taking with 20 from his 76 overs, with a memorable 5 against Great Brickhill in the Cherwell League Cup. Chuck was close behind with 19 and his 5 for also came in the Cherwell League Cup, the Junior quarter-final at Great Tew. Young Toddy bagged 18 wickets, with Moony close behind with 16 from his 87 overs, the most bowled by anyone in non league cricket. There were two Other 5 for's - Ginge's carnage versus Cumnor in the nPower Village Cup and Bisto's bashing of Buzzard in the Cherwell League Junior Cup first round back in April.

With the bat, it was Gibbo who shone with his 544 runs (at 68) with six 50's and a top score of 97 in 9 innings, while Greeny (365), Robbie (354), Skelly (242), Matt O'Connor (231), Creedy (220) and Chuck (208) all scored well. There were two centurions, Creedy with his 100 against Great Brickhill in the Cherwell League Cup and Ben Thompson with his 135 versus Crowmarsh.

"Prince of Pickle"

Letter From Down Under No 3

Our very own Alister Gibbins makes Richie Benaud look like an amateur. Click here to read about Riverside CC's pre-season preparation.

2009 U17 Averages. Joey & Dan in the runs as Moon shines with the ball. See table here

The U17's played 7 games en route to the County Final, and then the final itself, in 2009 and there were a number of standout performers. 2009 saw only three "ever presents", skipper Joey Todd in his last season at this level, Dan McNiffe and Matt White. Moony and Ceri only missed 1 game, and the two Ben's (Henderson and Hubbard) missed only 2.

With the bat, it was skipper Joey (256 runs at average of 32) and Player of the Season and opening partner Dan (243 runs at 30) who starred - their 499 runs being 54% of all the 'Path runs scored (excl. extras). Tom, with 148 runs, was the only other player to make 3 figures, and in his 5 matches topped the averages with 37. There were other notable contributions in the season - Ceri's 28no in the final, a 27no from Marcus Seller and a 21 from Ben Henderson.

With the ball, Moony and Ceri put in plenty of work and bowled their full complement of 28 overs in their 7 matches, although Matt was the busiest, bowling 29 overs in his 8 matches. Moony topped the wicket takers in his swansong
season at this level, with his 10 at an average of 11.7. Ceri was joint second in the wicket taking with Tom, both taking 7 wickets - Ceri was also the meanest of the frontline bowlers, going for only 3.86 runs per over. Spin twins Matt (6 wkts) and Dan Todd (5wkts) also made valuable contributions and will be mainstays of the team
for a few years to come.

"Number Cruncher"

Letter from Van Diemen's Land No2.

8th October, 2009. More from our man down under as the antipodean season draws closer. Find out who the new signing for Australia is here.

Levelling The New Outfield - Saturday and Sunday 10th and 11th October.

Time to get some fresh air again! On Saturday and Sunday we will be carrying out improvement work on the new outfield by removing the high points, filling in low points and spreading several tons of topsoil in the right places and seeding. Come and join us from around 9.00 onwards on Saturday, later on Sunday. Bring a spade, barrow and appropriate clothing if you can. See you there!

Letter From Down Under No1

Read the first letter from our man in Tasmania, ace cricketer, all round good bloke and now journo Alister Gibbins. Click here to see what Big Al has to say about English cricket..

Cherwell League Presentation Evening

The Oxford Times Cherwell League Presentation Evening will take place on Friday evening October 16th at the Spreadeagle Hotel in Thame. Price is £7.50 per ticket. If you would like to come and see the 'Path pick up the Junior Cup contact Jonathan asap.

"Heritage Stars in Horspath Triumph": Cherwell League Junior Cup Final Oxford Mail Report Here

2009 Fantasy League Final League Table - Badmen are Champions as Gibbo grabs player crown. Table here

It was a busy final 2 weeks of the 2009 Horspath CC Fantasy League with the Feast, Sheps match and the semis and the Final of the Cherwell League Junior Cup - which all made for plenty of changes in the final standings for both the Team and Player rankings.

In the Team Rankings there were ups and downs in every position in the Top 30 except one.........the TOP spot, where despite having a relatively poor 2 wks (722pts), Badmen held on to take the title despite a late challenge from We Hate Swindon. The winning Badmen XI were: Robbie Eason, Joey Todd, Adam Thompson, Graham Plested, Tom Smith, Ben Cook, Lee Mason, Ceri Holmes, Adam Krol, Mitchell Meredith and Stephen Green. Hayday's Hoodies challenge slipped away with a poor (400pts) final fortnight, with Gardiners taking third spot by
just 100pts. Further down the table, Bubbles Bouncers had a great final few games and scored most points (1,254) in the last 4 games (courtesy of Gibbo, Dan Todd & Moon) to take them to just outside the Top 10 while further down the table it was Brians XI who were the biggest climbers, up 10 places to no.34.

The final Player Rankings were pretty stable outside the top 5, but it was all change in the top 5 as Will fell away following his failure in the Feast Match with the bat followed by him only playing a non-points qualifying role for the Sheps XI a week later. 9 straight weeks at the top for Will were undone by a late charge from Gibbo, who took the honours, courtesy of runs, wickets and catches in the Feast and Sheps matches, while Chuck's strong performances in the Cherwell League Junior Cup winning 2's XI saw him also leapfrog Will to take the runner up slot.

Gibbo (470pts) and Chuck (365pts) both joined the 2,000pt club for the season along with 3rd placed Will and 4th placed Robbie. During the season, the leaders were: Bisto (wks 1-3), Ginge (4-9), Will (9-18), Gibbo (19 &20).

 

Well done to our Winners, thanks to ALL who took part and a BIG thanks to Headley and Thommo for putting together the competition in the first place and for getting all the stats together each week for me to do this, the easy bit. Roll on 2010 and Badmen defending their title, and Gibbo trying too while only being able to play on a Sunday!

"Prince of Pickle"

Horspath win the Cherwell League Junior Cup

Saturday 26th September 2009.

 

Winning the toss, and choosing to bat first, didn't look the best decision Adi has made as skipper as Ples trooped back to the Bledlow Village pavillion, out off the first ball of the match. Gareth (16), Carlo (22) and the skipper (22) all made valuable contributions early on in the face of super bowling from Rob Shrimpton who ended up with 5 for 28. Long partnerships were elusive until Bisto joined Tage with the score on 119 for 8 and they proceeded to put on what proved to be the match winning stand of 52 for the 9th wicket, with a very useful 21 from Bisto and a really excellent 48 from Tage.

 

174 as a target looked a little light with a strong looking Cumnor 2's batting line up, and Ian Belcher went off like a train, giving Bisto and Ollie a rough time as he raced to 33 off 25 balls before the 'Path felt he was out caught behind, but not given. At the other end to Ian, wickets were falling steadily with Bisto and Ollie picking up a couple each to leave Cumnor 2's on 63 for 4 in the 10th over. It was the introduction of the top scoring Tage to bowl in tandem with young Toddy that changed the match, as he had Belcher caught for 46 by the velcro handed Plested off his 6th ball, leaving the score 81 for 5. Between them, Tage and young Toddy then strangled the run rate over the next 12 overs, Tage picking up a second wicket and Toddy a couple as Cumnor subsided to 109 for 8, Ples pouching 3 more catches! Stu and Hayden then came on to clean up the tail with a wicket each, securing a 50 run win for Horspath and the Cherwell League Junior Cup Trophy, presented by competition organiser, Clive Ricks.

 

Horspath 2's 173ao (Heritage 48, C Thompson 22, A Manger 22, T Smith 21, G Hamilton 16, R Shrimpton 5 for 28)

 

Cumnor 2's 123ao (I Belcher 46, D Todd 2 for 14, D Heritage 2 for 15, O Delamore 2 for

28, T Smith 2 for 47, H Moon 1 for 4, S Berry 1 for 8).

 

Congratulations to the Horspath XI on the day:

 

Adie Manger (Capt), Graham Plested, Carl Thompson, David Heritage, Dom O'Connor, Jack Biggs, Stu Berry, Ollie Delamore, Tom Smith, Hayden Moon, Dan Todd and 12th Man Matthew White.............................

........................and also to James Whittenbury, Adam Thompson, Stephen Green, Matty Herman, Mark Skelton, Ceri Holmes, Paul Alder, Alex Stratton and Matt O'Connor who all played in the earlier rounds en route to the Final.

 

AND FINALLY.............Congratulations to "Double Winner" Gareth Hamilton, the only player to play in BOTH our Trophy winning teams this season, having been part of Greeny's Combe Knockout winning team back in July who lifted the Henry Alexander Cup.

Saturday 26th September: Horspath V Cumnor in the Cherwell League Junior Cup Final at Bledlow Village.

11.15 AM start. Join us for the last game of the season at Bledlow Village when Horspath 2nd play Cumnor 2nd for the Cherwell League Junior Cup. Team list: Adie Manger (Capt), Graham Plested, Carl Thompson, David Heritage, Dom O'Connor, Jack Biggs, Stu Berry, Ollie Delamore, Tom Smith, Hayden Moon, Dan Todd, 12th Man Matthew White.

C'mon the boys!

End of Season Clear Up Day Sunday 27th September

Join us for the antidote to Cricketforce Day - Takedown morning! Starts at 10.00.

Jobs include taking down the practice netting, putting away the boundary rope, putting the sightscreensin their winter positions and dismantling and storing the awning. Followed by a jolly time in the clubhouse.

Farewell to Gibbo

Wednesday Sept 23rd will see celebrations at Castle Creed in Tiddington as the Master of the Manicure, Alister Gibbins, departs home to Tasmania after only 83 days here in Oxfordshire. It somehow seemed longer!

We wish him well, a safe trip home and a good season as Coach, Captain and player with his "mighty Riverside Blues" team back in Tasmania. We are delighted, though, as we say goodbye that it seems certain that he will return to us in the spring of 2010 as our Adult and U17's coach for next season. While the new Oxford Times Cherwell League rules will prevent him from playing on a Saturday (overseas players now need to be under 22), we will certainly benefit tremendously from having Alister for longer in 2010 and in charge of training, net sessions and player development together with his input into selection on a weekly basis. He can also get some runs and take some wickets on a Sunday too!

From all of us - Players, Members and Spectators - thanks for all you've done in 83 days, mate. We'll keep an eye on Riverside Blues from afar through the winter and we look forward to seeing you again in 2010.

Youth triumphs over experience. Sheps Match Report

Sunday 20th September 2009.

With the 2's beating Bledlow Village the previous day, we knew this would be the last game of 2009 at The Rec. Gibbo was in charge of the 'Path for his final game with us before he returns home to Tasmania on Wednesday Sept 23rd - and it was a youthful team that he led, with 8 of our best youth players combining with the positively ageing skipper, and the older heads of Matt O'Connor and Greeny! Ginge, skippering the Sheps XI, won the toss and asked the young bucks to bat first. The older heads off Matt and Greeny put on 50+ for the first wicket before Mitch had Matt caught for 33. Tom Price joined Greeny, who was then cleaned up by Chuck, also for 33, with the score on 82. Tom and Gibbo then put on an excellent 55 for the 3rd wicket before Messy (starting his run on the cycle speedway track) showed the young Price a thing or two about age over experience as he was caught out for 32. Gibbo followed soon after, but there were useful runs down the order for Michael Bignall (12), Ben Hubbard (11) and Dan Todd (8) taking the final total to 186 all out in the final over. Pickof the Sheps XI bowlers was Pete himself, taking 4 for 12.

 

U17 bowlers, Price and Moon, opened the bowling against a watchful Andy Wood and Steve Parker who put on a steady opening stand of 22, before Moony struck in the 8th over, bowling Steve Parker for 7 and Greeny then caught Andy off his own bowling for 14 a couple of overs later. The Tornado (Mitchell Meredith) was next in and although not chanceless (he was dropped a couple of times), he played some excellent shots in racing to 52 before he skied one off young Dan Todd which found Gibbo, who unlike many of his team mates, held on to the chance comfortably. Mitch shared in the biggest stand of the match, 74 with Paul Hicks who got 45 before becoming Toddy's second victim to a sharp Ben Hubbard stumping. Will Eason was the key to an Old 'uns triumph over the Young 'uns now, and he looked
as though he would see his side home after Gibbo and Pricey had slowed the run rate right down (and Gibbo picked up a couple of wickets) to leave them on 181 for 8 after 39 overs. Death bowling specialist, Moon, insisted on taking over from Gibbo to bowl the last and gripped a combination of fear and nerves, Will skied the first ball towards the cycle speedway track where Gibbo was stationed to take his second catch (while his team mates had dropped at least 6 between them!) out for 45 and bringing Shep to the wicket to join Messy. A dot ball followed, before Moon breached the stonewall of Messy's defence to win the game by 5 runs.

The Average Age 17.8yrs XI - 186 all out (Gibbins 35, M O'Connor 33, Green 33, Price 32, Shep 4 for 12). The Average Age 40 (and a bit!) XI - 181 all out (Tornado 52, Pikey 45, Lefty 45, Moonpig.com 3 for 16, Gibbo 2 for 14, Toddy 2 for 31).

Youth Presentation Evening Tonight: 7.00pm for 7.30pm

Friday 18th September. Don't miss the Youth Presentation Evening tonight at Horspath Village Hall. Starts at 7.30 and and usually last for about an hour.

Breaking News: 2nd's Through To Final Of The Cherwell League Junior Cup

Saturday 19th September, 2009. The 2nd's won the toss and put on 234-6 from their 45 overs at Bledlow Village this afternoon (Matt O'Connor 48, Ollie Delamore 38, Stu Berry 38, Dom O'Connor 32.) Bledlow managed 169 all out in reply (S Williams 32, M Goodchild 31, D Heritage 3-27). The Final will be played at Bledlow Village next Saturday 26th September. Scoresheets here

Cherwell League Club Averages 2009 - Mason & Eason out in front. Full batting and bowling stats here.

With the conclusion of The Oxford Times Cherwell League on Sept 5th, we've now finalised the batting and bowling averages for the season.

Way out in front on the bowling stats was Lee Mason, who bowled over 200 overs playing in all 17 1st XI matches, taking 44 wickets at an average of just over 11 while at the same time conceding only 2.4 runs per over! Top top performance. In third place in the wicket taking totals was Lee's 1st XI opening bowling partner, Will Eason, who missed only one match all season (the abandoned Banbury XX game) and took 28 wickets at an average of 13.79 while conceding just 2.9 runs per over.

336 overs and 72 wickets from your opening 1st XI bowlers. Top effort.

For the 2nd XI it was, as in recent seasons, Tom and Andy who dominated taking 50 wickets (31 for Tom and 19 for Andy) between them and Andy also took 4 wickets in his 1st XI appearances too, totalling 23 for the season. Andy was also the "meanest" of the top 20 bowlers, conceding only 2 runs per over across his 149 overs and 14 matches. Tom Murray (for 2's and 3's) and Ben Cook also topped 20 wickets for the season and a special mention for young Dan Todd and his 18 victims (for 2's and 3's) in his first season playing adult cricket.

 

As Lee led from the front by a distance with the ball, Robbie did the same with the bat - scoring 688 runs in 17 visits to the crease, averaging over 57. Considering he kept wicket for the second half of the season too, we calculate that he spent over 1,350 overs at the crease or in the field in 2009 in the League. Phew! Adam Krol topped 450 runs in his first season, averaging 32 (and missing only one game) while both Greeny and Adi made 400+ runs. Derek Watts, with 366, was top run scorer for the 3's and both Ples (323) and Joey (306) contributed strongly with the bat.

Centurions this season were Matt O'Connor (137 v Oxford IV); Joey (135 v Oxford IV); Robbie (122no v Cumnor) and Ples (104no v Long Marston).

Finally, special mention for our "all rounder" of the season, who scored a couple of 50's in getting 242 runs to go with his 28 wickets. Well done Will!

Averages for ALL matches (incl. friendlies, Sunday League, Cherwell Cup and Village Cup) will be finalised at end of the season and posted here.

"Number Cruncher" (with thanks to Hayden Moon for all the hard work compiling the data)

Website Wonders - 2,123 Thank You's...

We have been looking at the stats for the website for the 4 months from May 11th (the Monday after our first League games) to Sept 7th (the Monday after our last League games), and they make impressive reading!!

2,123 people have visited the site in that time, together making over 10,400 visits - an average of 87 visits to the site every day for 4 months. Over 10,000 of those from the UK, of course, but we've had multiple (more than 10 visits) from Belgium, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Brazil, France and USA!

The busiest days were almost always a Monday, with our busiest day of the season being Monday 15th June, with over 150 visitors that day - the Monday after our VC game versus Aston Rowant.

Each visitor spent an average of over 3 minutes per visit and looked at 3 different pages on each visit.

Thanks for visiting - and keep coming back over the next couple of weeks for news of the final games of the season and then during the Winter as we'll be sure to keep you updated with all that is going on in the off-season, including the fortunes of Alister Gibbins as he returns to Riverside Cricket Club in Tasmania for the Australian season!

"The Number Cruncher"

2nd's Through to Cherwell League Junior Cup Semi Final

Breaking News: Saturday 12th September 2009.

In glorious late summer sunshine at Great Tew today, Horspath defeated the home side in the Quarter Final of the Cherwell League Junior Cup. Batting first, Tew put on 239 from their 45 overs with Jack Taylor scoring 110 and Stu "Chuck" Berry taking 5-23 including a hat trick, and Hayden Moon 3-36. Horspath chased it down with two balls to spare scoring 240-6 with Ollie Delamore top scoring with 50 and Dave Heritage scoring 50no.

Horspath will face Bledlow Village away in the semi final next Saturday 19th September.

U17's County Cup Final Match Report

Sat 12th September

To see the Oxford Mail match report published today click here.

Fantasy League at 7th September. Haydays Hoodies in the hunt as Robbie reels in little brother......

Leaderboard here.

As for the last few weeks, it remains very tight at the top of the Team Rankings, with all the top 6 scoring very strongly. Pontypridd Panthers 1,464pts took them to a season high of 6th while the top 4 all remained the same, although Haydays Hoodies (1,457pts) closed the gap on leaders Badmen to only 124 points.

There were not that many major movements further down the table, although notable climbers were Skellys Skidmarks (up most places by 6 to no.15), Old Acacians (up 5 to no.17) and Hammy Collection, Ram Raiders and Malibu Knights all up 4 places to 19th, 27th and 38th respectively.

The Player Rankings are closer than ever at the top, with Robbie's undefeated 122 and man of the match performance on Saturday netting him 324pts taking him up 3 places to no.2 and past 2,000pts for the season. Will, with a slender 28pt lead, can sleep easily for now, though, as Robbie's holiday to Turkey will keep him out of the last 2 qualifying games he could have played in!!

Will's superb 6-for on Saturday saw him bag 225pts (and 2,000pts + too) and more importantly for him an extension of his lead over likely challengers Andy Cummings (now 121pts behind) and Alister Gibbins (272pts adrift), with Lee
Mason not playing again this season, topping out at an excellent 1,885pts.

Top points scorer of the week was Joey Todd with his 135 on Saturday getting him 330pts - and his 216 run third wicket partner Greeny also scoring 122pts. Joey's century came a week after young Daniel Todd closed to within 1 place and 133pts of his elder brother - nothing like pressure from your little brother to motivate a man of the match performance I guess!!

There were two new additions this week to the 1,000pt club - Adi Manger now in 14th with 1,019pts and DJ Mossy in
15th with 1,003pts. Ollie Delamore was the fastest riser of the week, up 5 to no.22 with his 147pts, and there were other notable 100+ performances from Andy (113pts) and Muzza (104pts).

It's going to be a tight final few weeks, with Cherwell League Junior Cup, the Colwinston friendly on Fri 11th and the Feast Match on Mon 14th the only games that will count here on in. Progress for the 2's in the Junior Cup could well be the key to the final placings in both Team & Player Rankings.

"Prince of Pickle"

Match Reports: 5th and 6th September, 2009

U-17s lose out in thrilling Final

The U-17s', who had previously come out on top in tight finishes, finally lost one as favourites Great Tew won the County Final by one wicket with one ball to spare on Sunday morning

Inserted by Tew Horspath proceeded cautiously against Geeson-Brown and Harry Smith, however it was Matthew Taylor who induced an error of judgement from Joey Todd who was bowled for 10, Dan McNiffe had got to 15, his lowest score of the campaign before he too fell. The middle order couldn't get going against tight bowling and it appeared that Horspath were not going to set a testing target. However a late flourish by Ceri Holmes, whose 26 included a massive 6 off Jack Taylor and Hayden Moon 12 allowed Horspath to set 114.

Knowing that much depended on capturing the prize wickets of Jack Taylor, Smith and Gross, things didn't look good as the openers appeared comfortable. However the introduction of Tom Price and then Dan Todd slowly turned the game. Tom had Smith caught behind by Ben Hubbard and then Dan bowled Gross with a beauty. At 75-2 the game still looked in Tew's hands, with Jack Taylor, who had survived an earlier chance, still at the crease. Horspath continued to exert pressure and when Taylor was caught for 47 off Tom and then Ben Henderson pulled off a stunning catch to give Pricey another wicket the game came alive. Tom finished a fine spell of 4-17, which was to earn him the man of the match award, and Dan's testing spell of 1-24 left the game in the balance. Hayden came back to capture a wicket and once again it was left to Joey Todd to bowl the last over with Tew requiring 5 to win with 8 down. A run-out by Dan McNiffe left Tew with one remaining wicket, however that was enough to see Tew win back the Honey B Trophy presented by the Honey family.

A great effort by the boys, who have shown excellent team spirit throughout the season with all the players making contributions at some stage all much appreciated by a large Horspath crowd

"Charles Clarke"

 

1st’ finish in great style

Knowing that even a win was probably not going to be enough to take the title, after Dinton had ground out a draw the previous week, the 1st’s nevertheless did all they could to ensure a desperately tight finish to the division with a thumping victory over a weakened Cumnor side. After once again losing the toss Robbie Eason led the way with his highest Cherwell score of 122*. A first wicket partnership of 73 with Chris Penner [32] was followed by one of 45 with Adam Krol [19].The scene was set for a blitz from Gibbo and he didn't disappoint with a hard hit 60 off 34 balls as the pair took the total to 217-3. A final flourish from Robbie and Ned allowed the declaration to be made at 275 - 3 after 47 overs.

It didn't take long before Horspath's opening attack began to create havoc amongst the Cumnor batting. This time it was Will who reaped the rewards as the first 6 wickets fell to him in a sustained spell of accurate swing bowling. Mase broke the run with the seventh wicket as only Sam Jones, with a fine 65* offered resistance.

Mossy replaced Mase and captured 2 wickets in a quick 5 over spell. However, it was probably fitting that Lee should return to capture the final wicket and cap a magnificent season for both him and the team.

 

That the team should finish within 3 points of the title after only winning the vital toss on 5 occasions out of 17 represents a magnificent effort. The only defeat was at Buckingham, in a match reduced to 30 overs by the rain, when the crucial toss was again lost. In the head to heads with the top two teams Horspath came out well on top, so expectations will be high going into next season that the Club can take another step forward. "CC"

 

Joey hits the heights

Seventeen year old Joey Todd scored a personal best of 135, and the highest score by a Horspath player in the Cherwell League, during Saturday's second team game against Oxford as the loss of the toss saw them record yet another draw to finish the season. He was well supported by an 84 from the 18 year old Greeny as two of Horspath's most talented youngsters got together. Horspath's total of 286 - 5 was too much for Oxford as they meandered to 188 - 6. "CC"

 

Tommo puts Crowmarsh to the Sword

In the first game held between the two Clubs, Crowmarsh were unfortunate to run up against Ben Thompson and Alister Gibbins in full flight. Their cause wasn't much helped by a surfeit of dropped catches, as Ben blazed his way to 135 and Gibbo compiled a more modest 73. Horspath were all out for 279 in the last of the 40 overs.

Crowmarsh compiled a battling 198 in reply

Match Reports: 5th and 6th September, 2009

Flash Results Saturday 5th September, 2009

09.30 Sunday 6th september

2009 End of season Boat Race: Oldies won by a country mile. A lesson here for the losing 1st, 2nd & 3rd teams of what a rigorous training regime can do for results. Pics here.

 

1st's V Cumnor: Toss won by Cumnor who elected to field. Horspath 275-3dec from 47 overs. (R Eason 122no, A Gibbins 60, C Penner 34). Cumnor135 all out. W Eason 6-32. Result: win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts, Cumnor 3pts.

 

2nd's V Oxford IV: Toss won by Oxford IV who elected to field. Horspath 2nd 285-6 (J Todd 135, S Green 84). Oxford IV 169-6. Result Draw. Horspath 14pts, Oxford IV 8pts.

3rd's V Hanboropugh 2nd. Horspath won toss and elected to field. Hanborough 2nd 133 all out (M White 3-22). Horspath 3rd 129 all out (R Cooke 38). Result Win for Hanborough 2nd. Horspath 6 pts, Hanborough 2nd 25pts.

Badmen build their lead as Ginge closes on Will. Fantasy League at 2nd Sept 2009. Leaderboard here

It remains tight at the top of the Team Rankings as we move into the final few weeks of the season. There was only one change in the top 5, We Hate Swindon leapfrogging Gardiners into 3rd place while Badmen extended their lead by 30pts to 282pts over Haydays Hoodies. We Hate Swindon scored most points (1,502) in the week, though, and are now only 67pts off second place. There were not that many major movements further down the table, although notable climbers were Horspath Hotmails (up most places by 7 to no.12), Flashing Blades (up 5 to no.20) and Turkish Delight up 3 to no.27. Biggest fallers were Rum & Coke (down 6) while Porthcawl Pups remain rooted to the bottom.

The Player Rankings remain exciting at the top - and if there were points for beating the bat 2 or 3 times in a row for 3 or 4 overs in a row then Will Eason would be well clear after Saturday. There aren't though, of course, and Ginge took advantage of Will's bad luck to close to 2nd place and within 9 points of the long time leader with his 290pts against the less than robust Wolverton XI.

There was another new addition this week to the 1,000pt club, Dan Todd's 148pts taking him to 1,037 for the season and 12th place, now just one place behind brother Joey! Mase held on to 3rd place with his excellent 4wkt haul at
Dinton and Robbie's Man of the Match performance extended his lead in 5th place over Gibbo to 125pts.

Notable 200+ performances in the week came from 3's Man of the Match Tom Murray (270pts, now in 8th place), 251pts from Greeny (in 7th place) and Headley with a great finish to the season and now in the top 10 for the first time with 210pts in wk 17. Biggest mover of the week, up 6 to no29, was Hayden while Ollie Delamore was up 5 with his 144pts to no.27.

"The Prince of Pickle"

Match Report: Horspath V Dinton 29th August 2009. Dinton Deny the 'Path after Robbie's resilience. Scoresheet

It was a beautiful day as Horsapath arrived at Dinton for this top of the table clash, but it was the downpour of the previous evening that was the main talking point as it had forced a change of tracks on the morning of the game. It certainly looked like a good toss to win as, while drier than the track intially prepared, the reserve track had quite a green tinge to it. Robbie's record with the toss has not been on of the highlights of the season and he duly continued his poor form, taking his record for the season to 11 losses and only 5 wins with the coin!

 

Being asked to bat first was no surprise at all, and as in recent weeks Robbie looked dogged and determined from the off against excellent opening bowling from Mold and Ludlow. Early wickets looked likely, and the visitors were 2 down by the 7th over with Chris Penner (bowled) and Krolly (caught in slips) back in the pavillion with only 12 runs on the board. Run scoring was going to be difficult and the Dinton bowlers were proving very economical aswell as theatening to take wickets. Coming in at 4, Ned Murray had looked solid before Ludlow had him caught behind while next in Alister Gibbins had looked confident as always, striking 3 boundaries, before a mistimed pull ended his stay for 14. Robbie remained resolute at the other end, but at 39 for 4 things looked decidedly shaky and the prospects of a competitive total looked remote as the wicket continued to offer assistance to the bowlers. Partnerships, however modest, were going to be the key and so it proved. The brothers Eason put on 33 for the 5th wicket before Will was unlucky to be out caught, Mossy and the skipper added 26 for the 6th wicket, Skelly helped add 18 for the 7th and Cooky and Robbie an excellent 33 for the 8th wicket with Mitch finally partnering the skipper for 9 runs to take the total to 148. Robbie, carrying his bat for a superb 69 not out, had certainly kept his team in the title hunt.

 

At half time the feeling was that, while the home bowlers had best use of the wicket, our bowling had been taking wickets all season in all conditions and we should back ourselves to take the 10 wickets needed to maintain our title challenge. Mase and Will, as they have almost without fail, threatened to take wickets from the off, although early indications that Will may have returned to his early season form (beating with bat regularly with no joy) proved correct as he
toiled away without and luck at all in his 8 over spell. At the other end Mase was charging, fuelled by an extra spoonful of cream on his scone at tea (spotted by an eagl- eyed team manager!) and picked up 4 wickets for 8 runs in his first 10 overs, sending back Sutliffe for 2 (sharp catch by Skelly), King for 11 (excellent hands from Krolly in the slips), Mold (to a super running catch after Mase had a shorter ball skied) before bowling Simon Smith for 1. At 40 for 4 in the 19th over, Horspath were certainly well in the game, but as with the visitors innings, partnerships
would prove the key. Smith and Brooker added a solid 21 for the 5th wicket before Micthell, replacing Mase, picked up the former to a very neat Penner catch at mid wicket to leave the score at 61 for 5 in the 30th. Indications were that Dinton may not now be going for the 149 for victory - a draw almost certainly leaving them in control at the top of the table. Excellent batting from opening bowler Ludlow, with Brooker, added 35 before Cooky had the quickie caught by Skelly to leave the score at 96 for 6 and clock at just past 6.45, with probably a dozen overs left. Keeper Risden joined Brooker and they played out until the close, although a difficult caught and bowled chance to Cooky may well have changed the course of the final 45mins and another bowling point could have come, but Mitch dropped a hard chance too. The match petered out into a tame draw by 7.30, with Horspath taking 11 points to the home side's 7 points.

 

With news of Buckingham having comprehensively beaten Cumnor filtering back to Dinton the calculators were working faster than Gibbo with a nail varnish brush. The top of the table going in to the final week would see Dinton and Buckingham
level on 293 points with Horspath on 290! Should all three teams win on the final day, Dinton would go up by virtue of having more bonus points in the head to head between them and Buckingham - as they'd be level on points, wins and overall bonus points. The 'Path will be looking to beat Cumnor and hope that Bicester & NO (visiting Buckingham) and Banbury XX (hosting Dinton) can do us a favour.

"The Prince of Pickle"

Flash Results: Saturday 29th August 2009

Dateline 21.30 Sat 29th August 2009. Flash Results. Click here for score sheets

1st's V Dinton away. Dinton won toss and elected to field. Horspath 148-8 (R Eason 69no). Dinton 119-6 from 52 overs (L Mason 26-4) . Result draw. Dinton 7pts, Horspath 11pts

2nd's V Wolverton 2nd at home. Horspath 2nd won toss and elected to field. Wolverton 2nd 81 all out (A Cummings 22-4, A Younis 27-4). Horspath 2nd 82-2 (S Green 31). Result: Win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts, Wolverton 2nd 2pts

3rds V Oxford 5th away. Horspath 3rd won toss and elected to field. Oxford 5th 181-9 (I Pickford 46, A Thompson 23-4). Horspath 3rd 182-7 (T Murray 45no, G Hamilton 43). Result: Win for Horspath 3rd. Horspath 3rd 25pts, Oxford 5th 10pts.

"Horspath Thriller." U17's Semi Final Oxford Mail Match Report Here

Youth Presentation Evening

Date for your diary: Youth Presentation Evening will be in the Village Hall on Friday 18th September at 7.30pm. Don't be square - be there!

New Square Finished!

Dateline Tuesday 25th August. After 30 months of mowing, tree planting, tree felling, burning, digging, barrowing, filling, raking, levelling, dragging, spending and aching the new square is finally installed. And it looks really good - not bad for a bunch of amateurs. A big thank you to everyone who has helped by working or making donations. The story of the square in pictures can be seen by clicking here. Try viewing it as a slide show. Now we start on the outfield!

New! U17 Semi Final Pics - Click Here

Badmen still top as Mase makes his move. Fantasy League Latest. Leaderboard Here

It's getting tight at the top of the Team Rankings as we move into the final weeks of the season. There was only minor shuffling around in the top 4, although Owizee's top score (1,350pts) in the two weeks saw them rise 5 places to no5, nudging The Legend "X" (+ Greeny) down to 6th. Badmen's 1,204pts kept them on top and stretched their lead over second placed Hayday's Hoodies to 252pts and 437pts over third places Gardiners. Further down the table, fastest rising team of the week were Messenger's Miracles, 965pts taking them up 7 places to no36 having fallen 7 places last week!!! 1,000 plus pts performances from Rum & Coke and Turkish Delight also saw them up 6 places and Hammy Collection were up 5 and in to the top 20. As usual, there were a few teams tumbling down the rankings, in particular Horspath Hotmails (down 7) and Smiffy'sSuperstars (down 6). In the player rankings, there was one new addition to the 1,000pts club this fortnight, Headley's man of the match performances and 172 points helping him up to 1,000pts exactly and a season high of 12th place. Fastest riser of the week was centurion, and man of the match, Graham Plested - his 228 points taking him up 10 places to 26. Will still remains out in front at the top of the table, his 1,843pts keeping him 172pts clear of Chuck in second place. Three weeks ago it seemed as though Gibbo would provide the strongest challenge to the youngest of the Eason
clan on the run in, but two great weeks for Lee Mason (and 357pts) have moved him up 4 places to no3 and only 208pts behind his 1st XI opening bowling partner.

It's clearly going to be as exciting a finish to the Fantasy League season as it is to the Cherwell League season!! "The Prince of Pickle"

U-17s Oxfordshire Final on Sunday, September 6th

13.00 Monday 24th August. Horspath U17's will play Great & Little tew U17's in the County U17 final at the Rec on Sunday 6th September. Start at 10.00am

U-17s through to Final after thriller

Match report U17's V Shrivenham U17's. Sunday 23rd August 2009

The under 17s won through to the County final as they, rather than reigning Champions Shrivenham, held their nerve to win in a pulsating finish at the semi-final on Sunday morning at the Rec.
Put into bat Horspath were able to recover from the early loss of Joey Todd as Dan McNiffe and Tom Price batted sensibly against accurate Shrivenham bowling to compile a stand of 61 before Dan fell for 30. Tom accelerated the run rate before being caught for 40. A couple of blows from Ceri Holmes took the final total to 129 for 5 at the end of the 20 overs
That the score might be 20 short than what was needed appeared evident as the talented Alex Kill and Connor Taylor scored freely at the start aided by a couple of missed chances. However a double change saw Matthew White and Tom Price slowly pull back the scoring rate before Kill was well caught by Joey for 40 and Ceri held a skier to dismiss Taylor for 26. Matthew ended an impressive spell with 1- 24 and Tom topped off a good match for him with 1 - 28
Ceri and Moony returned to bowl much improved second spells and on his final over Hayden had the dangerous Bowles well caught behind by Ben Hubbard and then bowled Snell.
Joey was required to bowl the last over with Shrivenham on 122 - 4 requiring 8 to win although with having lost less wickets 7 would have seen them through.
However in an astonishing first 3 balls three batsmen were run out attempting to secure second runs. Throws from the deep from Ben Henderson and two from Greg Handley, whose fielding had been outstanding all innings, left all three stranded. A further single was scored off the fourth ball and with two coming from the fifth, two were required from the last ball. With fielders ringing the boundary Joey's last ball beat the bat and although the batsmen scampered a bye to bring the scores level Horspath went through to the Final by virtue of losing less wickets. Astonishing! "Charles Clark"

Ples rolls back the years

Match Report 2nd's V Long Marston 2nd's 22nd August 2009.

A vintage 104 not out from Graham Plested ably supported by 71 from Alex Eason helped the seconds to a resounding nine wicket win as they chased down Long Marston's 206 for the loss of only one wicket in the benign batting conditions provided by Don Whitfield. Congratulations are due to Adrian for convincing the Long Marston skipper that it was ideal conditions in which to bat first.
The win puts the seconds up to third but with Didcot running away with the Division it will need someone to prevent second placed Tiddington from winning to enable promotion hopes to be realised. "Charles Clark"

1sts set up a Grand Finale

Match Report 1st's V Bletchley Town 22nd August 2009
Having to play their home game at St Catherines proved no obstacle to the firsts, as they overcame Bletchley in a low scoring encounter as all batsmen found it difficult against seamers who found movement both in the air and off the seam. The long boundaries also assisted in keeping the totals down as only seven fours were scored on the day. With Horspath being the only side in the top four to win they move into second place 7 pts behind Dinton with both Clubs meeting next week.
Horspath lost the toss and were inserted by Bletchley whose seamers, led by the impressive Sprittles, bowled with accuracy and placed a stranglehold on the Horspath batting and only Ned with an excellent 27 played an innings of any substance, although there were useful contributions in the context of the game from Will [15] and Mohson [14]as Horspath were bowled out for 113 in the 47th over with Sprittles taking 5 - 37
There was always the expectation that if the sultry conditions were to the liking of the Bletchley bowlers they would also assist the in form Horspath attack. So it proved with Will bowling Packard with his first ball and then trapping Simpson. Hollis made the mistake of taking on Mitchell's throw before it turned into the Lee Mason show as he swept through the Bletchley batting. Only Ward, who appeared wasted at number 8, was able to provide any resistance as Mase added another 5 wickets to his seasons' haul to finish with 5 - 22 from 13 overs.
Will added another one to finish with 3 - 16 off 11, and it was left to Gibbo to finish the innings off with Bletchley being bowled out for 44. "Charles Clark"

Banbury Match Cancelled

Sunday 23rd August. Today's friendly match at White Post has been cancelled.

Flash Results Saturday 22nd August 2009. Scoresheets here.

10.30pm Saturday 22nd August

1st's V Bletchley Town at home (at St Cats College) Bletchley Town won toss and elected to field. Horspath 113 all out (J Spittles 5-37, M Roberts 3-33). Bletchley Town 44 all out (L Mason 5-22, W Eason 3-16) . Result: Win for Horspath. Horspath 25 pts, Bletchley Town 10pts.

2nd's V Long Marston 2nd away. Long Marston won toss and elected to bat. Long Marston 203-5. (A Veesey 62, J Roberts 48, P Marsh 33). Horspath 205-3 (G Plested 103no, A Eason 67). Result: Win for Horspath 2nd. Horspath 2nd 25pts, Long Marston 2nd 7 pts

3rd's V Cropredy 2nd at home (Marathons). Cropredy won toss and elected to field. Horspath 3rd 173-8 ( G Hamilton 33, S Berry 33, P Cooling 6-58), Cropredy 2nd 176-7 (S Beecroft 61, A Thompson 3-20). Cropredy 2nd 25pts, Horspath 3rd 10pts

 

U17's Through to Oxfordshire Semi-Finals

Breaking News: Weds 19th August 7.45pm. Horspath U17's are through to the sem-finals of the Oxfordshire U17's competition. Semi Final will be at home against Shrivenham on Sunday morning 23rd August. The final will be held at Horspath on Sunday 30th.

Progress on the Square - Pics here.

Dateline Weds 19th August. After a delay of six weeks waiting for dry weather we finally managed to get 42CuM of finest Ongar loam into the new cricket square today. Club volunteers worked up a huge thirst while toiling on one of the hottest days of the year. Will we be able to get the fourth load of loam in tomorrow morning before it rains? - Watch this space. Special thanks to SuperJonathan for arranging the temporary roadway over the field - even the lorry drivers were impressed.

Sorry - No Cricket at The Rec This Weekend!

Because of a major event at the Cycle Speedway on Saturday the 1st's home fixture has been moved to St Catherine's College Sports Ground at the bottom of Edgeway Rd.( off Marston Rd in Oxford.) The 3rd's are playing at Brasenose College Ground off the Abingdon Rd. We hope to see you there. The Cricket Club bar should be open after the games (from around 7.30pm onwards.)

Batting Gloves Found

Nice new pair of Kookaburra RH batting gloves found in Tom Murrays kit bag on Sunday. Probably belong to someone who played for the 2nd's on Saturday. Contact ed@horspathcricket.com

Skipper Stars At Standlake

Match Report: Oxford Downs V Horspath 15th August 2009. Scoresheet here

After a grey and damp morning, the skies began to clear and the sun shone as Robbie won the toss at Oxford Downs and asked the home side to bat first on what looked a very decent batting track.

Downs opener, Tom Norris, looked comfortable from the start but against his "bogey" team, the home skipper Wes Bartlett never settled and fell for 9 in the 13th over to Lee Mason who again bowled an excellent opening spell of 14 overs, 5 maidens 2 for 29. Mitch replaced Will, who strained a muscle in his side, after his opening 5 overs and he picked up the wicket of Norris who had made a useful 40 out of the 67 for 2 at that stage. Robbie decided there was little for the seamers to extract from the track and by the drinks break he has both Alister and Cooky bowling in tandem and they saw us through to the conclusion, Alister picking up 2 for 20 off his first 11 overs and finshing with 3 for 43 off 16, bowling 6 maidens. Tom Crouch got himself a bit bogged down for his 22 off 83 balls at no3, but brother Frankie made 38 off 55 balls and James Florey 24 off 19 to take the total to 169 for
7 off the 53 overs.

Horspath started cautiously and had 22 on the board when Lester Smart got a ball to lift sharply and Luke List took a very sharp catch high at 2nd slip to dismiss Chris Penner for 13. Krolly joined the skipper and carried on where he'd left off last week at home to Shipton, moving on to 23 - and the total to 57 in the 21st over - before he was trapped lbw by Tom Crouch. This brought the Aussie to the wicket and having timed the ball beautifully from the off, scoring 14 off 12 balls (including a huge 6), he played across the line and was also trapped lbw. All the while,
Robbie was steadfast and rock solid at the other end, Ned joining him with the score on 71 for 3 in the 24th. While the home bowlers toiled hard on a very warm late afternoon, Robbie and Ned looked untroubled as they built steadily - with excellent shot selection - until the score had reached 108 for 3 in the 35th over and then both accelerated and had racked up 54 of the remaining 62 required off the next 6 overs before Ned fell to James Florey for a superb 46. DJ Mossy, with one eye on the decks at Revs in Sutton, hit two 4's off his first 2 balls to close out a 6 wicket win with over 5 overs remaining. Robbie's 61no was a great combination of patience, doggedness and shot selection to guide his side home. With three games to play we remain in 4th place but we have to face top of the table Dinton (away) and third placed Cumnor (home, last match) and so three wins out of three, starting with Bletchley at home next Saturday, and we will have every chance of challenging for the title.

"The Prince of Pickle"

Flash Results Saturday 15th August. Scoresheets here

21.10 Saturday

1st's V Oxford Downs away. Horspath won toss and elected to field. Oxford Downs 169-7 (T Norris 40, F Crouch 38 A Gibbins 3-43). Horspath 170-4 R Eason 61no, N Murray 46) . Result win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts, Oxford Downs 6pts

 

2nd's V Thame 2nd at home. Thame won toss and elected to bat. Thame 2nd 242-7 (C Beadle 70, L Giles 48, D Brookes 36), Horspath 2nd 247-5 (M O'Connor 62, A Manger 55, T Holmes 38, D Heritage 31.) Result win for Horspath 2nd. Horspath 2nd 25pts, Thame 2nd 9pts

 

3rd's no fixture.

Calling all volunteers for new square filling - Weds and Thurs 19th & 20th August

Dateline Friday 14th August: At last the weather looks settled for the week ahead and Max will order the loam for delivery on Wednesday and Thursday of next week.

Pleae bring wheelbarrows, rakes, spades, strong footwear and old clothes. The work will involve speading and "treading in" the first three lorry loads over the entire square area which will involve a lot of barrowing and raking. The final load will be delivered on Thursday and will be precisely leveled track by track. Other work will involve spreading topsoil into holes in the outfield and burning the bonfire at the top of the field. Don't be square - be there!

Urgent: Feast match now on Monday 14th September

Dateline Thursday 13th August. Please note that the date for the Feast Match of Monday 21st September in the Fixture Card is incorrect. The correct date for Horspath Feast this year is Monday 14th September. The Shepherds Match will be played on Sunday 13th.

Did you know: Horspath Feast Sunday (The Feast of St Giles) is always the first Sunday after the 12th September unless the 12th September falls on a Sunday, in which case it is the Sunday after. Horspath Feast Day (when the fair comes and the cricket match is played) is always on the the Monday after Feast Sunday. Got that?

"Archie Vist"

Cherwell League Proposed Rule Changes Concerning Overseas Players

We have recently received the draft proposed rule changes from the Oxford Times Cherwell League concerning overseas players playing in the Cherwell League in season 2010. Click here to see the draft proposals. The League Executive is inviting comments from clubs before the proposals are voted on at the next League Executive meeting on the 7th September. Horspath CC will discuss these proposals at our next committee meeting on the 19th August. If you are a member of the club and have views you would like to be taken into consideration please email them to ed@horspathcricket.com or speak to any member of the committee.

A Good run-out for U17s at Twyford

Match Report: Twyford U17 V Horspath U17, Sunday 11th August 2009. The U-17s improved form continued as they proved too strong for a previously unbeaten Twyford on Sunday morning. A fine opening partnership of 70 between Dan McNiffe and Joey Todd was the backbone of Horspath's score of 126 - 7. There were usefull contributions from Jack Biggs and Tom Price, however with the Group likely to be decided by the calculator Horspath might regret the four senseless run outs at the end.
Fine opening spells from Ceri Holmes2 -4 and Hayden Moon 1 - 10 knocked over Twyford's top orderand the rest of the innings subsided as Matt White capitalised with 3 -8 and Jack Biggs 2-2 wrapped up the tail as Twyford mustered 47. The final Group match is on Sunday morning home to Bicester & NO. "Charles Clark"

Gibbo puts Kidmore to the Sword.

Match Report: Horspath V Kidmore End, Sunday 11th August 2009.

A swashbucking 78 not out including 5 sixes from Alister Gibbins in an unbroken 3rd wicket stand of 137 with Robbie Eason [ 65 *] was the highlight of Horspath's eight wkt win over Kidmore End in the final Sunday League fixture of the season.
Kidmore End's 205 for 6 owed everything to s stand of 137 between Cuthbertson [ 83] and Frost [79] after Tom Murray 3 fo 20 and Mitchell removed the top order in the first 10 overs. Tidy spells from Ollie Delamore, Greeny, Krolly and Chuck kept the lid on the scoring rate aided by some pretty decent fielding for a Sunday.
"Charles Clark"

Firsts maintain pressure on leaders.

Match Report 1st's V Shipton 10th August 2009.

An excellent allround display saw the 1st's gain a convincing victory over Shipton at the Rec on Saturday and although they remain in fourth place have closed the gap on the leaders Dinton. Disappointment at losing the toss, and the early dismissal of Matt O'Connor during a testing opening spell by Chris Panter, was put to one side as a watchful stand between Krolly and Robbie Eason took the score to 59 before Robbie[22] became Panter's second victim. With his mind obviously elsewhere Alister Giibbins became Shaun Miller's first victim during an unbroken spell from Jiggy's end. Ned Murray joined Krolly taking the score to 119, when, with a century there for the taking, his first rash shot saw Krolly out for 70. The in-form Mossy and Ned then accelerated the scoring in a stand of 70 in 19 overs. Ned fell for a well made 45 and Mossy's good form continued with a not out 39 as the innings closed on 210 for 6.
Any fears that this might not be enough were quickly allayed as Mase produced a peach to bowl Paul Hemmings and also dismissed the other opener Barrett. Will Eason, assisted by excellent catch from Skelly and a stunner by Mitch took three as Shipton found themselves on 45 for5. There was no respite for Shipon as Cooky with 3 for 9 and a fired up Mitchell with 2 for 5 ripped through the lower order as Shipton wre bowled out for 63 in the 25 over."Charles Clark"

Flash Results Saturday 8th August

20.10hrs

1st's V Shipton U Wychwood. Toss won by Shipton who elected to field. Horspath 210-6 (A Krol 70, N Murray 45, M Rana 39). Shipton 63 all out. Result: Win for Horspath; Horspath 25pts, Shipton 2 pts.

2nds V Didcot. Toss won by Horspath who elected to field. Didcot 226 all out T Murray 3-46, D Heritage 3-80). Horspath 211-7 (A Eason 51, J Todd 47, A Manger 32). Result Draw Didcot 15 pts, Horspath 12 pts

3rds V Bledlow Ridge 2nd. Toss won by Horspath who elected to field. Blelow Ridge 2nd 151 all out (O Delamore 3-31, M White 2-6). Horspath 152-7 (D Watts 30, A Thompson 30no). Result win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts, Bedlow Ridge 2

 

Breaking News: SOA Match Off

Dateline Thurs 6th August 2009 6.40pm. After torrential rain for most of today the home friendly fixture against South Oxford Amateurs tomorrow has been cancelled. The weather forecast looks more promising for the weekend.

Fantasy League: Headleys Hitmen up 16 places as Gibbo and Mitch leap like salmon!

Latest table here. It's a two week "double bill" on the Fantasy League, with a full programme from week 12 plus the heavily curtailed week 13 in this set of results.

After three weeks at no.2, Gardiners are the first team to top 10,000pts and in the process they have regained top spot from The Legend "X" (+ Greeny) who have slipped 3 places to no.4. Talking of slipping, The Headfords have plunged 12 places to no.32 while The Dream Team had a nightmare and fell 11 to no.41.

Star team were Headleys Hitmen, with over 2,000pts they leapt further than Hannah when she heard the proposal, up 16 places and in to the top 10 at no.6. Other major movers were Pontypridd Panthers (up 11 and into the top 20 for the first time) while Willie's Wonders and Flashing Blades were both up 7 places.

In the player rankings, for the first time in over a month Will Eason did not bag 200+ pts, but he did hang on to top spot, although the pack behind are closing. In any normal 2 weeks, 299 points would probably see the biggest move up the table, but that performance from Robbie Eason was only the 3rd best of the fortnight. Star
men were Alister Gibbins and Mitch Meredith. Alister, in week 12 alone, scored 582pts, the highest of any player in any week so far (topping Bisto's previous
best in wk1 of 563pts) and in the two weeks he totalled 587pts and jumped 10 places in to the top 10 at no. 8. He also becomes the 7th member of the 1,000pt club, now on 1,159pts. Mitch's performance, 367pts in week 12 alone, would normally have topped the pts list but at least he has the consolation of moving up most places - 11 and into the top 20 at no.17. Having missed the first 8 weeks of the season, Alister has charged up from being no.24 after his first week and
who'd bet against him challenging Will for the title over the final 7 weeks of the season?

Watch this space! "Number Cruncher"

Sunday August 2nd: results

U17's .v. Combe, League Match. Horspath 189 for 7 (Price 88no, J Todd 46, McNiffe 25). Combe 135 for 6. Horspath WIN.

Sunday League .v. Slough. OFF.

Sunday Friendly XI .v. Wayfarers. Horspath 185 for 8 (M O'Connor 63no, J Todd 22, Delamore 22), Wayfarers 186 for 4 (Mursaleen Sadiqi 56, Waleed 53). Wayfarers WIN.

Congratulations...........

............to 3rd XI and Sunday Captain, Adam Thompson, who got engaged this week to his partner of 3+ years, Hannah Burr. Adam popped the question on his birthday and after consulting her lawyer, accountant, parents, vicar, Doctor and physio, she was delighted to accept!

Weekend Update

Sunday Aug 2nd

U17's .v. Combe. HOME, 10.15am start, ON

Sunday League .v. Slough AWAY, OFF

Sunday Friendly .v. Wayfarers AWAY (Corpus Christi College), ON, 2pm start.

Saturday Aug 1st

The 1st's lost the toss and were put in at Banbury XX and had reached 90-1 before rain prevented further play. The 2nd's at home and the 3rd's at Cumnor were abandoned before a ball was bowled today.

Saturday 1st August: Rain stops play!

16.15pm. The 2nd's at home and the 3rd's at Cumnor were abandoned before a ball was bowled today. The 1st's lost the toss and were put in at Banbury 20 and reached 90-1 before rain stopped play. Re-commencement currently looks unlikely - watch this space.

New Square Work Postponed Again

Dateline Tuesday 28th July, 2009. The filling of the new square has been delayed yet again by the wet unsettled weather. Plans to carry out the work this Weds and Thurs have now been abandoned. because of the wet unsettled conditions. No new date has been set as we wait for a period of dry settled weather. August perhaps?

Match Reports 25th & 26th July 2009

1st's battle to victory against Oxford 2nd's
Horspath came out on top in a war of attrition at the Factory Ground to maintain their good run. Oxford were always struggling after being inserted. The in-form opening attack reduced them to 23 for 4 as Lee Mason captured the wickets of Chris Sandbach and Wazim Mehmood and Will Eason those of Ian Evans and Todd Hutchinson. A watchful stand between Crosby and Barratt took the score to 59 before both fell to Andy Cummings. Alister Gibbins was rewarded for a long testing spell with the wickets of Marcon, Morgan and Hamid, whist Cooky bowled Philip Evans as the Oxford innings subsided to 96 all out in 53 painful overs. The fielding showed the benefits of the notorious Gibbo training sessions and there were a couple of sharp dismissals for Robbie behind the stumps.

That Horspath were to find it equally difficult was evident by the early dismissal of Matt O'Connor. Robbie and Krolly took the score on to 28 before Krolly fell for 17. A mid innings collapse saw the comings and goings of Ned, Alister, Will and Mohson before Robbie was joined by Skelly. After a period of exploration outside off stump Skelly reverted to what he knows best and finished the game in a flurry of boundaries to finish with 27*, Robbie batting through for an invaluable Man of the Match performance with 33*

2nds Miss Opportunity
After finally winning the toss for only the second time this season the 2nd's blew the opportunity to close the gap on the leaders as they only managed to draw against an experienced Tiddington side. That Horspath were able to restrict Tiddington to 215 all out in their 53 overs was largely due to an outstanding display of aggressive fast bowling from young Mitchell Meredith that returned the figures of 7 - 49 in fifteen overs. Alex Mackie [50] and Neil Smith led the way for Tiddington. In reply Horspath quickly lost the wickets of Tom Holmes and Joey Todd, but a fine stand between Graham Plested [55] and Greeny [33] looked to have put Horspath in the driving seat, but against tight bowlIng by Hollingshead and Smith, Horspath were unable to press home the advantage and the innings closed on 183 - 7.

Sunday League. Royal Ascot V Horspath. Horspath lose by a short head.
To the strains of Waterloo played by Bjorn Again in the nearby Main Stand, Horspath fell to defeat against Royal Ascot in the latest Sunday League fixture. Horspath were inserted and that they managed to total 206 was due largely to an outstanding innings of 90 by Alister Gibbins with the ball frequently being blasted out of the ground to the enjoymentof a large Horspath following at this picturesque ground. He was well supported by Gareth Hamilton who batted more sedately for his 43 although his idea of what constituted a run always kept the opposition on their toes, and finally did for Aussie Dave Patten on debut.
If Gibbo had dominated Horspath's innings Ascot's reply owed everything to Todd Hutchinson's vitruoso effort of 134* as they got home with an over and 5 wickets to spare. Horspath's spinners were handicapped by a wet ball but Greeny bowled a couple of good ones to capture two wickets and Dave Patten's interesting spell was also rewarded with two.

"Charles Clark"

Website Blues!

Dateline Monday 27th July 2009. Apologies to our readers around the world as we have not been able to update the website since Friday because of a technical glitch - hence no Flash Results on Saturday night or match reports on Sunday. All in hand now!

Square Work Delayed For The Third Time

Dateline Weds 22nd July. The wet weather has delayed the filling of the square yet again and the work has been postponed to next Weds and Thursday, 29th and 30th July. Four lorry loads of loam will be required and it needs to be dry for several days before the delivery as well as on the two days when the work will be carried out. Three loads will be delivered on Day 1 and spread and compacted, and on Day 2 the top layer will be put down, levelled and compacted track by track. All volunteers welcome and bring a wheelbarrow, spade and rake if you can, and strong footwear and old clothes.

Don't be square - be there!

U17's Open Account at Kiddy

The U 17s comfortably won their second game of the season away at Kidlington.
After winning the toss and electing to bat,captain Joey Todd led from the front with a fine 75. He was well supported by another promising innings from Dan McNiffe 34 as the pair added 82 in a second wicket partnership.The Horspath innings ended on 155 - 6 as they losta flurry of wickets in the last two overs.

In reply Kidlington's innings got off to bad start in the face of an excellent opening burst from Ceri Holmes. Capturing the first three wickets, including the dangerous Romeo Masih, he finished with figures off 3-7 off his 4 overs. Matthew White and Hayden Moon both captured a couple of wickets and Keiran Patel one as the Kidlington reply stuttered to 65 for 8 at the close. It was also pleasing to report a much improved fielding performance with Ben Hubbard performing well behind the stumps.

"Charles Clark"

Bubbles Bouyant as Toddy Spins Upwards

Latest Leaderboard here. Week 11 of the Fantasy League, and The Legend "X" (+Greeny) consolidate their position at the top of the League, extending the gap to second placed Gardiners by 96 points. The top 4 all remain in their week 10 places, Mossy's Beat da Baal having a good week and moving up 2 to 5th, while Judy Smith's Bubbles Bouncers scored 989pts (the highest of the week) to move up 7 places to 6th! The Hammy Horrors were also up 7 places to 37th, with 689pts. Other big movers included Owizee, Willies Wonders and Hammy Collection - all up 6 - while Mase's Marvels did not perform nearly as well as their Team Manager and plunged 8 places to 45th!

On the Player Rankings there were two standout players, the only ones to score 200+ points in the week. Another man of the match performance from Will Eason netted him 260pts and extends his lead over Andy in second place to 269pts. The top 4 all remained the same, but Mase's 4-49 and 125pts leapfrogged him over Greeny into 5th. Robbie in 7th and now on 989pts is knocking on the door of the 1,000pt club. Star man, though, was young Daniel Todd, his 5 for 48 man of the match performance at Bicester & NO for the 3rd's saw him score 270 points and move up from 20th to 13th. He's closing in on older brother Joey, too, who's only 3
places and 62pts above him.

"Number Cruncher"

Buckingham Blitzed as unbeaten record goes

The boys from Buckingham - table toppers 2 wks ago - came to The Rec unbeaten and looking to consolidate their second place in Division 1. In a repeat of our visit there earlier in the season it had been wet overnight, and Robbie again lost the toss (that's 7 out of 10 losses now!), and was not surprised to be asked to bat. Horspath have only lost once all season - that visit to Buckingham!!

At 16 for 3, with the captain, Chris Penner and Alister Gibbins all out, it looked like being a repeat of the away match, where we were skittled for a low total and Buckingham took advantage of the much better batting conditions later on. The returning Ned Murray joined Adam Krol at that stage and they batted extremely well in a 100+ 4th wicket partnership that took us to 120. When Adam was out for a fine 52, with Will following soon after, Mossy joined Ned and put on further useful runs. Ned was finally out for an excellent 57, but Mossy's 38 proved very useful and small contributions from Skelly and Greeny took the 'Path to 201 for 7.

At tea the talk, and concern, was that Buckingham would now get best use of the track and that the home side would have to bowl very well to contain and hopefully bowl the visitors out.

From the first over, Lee Mason and Will Eason bowled superbly, putting the visitors under pressure, after 4 overs Lee had bowled 3 maidens and taken 1 for 4. At the other end, late swing was Will's prime weapon and after 16 overs Buckingham were reduced to 66 for 7! An early finish looked certain, and Lee Mason had taken 4 for 25 off 10.1 overs when a five-fer looked on as Valhambia skied one to long on, but unfortunately Mossy spilled the chance. It proved expensive as another 14 came off that over, stranding Mase on 4 for 39. Will at the other end picked up 2 quick wickets - and his five-fer - with Mossy taking a harder catch in the deep for one of them. Any hope of a dogged last wicket stand was ended when Alister trapped one lbw with his second ball after replacing Will. Buckingham were all out for 84. The rain started to fall 15 minutes after the last wicket fell.............

 

N Murray 57, A Krol 52, M Rana 38.

W Eason 5 for 35, Lee Mason 4 for 49

Man of the Match: Will Eason

Horspath 25pts, Buckingham 3pts.

NEWSFLASH: Sunday 19th July friendly OFF

The Sunday friendly v Broughton & NN has fallen victim to the overnight weather and with no sign of improvement, the game has been called off.

U17's Fall Short

Dateline Tuesday 14th July 2009 The U17's had a tough start to their campaign at the Rec last night. Oxford, asked to bat, delivered a powerful batting display to score 169-3 from their 20 overs. Hayden Moon bowled well, and Greg Handley and Joe Todd, relieved of his keeper's pads for the evening, bowled tidily enough but Oxford took every advantage and Adam Huish scored a powerful 83 not out.

Joey Todd managed 45 in reply before being run out and Marcus Sellar was left unbeated for a dogged 25 but Horspath lacked Oxford's firepower and ended nearly fifty short on 121-7

Fantasy League Latest: The Legend "X" (+ Greeny) reach the summit as the Iceman hits the peak too!

Leaderboard here. Week 10 in the 2009 Fantasy League and it's getting tight at the top of both tables.

A 681 point haul for The Legend "X" (+ Greeny) takes them to the top, nudging off week 9 leaders, Gardiners. The key players this week for the Legends, with 100pt + performances were Cookie, Muzza and the Iceman Eason. Team of
the week, on points scored, were Smiffy's Superstar 11 - their 683 points taking them up 8 places and into the Top 10. Fallers of the week were Hayden I Won't Buy You a Beer, plummeting 7 to no 41. On the Player Rankings, Iceman Will Eason's 240 points saw him leapfrog Bisto, Chuck and Ginge and he now tops the
pile with an impressive 1,293 points. Iceman also set another record for the season so far, first player to score over 200 points 3 weeks running - 3 weeks in which he was 1st XI man of the match each time too! Mase's continued strong performances earned him another 85 points this week and he joins the now 6 man 1,000 point club. While Gibbo performed strongly again, with 165 points, the biggest riser of the week was Dashing Derek Watts, his 102 points propelling him up 6 places to number 25. There is apparently no truth in the rumour that Wattsy will celebrate by having his nails painted...... Other notable 100 point + performances in the week from Paul Alder,Matt O'Connor, Ben Cook and Tom Murray and the returning Gerard Whittaker was just under at 95 points. 260 pointsin the week for the ANZACS. Mmmm......"Number Cruncer"

Squalls Scupper Square Filling

Dateline Monday 13th July 2009. Supremo of Squares Max Eason announced this morning that plans to fill the new square with cricket loam this Wednesday and Thursday have been postponed due to a showery weather forecast. The loam is now ordered for next Thursday and Friday 16th and 17th July. The plan is for 60CuM of loam to be delivered in four batches - three on Thursday and the final one on Friday morning. The loam will be Binders cricket loam and not the Kaloam originally planned following consultation with ECB County Pitch Advisor Dick Sula. Binders loam contains less clay and drains and readily supports grass growth which should enable the pitch to be ready for next season. All volunteers welcome to join in, especially on Thurday when the task will be to spread and compact 45CuM of loam, and weather permitting, burn the waste from the felled trees..

"The Black Cat"

Horspath Tapeball Sixes - Ra Ra's Race To The Trophy, Sarah's Super Six Pick Up The Plate.

Pics here. A grey and ominously cloudy morning at the Rec welcomed the first team in the 2009 Horspath 6 a side Tape Ball Trophy. Cricketers were to bat "wrong handed" in the 5 over per side format, bowlers off a max of 4 paces.

Sarah's Super Six were first up at 11am against Bishops Martyrs, and with Adam Krol still sat in his car in the car park at Bicester, shellshocked after Saturday, Team Manager Sarah Creed had to take to the field. It was Bishops Martyrs who came out on top, though, chasing down the 32 target set. Next up, with the rain falling, were Robbie's Easons against Ben's Cookies. Choosing to bowl, Ben's Cookies did
well to restrict the favourites to only 29, with Robbie the only one to get going with the bat. In reply, Cookies never looked like getting there, despite an excellent knock from Skelly. With the rain now falling heavily, next up were Horspath Ra Ra's (without doubt the most interestingly attired team of the day), although somewhat at odds with the 3 cricketers, 3 non cricketers rule they fielded 6 players who have
played League Cricket for the 'Path this season. Mmmmm. They were too strong for Huffins Hunks, though, the O'Connor brothers particualry impressive opening the innings. Finally the weather started to improve, and Crick's Crocks and Peanut Huggers took to The Rec and played out the tightest game of Round 1. The total of 38 (37 off 4 and one of a super Headley over) looked to be a good one, and
it took 11 off the last over from Dan Todd and skipper Headley to tie the scores and go through on less wickets lost.

In the first Cup semi final, Bishops Martyrs took on Robbie's Eason - with the latter batting first, setting a competitive target of 36, Will top scoring. That total was passed, though, with more than an over to spare, Coops smashing 21 well supported by Ginge (10). In the next Cup semi final, the Ra Ra's took on Peanut Huggers, and Lord Tom Murray of Gidley and Viscompte L' Alder of Pomme de Terre were the key run scorers in a total of 40. Peanut Huggers were never in contention, really, with tight bowling in particular from Lord Ned Murray and Dom "The Duke" O'Connor leaving them 15 runs short.

The first Plate semi final looked like being a tight game, with Ben Henderson and Skelly helping Ben's Cookies set a total of 32, which may have been a bit more had Cookie not thought it was 5 day (not 5 overs) and blocked almost an entire over! Batting second, Sarah's Super Six suffered an early blow when Krolly decided to cheer up Taff the Gaff and nicked a catch to the excellent Whitey at keeper. The Gaff's celebration was the slowest thing to run up the track since Max had the roller on it at 10am that day..... some said heavier too..... The Team Manager's beau was next in, and he smashed 14 off 4 balls to take his team to the Plate Final.

The second Plate semi final was the only 100+ game of the day, a real run fest. Batting first, Huffins Hunks racked up a formidable looking 52, Roberts (15) and Reid (30, top score of the day) blasting the Cricks Crocks attached to all parts of The Rec. 53 to win looked a long long way away, but Steve Parker took the bull by the horns from ball 1 and 19 were scored of the first over and racing to the top score of the day, 32. With 9 needed off the last over, Steve was the team home with a 4 off the last ball when the scores were tied. The Plate Final seemed to be drifting Cricks Crocks way as they raced to 23 off the first 3 overs, but excellent
bowling from Gibbo and Greendogg restricted the total to 31, Steve Parker (20) again starring with the bat. Matty and Krolly got Sarah's Super Six off to a very good start and it was Sarah's Beau Burrows who again came in and hit quick runs - with a 6 and a 4 - to win the Plate for the most international of teams - Gibbo (Tasmania), Krolly (Turkey), Herman (Marston), Greendogg (Mars), Toddy (Iceland), Burrows (Lords Groundstaff) and manager Sarah (Tiddington).

With the sun still gleaming down on The Rec, it was the Ra Ra's who batted first in the Cup Final, the Lords Ned and Tom batting well along with L'Alder de Spud to set a challenging target of 35 for a tired looking Bishops Martyrs. The Ra Ra's were certainly fired up for the last 5 overs in the field, with L'Alder de Spud opening
with a very tight over, followed by Lord Ned. Bish tried to force the pace for his team, but the tight bowling continued and when Ginge departed, the Flashing Blade having not flashed, it looked all over and Lord Ned, Dom the Duke and Marquess Matt all bowled tightly, leaving Bishops Martyrs 12 short and the Ra Ra's racing to the rope to pick up the Trophy.

A FANTASTIC day at The Rec, lots of fun, some super cricket and much needed funds raised for the Club. All being well, maybe in July next year, the 2009 Horspath 6 a side Tape Ball Trophy may well be played on TWO pitches, with the money raised today helping us towards having that pitch up and running.

Thanks to ALL those who played, watched and helped and especially Kevin and Caroline Creed and Norman and Shirley on the barbie.

"Authentic Taff"

KO'd by the clock....on the umpires wrist! Match Report: Bicester & NO v 1sts's.

Saturday 10th July.

On a peaceful (!) and, initially, sunny afternoon alongside the M40, Robbie won the toss and asked the home side to bat first. Yet again, the Horspath opening pair of Lee Mason and Will Eason bowled superbly and Bicester & NO were left reeling on 35 for 4 at the end of the 12th over, Will taking 3 and Lee the 4th of the wickets. Duncan Bradshaw (23) helped stready the ship with Josh Smith, taking the score to 65 before Lee Mason finally removed the dangerous Aussie. Smith continued to bat doggedly and the 6th wicket partnership of 58 with M Woods (25) was the bedrock of Bicester & NO's final total of 151. Cooky whipped out the lower order with 3 for 31, while Smith was 9th man out for 45, Alister Gibbins getting his first Cherwell League wicket.

While 151 did not look too daunting a total, it was not a great track to bat on and when, with the score on 2, both Chris Penner and Adam Krol were back on the sidelines, both falling to M Woods, it looked a long way away. Robbie and Alister batted solidly and put on 52 for the 3rd wicket before Robbie was bowled by Jeackock, but Alister hit 5 4's and a 6 in an excellent 50 before perishing, also to Jeacock. Will continued the progress to the 152 target, putting on 66 for the 5th wicket with Mossy. When they fell in quick succession, Will for a really fine 50, the visitors needed 7 to win off what Skelly and Cooky thought was 8 balls, although the rain had now been falling streadily for a few overs. Skelly had checked when he came in after the 3rd ball of the over, and was told one more over after this one. Cooky nudged a single of the 5th ball of the over, when Skelly was then told the next ball was the final one of the match! Dumbstruck, he was caught trying to hit
a winning six, and came off most disappointed that what had looked like a gettable 6 off 7 balls had been snatched away from him.

It was a very very quiet dressing room after the match, with the 10pts for the draw scant consolation for the 25pts that had slipped from their grasp over a misunderstanding over the time of end of play with the umpires.

Match drawn. Bicester & NO 13pts, Horspath 10pts
Man of the Match: Will Eason (50 and 3 for 29)

"Authentic Taff"

Flash Results Saturday 10th July

1st's V Bicester & N Oxford. Horspath won toss and fielded. B&NO 155 all out. Horspath 145-6-6 (48 overs). Result draw; B & NO 12pts, Horspath 10pts

2nd's V Sandford St Martin 2nd's. Sandford won toss and fielded. Horspath 258-7. Sandford 175-6 (47 overs). Result; draw Horspath 13 pts, Sandford 8 pts

3rds V Bletchley 3rd's. Bletchley won toss and fielded. Horspath 160 all out. Bletchley 82 all out. Result Win for Horspath. Horspath 3rd 25 pts, Bletchley 3rd 5 pts

Horspath Win The Combe Knockout Cup

Breaking News Friday 10th July, 2009. Horspath won the Combe Cup tonight after defeating Combe in the Final. Batting first, Combe put on a challenging 100 from their 16 overs. Horspath reached the total with an over to spare. Pics here

Horspath Tumble Out of Tollett

Dateline Thur 9th July. Horspath V Oxford. Bernard Tollett Trophy 20 overs. Toss won by Oxford who batted. Oxford 183-3 (S Laudatt 83), Horspath 143-6 (A Gibbins 67).

Result: Win for Oxford

New Cricket Pitch For Horspath

Dateline Weds 8th July. Article in The Oxford Mail about Horspath's new pitch. Click here to read it.

From willow tree to pitch: how the cricket bats used in the Ashes are made

Dateline Weds 8th July. Interesting article in The Telegraph. Click here to see

Fantasy League: Gardiners Tops The Tree as Gibbins Hits a Ball Or Two Over Them. Leader Board Here

Wk 9 in the Fantasy League sees Bisto's Badmen knocked off the top by a surge from Gardiners. They were top points scorers in wk8 to climb 5 places and another strong performance this wk sees them looking down on the other 54 teams from above. Well done to their sabbatical- taking manager! Bubbles Bouncers really did, up 5 places and into the Top 20! Biggest movers were Your'e Too Sexy, up 9 to 31. Guy's Dream Team rose 8 places and in to the Top 20, and Hayday's Hoodies were up 4 and in to the top 10. For the second week running, Will Eason turned in a 250+ point performance (280 in fact) and, in joining the 1,000 point club, was up another 3 places to no 4. Greeny also joined the (now 5 man) 1,000 point club. 200+ points also for 3's stand-in (winning!) skipper Tom Murray sees him in to the top 10. Any normal week and the 294 points that were racked up by Matt O'Connor, in his second week back from Stuttgart, would
have seen him top points scorer and the 16 place rise (into the top 20) would probably have been the biggest move up by a player too. The 500 or so miles from Stuttgart is a good distance to come back from to play for the 'Path - but Matt was usurped this week by Alister Gibbins following his 10,600 mile (and 60 hr door to door) journey from Tasmania to Tiddington. Getting off the mark on Sat with a 6 was a good way to signal his arrival, and his bowling on Sat & Sun, coupled with
a brisk 24 for the 2's and an excellent 97 on Sunday sees Alister up 17 places (with 348 points on the wk) to no24.

"Number Cruncher"

Tables Turned on Beaconsfield: Match Report: Horspath V Beaconsfield Sunday 5th July 2009

In another run fest at the Rec Horspath chased down Beaconsfield's 271 - 6 in the latest round of the Thames and Chilterns Sunday League. In a game that followed a similar pattern to the away fixture, Beaconsfield started like a train and with the score at 100 after 8 overs it looked like records could be broken. Hayden and Olly Delamore bearing the brunt of the attack. However with Alister Gibbins bowling the Aussie pro Mark Gregory on 44 with his first ball and Cooky bowling reasonably from the other end the scoring rate went into decline. A fine 75 from Chris Thomas kept the score moving untill he was caught J Todd bowled D Todd during a fine spell of leg spin by young Dan. Once he found his bearings after his holiday Mitchell Meredith bowled with plenty of pace to garner 3 late wickets.

Horspath's reply began in fine style with Dick DeCaires in vintage form with shots all round the wicket and he was supported by bright knocks from Joey Todd and Greeny. Dick's dismissal for 52 let in Alister Gibbins who proceeded to give a magnificent display, mixing good shots and deft touches with some brutal hitting. His 97 ensured a Horspath victory with 2 overs to spare,and also what could be a perceived shortage of replacement balls. Result: Win for Horspath

"Charles Clark"

A Declaration Too Far!: Match Report: Horspath 2nd V Oxford 4th 4th July 2009

Adrian Manger's declaration after 47 overs, ironically delayed by teas being held up by the usual chaos on the A34, proved to be generous as Oxford cruised home with overs and time to spare. Adrian was unable to break Horspath's run of bad luck with the toss and no surprise the 2s were once again batting first. Matt O'Connor enjoyed himself and compiled a chanceless 137 *. He was well supported by Graham Plested, and a cameo from the jet lagged Alister Gibbins who announced his arrival with 2 sixes to get off the Mark. Adrian himself once again falling in the forties.

The thought that 283 might not be enough quickly became evident as the Oxford batmen feasted on some distictly average bowling, 'supported' by some below par fielding. Chris Jones particularly enjoyed himself and it was a bit of a surprise when he was out for 93 Any chance that Horspath might get back in the game was quickly dispelled by the younger, and more talented, Sadiqi brother who finished the run chase in a blaze of big shots. Score sheets here

Horspath 11 pts, Oxford 4th 25pts

"Charles Clark"

Horspath Heroes - in the Second Half!: Match Report: Cumnor V Horspath 4th July 2009

On another hot Cherwell League Saturday, and with a light shower clearing the air an hour before the start, home skipper Mitty won the toss and asked Horspath to bat. The first 3 hours belonged almost entirely to the home team, with a combination of good bowling and fielding ably assisted by some very poor running between the wickets and the odd poor shot saw the visitors shot out for 154 in
the last over of the 53. Chris Penner looked good at the top of the order and was unlucky to be given out caught behind for 24, off the excellent Ghuzali, while Will Eason batted superbly at no5 for his 42 - the foundation of a total that looked at least 50 runs short of par. Certainly a very different day to the same fixture in 2008
when Robbie and Will both scored 100's in a mammoth 257 total.

There were many harsh words from the captain in the interval, not too many of them repeatable here, and the 'Path left the dressing room in determined mood, knowing they had let themselves down badly and their recent excellent run was in danger of being well and truly derailed. The next 3 hours could not have been more different. The visitors bowled superbly from the off, Lee Mason and Will making it extremely difficult and - as in recent weeks - tough catches were held (Mossy to dismiss home player/coach Cook) and the run rate was strangled from the start. The home side were certainly anxious as they subsided to 36 for 4 in the 16th over (Lee and Will 2 wkts each, incl. the potential match winner, and Horspath bogeyman, Ali Morteza for 2) and then 95 for 7 by the 40th, Ben Cook picking up a couple from very tight bowling, and Andy a valuable wicket too. With the home side bowling their overs early. Horspath faced having to complete their 47 by 7.10pm and at that point, with 20 mins left only 25 were needed to win and 3 wkts still in hand. After a superb opening spell, Lee Mason then returned to bowl the last 5 from his end for only 6 runs - bagging 2 wkts (to take him to 20 for the first half of the season) - to strangle any thoughts of a victory for the home team and, with those 2 wickets, take the 'Path to the brink of a truly superb (and highly unlikely at half way) victory. The Budweiser's all round at the post match debrief on the outfield were swiftly sunk - and if ever a game defined "winning draw" then this was surely it, as the body language of the 2 teams so clearly showed after the game.

Men of the Match: Lee Mason & Will Eason. Score sheets here

Horspath 14pts
Cumnor 10pts

"Authentic Taff"

Cool Chase is Horspath Hero: Match Report Hanboro' 2 V Horspath 3. 4th July 2009

A strong and youthful 3 XI made the trip to Long Hanborough knowing 25 points would push them into the race for promotion.  The stand-in skipper won the toss and elected to field in overcast conditions.   Spud immediately struck in the first over with the opening bat holing out to Dan Todd at square leg.  Another wicket from Spud, forcing a great catch from Robbie Cooke and some tight bowling from Ollie Delamore pegged Hanborough to 42 for 2 at 14 overs.  Tom Murray and Tom Price continued the pressure with 3 wickets between them followed by two quick ones for Dan Todd.  However, Hanborough’s lower order proved resistant hitting 96 off the last 13 overs to give them a respectable but still under-par 196 all out on a lightning quick outfield, Spud taking the final two scalps in the last over.

 

The Horspath innings began as one might expect with Carl Thompson smashing 10 in the first over in a quick fire 32 in 7.2 overs.  However, both Carlo and Derek Watts fell with the score on 47, sending Cookey and Tom Chase to the crease in quick succession.  Cookey fell to an inswinger from a left-armer for 6 with the score on 61.  What followed was a textbook lesson in run-chasing with Chasey looking irremovable at the crease, bar a very close played-on which hit the stumps but failed to remove the bails.  This moment proved decisive as Chasey, with the support of Murray (30), Alder (13), got the team within reach of the total.  The loss of Delamore for the 7th wicket left Horspaath on 151 and needing a run a ball to win off the last 6 overs.  Pricey then walked to the crease and provided admirable support to Chasey, seeing the win through with 3 balls to spare.  Chasey ended on 62 with Pricey on 14. 

 A very valuable 25 points setting the 3’s up nicely for the second half of the season

"Stan DInskipp"

Result Win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts, Hanborough 11 Score sheets here

Flash Results Saturday 4th July

Cumnor Vs 1st's. Cumnor won toss and fielded. Horspath 154 all out (W Eason 41). Cumnor 136-9. Result: Draw Horspath 14pts, Cumnor 10pts

Horspath 2nd V Oxford IV. Oxford won toss and fielded. Horspath 283Dec (O'Connor 137no, Manger 46). Oxford IV 284-6 (C Jones 93, Hall 64, M Sadiqi 62no)

Result: Win for Oxford IV. Oxford IV 25pts, Horspath 2nd 11pts

Hanborough 2nd V Horspath 3rd. Horspath won toss and fielded. Hanborough 196 all out, Horspath 3rd 197-7 (T Murray 30, Carl Thompson 32, T Chase 62no)

Result: Win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts , Hanborough 11pts

View scoresheets here

Fantasy League: Badmen on Top as Will Scores Strongly.

Latest leaderboard here. After 4 weeks on top of the table, Cooky's Rhubs Ruby's have been overtaken by Bisto's Badmen, with Mossy's Beat da Baal rising 7 places to 2nd, nudging the previous leaders down to 3rd place. Fastest risers of the week were Bubbles Bouncers, up 10 places and into the top 20, while James W's Gardiners were
top scorers with 1,186 points in the week (Robbie, Joey, Ceri, Andy, Will and Stu all with 100+ point performances).

On the player table, Andy is top for the 5th week running and was the first to pass 1,000 points last week. He is joined on 1,000+ mark this week by both Bisto and Stu.

Fastest riser of the week was young Dan Todd with his 154 points while Will Eason notched up 262 points, to be top points scorer for the week, just ahead of Ceri (247) and Stu (238). Unluckiest player of the week was Hayden Moon, as this update does not include his 5 star performance at Sandford St Martin. At least he should rise a few places next week! "Number Cruncher"

A Big Welcome to Alister Gibbins

Dateline Thursday 2nd July 2009. 'Pathians look forward to welcoming Tasmanian Alister Gibbins, who will land in the UK tomorrow( Friday) afternoon. Alister planned on joining us at the beginning of the season but has been delayed while finalising his ancestry visa (Alister has a British grandmother.) He will spend the rest of the 2009 season here with us in Horspath and will be hosted by the Creed family. Pic of Alister here

 

Alister is visiting from Riverside Cricket Club where Deano Creed played his cricket last winter and where Adam Pitt (2007 season) plays his cricket. Riverside play in the Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association Grade Cricket competition and Alister is Captain and Senior Coach. We are looking forward to Alister making a full contribution to the Club on the playing, coaching and social side. Alister will be the third young Tasmanian player we have entertained in as many seasons, with Creedy and Ned Murray travelling the other way to spend a season down under, and Pitty and Ollie Robinson coming to the 'Path.

Riverside Cricket Club has an U/12, two U/14 and U/16 teams in the Northern Tasmanian Cricket league as well as grade cricket teams. Riverside has won four A-grade NTCA Premierships in; 1968-69, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1980-81. During 1980-81 Riverside was the first club to win all three grade titles in Tasmanian history.

 

Aussie Pays To Play For Horspath!

For those concerned about the recent controversy surrounding overseas players in the Cherwell League and Village Cup, the club would like to make it clear that Alister is travelling entirely at his own expense and is joining Horspath because he wants to spend some time with us. Alister said "all the boys back home are queuing up to play for the 'Path, these lads are famous in Tasmania and so are the teas - we don't get any down under. I would have ridden all the way here on a bike if I had to."

 

We look forward to the banter in the bar as the Ashes Series gets underway.

"The Black Cat"

Latest Fantasy League Leader Board Now Up

Click here to check it out

Moon Gains Five Stars - Match Report: Sandford St Martin V Horspath

Dateline Sunday 28th June, 2009. Dateline Sunday 28th June, 2009. With the Sunday League match against Slough washed out by Saturday nights deluge Horspath were able to draft in a couple of first teamers to bolster the team at Sandford St Martin However it was erstwhile first team scorer Hayden Moon who took centre stage. His fluent innings of 41, coupled with a very unfluent 35 by Greeny, were the only substantial scores in Horspath's 177 [40 Overs] Hayden then proceeded to take 2 towering catches in the deep to give Dan Todd reward for an excellent spell of leg spin. He then completed his virtuoso performance with a wicket. 3 more from Cooky plus 2 each from Skelly and Stu Berry saw Sandford subside to 114 all out.

"Charles Clark

Dinton Despatched: Match Report 1st XI V Dinton

Dateline Saturday 27th June. On a glorious afternoon at The Rec, table toppers Dinton offered the home team a severe test. Would the 'Path's recent winning run continue, even with Krolly and Mitch absent on hols and Creedy still injured?

After 10 overs the answer appeared a resounding yes, with Horspath having won the toss and chosen to bowl, Dinton were reduced to 10 for 4, with opening bowlers Lee Mason and Will Eason both bagging a couple of wickets each. The home side's bowling was excellent and the fielding and catching equally as good and the pressure was maintained on the visitors. Tim Brooker, coming in at 6, batted very well for 56no but Horspath continued to bowl extremely tightly
keeping the pressure up, and taking almost every chance that presented itself, with Mase and Robbie taking a couple of really superb catches that left Dinton at 85 for 8 at one stage. Two solid partnerships for the 9th and last wicket gave Dinton something to bowl at with 148 all out. Pick of the bowlers were Mase (3 for 44) and
Will (3 for 29). Mossy, Andy and Ben all bowled well, too, and kept the pressure on and took key wickets.

After an excellent Mrs Cook's tea, the reunited Robbie/Penner opening partnership took to the field for the first time at The Rec this season and looked untroubled for the second week running, both of them hitting some cracking boundaries. Robbie eventually fell first to a very sharp catch in the gulley for 39, with the score on 89.
Greeny strode to the wicket for his first top order knock in the Cherwell League Div 1 and he looked comfortable and didn't panic even when Chris Penner fell the next over for 31. He stroked some lovely boundaries himself before a
lifting delivery was gloved to slip. With 30+ still needed, it was down to Phil Chanel and Will Eason to guide the home team to a 7 wicket victory, and 25 points, with almost 16 overs to spare.

Horspath 25pts
Dinton 5pts

"Authentic Taff"

Horspath into Final of Henry Alexander Cup

Breaking News: Friday 26th June 2009. Horspath gained a six wicket victory over Long Hanborough in the semi- final held at Combe tonight. Hanborough elected to bat on a wet Combe wicket but found Horspath's "H force 1" of Holmes and Herman too hot to handle. At half way, with Matty having taken 3 for8 off his 4 overs and Ceri 2 -20, Hanborough were in trouble but Horspath's "H Force 2" of Hayden and 'Hughie' Green aided by Hamilton, allowed Hanborough back into the game and a flurry of boundaries from Rob Lovick helped them post a challenging 100 off their 16 overs.

The total looked more imposing when Phil Chanel and Matt O'Connor perished cheaply. However Robbie Eason was crucially dropped, and with good support from his captain Greeny [25]went on to score 53, including 4 sixes, before being run out. A few blows from Adam Thompson saw Horspath home with 14 balls to go. The final will probably be against Freeland on Friday 10th July
"Charles Clark"

 

Found - Gents Bicycle

Found in the ditch by the Village Hall on Thurs 25th June. Contact ed@horspathcricket.com

 

Breaking News: Work Starts On The New Pitch

Dateline Wednesday 24th June. Work started on the new pitch this morning as Tim Daly and the machinery arrived. The first task was to locate the existing sports field drain which was found within a metre of where "twitcher" James Whittenbury said it would be and is deep enough to give us the fall for the peripheral drainage around the square. Watch this space! View photo's here

U15's Bow Out At Eynsham

Dateline Tuesday 23rd June. The U-15's went down to a comprehensive 6 wicket defeat at the quarter final stage of the County Competition at Eynsham last night.
Put into bat, Horspath's chances of posting a good score receded as they lost their top order Sam Watts, Matthew White and Jack Biggs for 5 between them. Junaid Khan, Jonny Henderson and Adam Milne all got into double figures but 68 was not a challenging target for the opposition.
The Eynsham reply stuttered in the face of a hostile spell by Jack Biggs who captured 2 early wickets and Matthew White one, aided by a catch and a first ever stumping from Jonny Henderson. Max Ashby collected a further wicket but Eynsham got home with time to spare.
Congratulations to the U-15S who did well to get to the Quarter Finals

Match Report: Horspath 3rd V Cropredy 2nd. Cropredy Hope The Herminator Won't Be Back.

Horspath 3s won the toss and decided to bowl at Cropredy on a hard but low bouncing pitch. Matty Herman started off from the Cropredy Bridge end with 3 straight maidens, bowling really tight lines to the old experienced openers with
Tom Murray backing him up at the other end. Murray struck first with a catch to Whittaker taken down the leg side, and Ollie Robinson, making his debut for the 3s before he goes off travelling again, took a wicket with his first ball caught by Gaz.
But it was Dan Todd and Herman that stole the show with some brilliant tight bowling which kept Cropredy down to 128 for 8 in their 47 overs. Matty ended up with figures 16-7-29-1 and Dan Todd 8-1-20-0 and "a great bowling attack" was mentioned a few times over tea by the Cropredy batsmen

A new opening batting partnership took to the crease - blocker D.Watts and crasher P. (Spud) Alder. Spud (28) rode his luck in the first 7 overs to score 28 of the 32 runs scored then the threes lost 2 very quick wickets as Robinson and Chase both played on. In came out of form Hamilton jnr to steady the ship but as the the run rate slowed it allowed the Cropredy team to see a glimmer of hope.
Wattsy and Gaz stood firm with Derek waiting for the bad ball and then smashing it for 4 glorious runs but then was next to go with the score on 83. It looked like the match might turn into another 3's collapse when Murray went for 1 to a snick behind, but in came the skipper Thompson to bring his side over the finish line hitting 33 from 8 over's. All the praise from the team went to Gaz for a great solid innings, scoring 27 from 32 overs.
Cropredy 128-8, Horspath 129-5

Horspath 3rd 25 pts Cropredy 2nd 6 pts
Score sheet here "Headley lama"

Sunday League - Run Fest at Beaconsfield

Dateline Sunday 21st June 2009. With interest in the Village Cup at an end, an experimental Horspath XI took the field against Beaconsfield in the Sunday League. Beaconsfield won the toss and generally feasted on the variety of bowling served up to them.

Leading wicket taker was Greeny who took 2-56, including the Australian pro with a well disguised double bouncer. Ceri Holmes managed to escape much of the general mayhem and also to bowl 2 more overs than the permitted 8. The main benefactor was A Francis with an unbeaten 113. Fortunately the dangerous Chris Elder was spectacularly run out by Greeny or the score would have been considerably in excess of the 268 for 8 Beaconsfield posted.

Dick Decaires got the Horspath reply off to a flier with his usual mixture of cheeky singles and hard run threes and scored 66 out of the first 83. The attack was continued with an incredible innings of improvised hittting by Jay Mumtaz whose 68 included 8 fours and 3 huge sixes, as he was particularly severe on the Aussie leggie. When Jay was bowled, the attack was continued by Greeny with 15 off 5, Stu Berry exacted some revenge with with a quick 22, and Ceri was still there at the end on 25 not out as Horspath fell 9 runs short on 259 for 9

Great entertainment for the Horspath following.

Result: Win for Beaconsfield (268-8, Horspath 259 for 9)

"Charles Clark"

HorspathU15's Through to County Quarter Finals

The U15's have won their group and go through to the county quarter final against Eynsham. The match will be played at Eynsham on Monday evening 22nd June at 6.15pm

U'11's on Winning Streak

The U'11's won their match against Brightwell-cum-Sotwell on Friday night making it two out of two after beating Aston Rowant last week.

Magical Mase Blasts Bletchley

Match Report: Bletchley V Horspath 20th June 2009

Robbie won the toss and chose to field at Manor Fields, but a combination of a latecall up (Bisto for Mossy who was unwell) and an interesting sense of direction (Toddy) saw the skipper take the field with only 8 team mates!

The 'Path didn't let that get to them, and after a slow start by the home side they were quickly two wickets down, Mase striking and the returning Chris Penner grabbing a run out to leave Blectchley at 14 for 2 on a lively track. Bisto's arrival saw the visitors with 10 men on the field and Mase's menacing spell continued as he removed 4 of the top 6, at times he was unplayable, and leaving the score at 48 for 5. Horspath's fielding, with 10 men, was sharp and all bar one catch stuck, and the skipper looked comfortable behind the stumps with the gloves on. Will had opened from the other end with little luck, but no sooner had Lee taken the 6th home wicket, and Toddy had finally arrived 75 mins after the start (did he go to Burnley, not Bletchley....?!), Mitchell took the 7th wicket to fall. Showing no signs of letting up, Mase continued to charge in and he picked up two further wickets to leave the home side at 68 for 9 and a very early finish in prospect. The last pair dug in, and while Mase kept plugging away looking for his 8th wicket, Robbie gave Bisto a short spell and then Cooky came on and finally got the last wicket, to deprive the hosts of any batting points at 95 all out. An impressive 7 for 29 off 16 overs
(with 5 maidens) for Lee Mason was the bedrock of the Horspath fielding performance.

A short shower saw the tea interval extended to 50 mins, and there was some nervousness as Robbie and the returning Chris Penner went to the wicket as Bletchley are said to have a reasonable seam attack and it was a lively wicket.
While some deliveries certainly did a bit, the home side had no one that got as much out of the wicket as Robbie and Chris took us to 48 for 0 before Robbie fell for 14. Krolly joined Penner in an all left handed partnership
for the second wicket, and he got a swift 25no off 23 balls while Penner hit the winning runs to take him to 50no off 66 balls.

Horspath 25pts, Bletchley 1pt
Man of Match: Lee Mason

"Authentic Taff" Score sheet here

Flash Results Saturday 20th June 2009 - 9.30pm

1sts V Bletchley. Horpath won toss and fielded. Bletchley 95 all out (L Mason 7-27) Horspath 96-1 (C Penner 50*) Result: Win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts, Bletchley 1pt

 

2nd's V Long Marston 2nd. L Marston won toss and fielded. Horspath 223-5 (A Manger 48, S Green 76), Long Marson 177-6 (D Marsh 53, G Graveson 45, S Berry 3-31). Result Draw: Horspath 13 pts, L Marston 9 Pts.

 

3rd's V Cropredy 2nd. Horspath won toss and fielded. Cropredy 128 -9 (O Robinson 3-11) Horspath 3rd's 129-5 (D Watts 30, A Thompson 33*, P Alder 28 G Hamilton 27*)

Result Win for Horspath: Horspath 3rd 25 pts, Cropredy 2nd 9pts

Score sheets here

U11's Vs Brightwell-cum-Sotwell at the Rec tonight.

Friday 19th June. Wednesday evening's match, postponed by rain, will be played at the Rec tonight. 6.00 start

A Time Capsule Under The New Square - What Should We Put In It?

Dateline Thurs 18th June. Work on the new square will start as soon as weather permits. The club is planning to place a time capsule under the middle of the new square but what should we put in it? Please post your ideas on the Forum using the button at the top (no bodies please - dead or alive).

A History of Horspath Cricket Club? July 1985

Take a look at this newspaper article of July 1985 (Oxford Mail?) dug out by Dai Cummings. Even better can you recognise Dai, Hammy and Messy in the photograph? Click here to see the article.

The 'Path Make Progress in The Tollett

Tuesday 16th June 2009. Horspath recovered from the disappointment of Sunday with a hard fought 27 run victory against Abingdon Vale on a sporting wicket at Hales Meadow. Batting wasn't easy but Mitch Meredith ensured a decent start with with 19 aided by cleverly running on the blind side of the umpire to avoid a possible run out decision. A match winning partnership of 52 between Adam Krol (32) and Joe Parker (24) ensured that a competitive score was going to be posted. With Robbie Eason adding a solid 15 not out at the end the final total of 112 was always going to be challenging.

The opening spells of Mitch (3-23) and the outstanding Ben Cook (5-1-10-1) put Abingdon on the back foot despite a hard hit 29 from Chris Roderick. Three confident catches in the deep from Cooky helped Will Eason to figures of 3-20 plus a tidyish spell of off spin by Joe Parker kept Abingdon falling further behind the clock. The tail was finished off by a lively spell from Ceri Holmes who celebrated his first team bebut with a wicket with his first and eleventh balls.

"Charles Clark"

 

Fantasy League Latest: Rhubs Rubies consolidates as Greendog Climbs. Leaderboard Here

Rhubs Rhuby's extended their lead at the top of the table with another 1,000+ point week for Cooky's XI - top performers for him again being Robbie, Andy and Cooky himself - the three of them contributing almost 600 points alone. Badmen and We Hate Swindon were the other notable performers on the week, both scoring over 1,200 points.

It was a great week for Greeny as his 283 points made him by some distance top points scorer, 53 ahead ofRobbie who racked up an impressive 230 points himself. Greeny is now up in the top 6 and Robbie has leapfrogged Creedy and Chuck into 3rd place on the Player Rankings. Spuddy's hatful of runs at Stratfield Brake made him the biggest mover, up 13 places to no.23.

With Creedy's injury and the holiday season now kicking in and players missing one and two weeks of matches,there is sure to be some movement by the end of June in Team and Player Rankings.

By our man with the calculator "Number Cruncher"

Team List for 20-20 match on Tues 16th June

Team XI for Abingdon, Oxfordshire KO, 6pm Tue evening:-

R Eason, Cook, W Eason, Green, C Holmes, Krol, Meredith, N Murray, Parker, Rana, J Todd

U11's Training Moves Back to Monday Evening

As a result of an influx of young players into the club U11's training will move back to Monday evenings at 6.30 from next Monday 22nd June.

Horspath Deluge Sinks Awning and U15's match

Breaking news: Monday 15th June 2009. An unprecedented downpourof tropical proportions hit Horspath at around 5.30 this afternoon causing flooding to much of the lower village and parts of the Village Hall. Unfortunately the awning could not shed water faster than it collected and collapsed under the massive weight of water. Click here to see photo's of the damage. The structure was made safe by Paul Smith, Ed and Cooky who siphoned off the water using the square hose. The same storm rained off the U15's match at Tiddington before it started.

"Noah Sark"

Horspath Defer Village Cup National Run Until 2010!

In another tense thriller in front of a big crowd at the Rec yesterday Aston Rowant defeated Horspath in the final over of the npower Oxfordshire Village Cup Final. On a soft pitch both sides found it difficult to make runs on a ground famous for big scores and Horspath's 182 batting first looked like it might be enough - and it almost was but Rowant just managed to pass the total with a ball to spare. Horspath played with great team spirit and two overs from the end looked like they would pull it off. For the Oxford Mail match report click here. For the nvc match scoresheet click here. For the actual scorebookclick here

"The Black Cat"

 

Spud Roasts Kidlington. Match Report 3rd's V Kidlington 13th June 2009

The 3rd's trecked up to the steppes of Stratfield Brake for their friendly against Kidlington "B" as they were without a league match because of the withdrawal of Morris Motors. Horspath won the toss and put Kidlington in, striking quickly with three wickets in the first five overs but Kidlington managed to build 180-9 from their 40 overs. Spud Alder, fresh in from the footie season showed the way to victory hitting 83 in 21 overs.

Result: Win for Horspath 3rd

Match Report. Horspath V Oxford Downs 13th June 2009

See Pics and Scoresheet here. Dateline Sunday 14th June. In a difficult game on a damp wicket Horspath showed great character and managed to get the better of Downs at the Rec yesterday. After being put in to bat Horspath got off to a slow start losing both Toddy and Ned for zero both caught behind. Skipper Robbie dug in and, joined by an aggressive Adam Krol, slowly built a partnership of 42 before Adam was caught by Bartlett off List. Will Eason joined the fray with Robbie starting to knock it about to bring the score up to 77 off 34 overs by the time Will departed LBW to List. Phil Chanel joined Robbie but only for one over. By this time it looked like anything over 100 might be agood score and then only if Robbie managed to stick around. Mossy Rana was next up in the 35th over with the score on 79 and the game changed. Over the next 15 overs Robbie and Mossy added 101 runs for the 6th wicket before Robbie was caught brilliantly in the 50th by List from Smart for a well earned 86. Mossy followed in the 51st bowled by Smart going for the big hit on 55. Creedy and Cooky finished the match with Creedy smacking 13 off just three balls. Horspath 207 for 7 - not bad given the difficult start and a credit to Robbie for diiging in and holding the innings together.

Downs found it just as hard to get runs as Horspath and lost Wes Bartlett early for 0 to Will. West and Norris slowly started to build until Westy was spectacularly bowled by Lee Mason and replacement Sutton out LBW almost immediately to Lee in the 17th over with the score on 45-3. Frankie Crouch and W Sandbach tried to push it on but were pinned down by tight bowling and fielding and were out caught by Will from Lee and stumped by Toddy respectively. Downs looked like they were shutting up shop with the score on 89-5 off 28 overs. Cooky and Krolly came on to increase the over rate and try to finish the game and almost succeeded - Downs were pinned to 110 off 40 overs and managed to survive with the score on 143-9 by the end of the innings (48 overs) with Smart caught smartly in the deep by Mitch and opener Norris finally falling in the 40th over. "The Black Cat"

Result: Draw. Horspath 15pts, Downs 8

Flash Results Saturday 13th June 2009 - 10.30pm

1st's: Oxford Downs won toss and put Horspath in to bat. Horspath 207-7 (R Eason 86, M Rana 55, L Smart 3-48). Oxford Downs 143-9 (T Norrie 53, L Mason 3-31, B Cook 3- 40)

Result: Draw. Horspath 15, Oxford Downs 8 pts

2nd's: Thame 2nd won toss and put Horspath in to bat. Horspath 221-7 (S Green 52, D Heritage 40, C Penner 34, J Whittenbury 31). Thame 2nd 118 all out (T Smith 3-21, A Cummings 2-12)

Result Win for Horspath 2nd . Horspath 2nd 25, Thame 2nd 7pts

3rd's: League free week. Friendly against Kidlington. 40 overs. Toss won by Horspath who invited Kidllington to bat. Kidlington 182-9. Horspath achieved the total in 21 overs (P Alder 83)

Result: Win for Horspath

The Big Weekend!

1st's at home on Saturday in The Oxford Times Cherwell League against Oxford Downs.

2nd's away at Thame 3rd's have a friendly away at Kidlington, 2pm start.

 

npower Village Cup, Oxfordshire Final on Sunday, 2pm start against Aston Rowant.

 

For current team news, click the button on the left. For the Oxford Mail preview click here

Biggs blitz boosts 15s - Monday 8th June

The U15's gained their third consecutive victory with a comprehensive 8 wkt victory at Warborough The home sides 2nd wicket pair had been relatively untroubled taking the score to 27 – 1 in the fifth over, before in an astonishing over Jack Biggs took 4 wkts, one with the help of a Matt White catch the other three all clean bowled! With Jenaid Khan chipping in with a wicket the next over Warborough had lost 5 wkts for no runs. Jack finished with the figures of 5 – 16. Max Ashley finished of the tail with some well flighted leg breaks, aided by a couple of run outs.

 

Chasing a target of 61 Sam Watts was an early casualty, but Matt White joined Jack Biggs in a match winning partnership. After several unsuccessful attempts Matt finally succeeded in running himself out for 18. Jack carried his bat for 22.

 

The umpire was able to adjourn early to the Six Bells where a bottle of Magners now costs £4.80!!!

 

Breaking News: Sat 6th June 2009. All matches now cancelled.

12.15 All matches now rained off. Teams retiring to the Queens Head!

Breaking News: Sat 6th June 2009. Horspath 2nd V Didcot home match cancelled

11.00 After heavy rain overnight and continuous light rain this morning the home match against Didcot has been cancelled.

 

Breaking News: Horspath Away to Abingdon Vale in Round 2 of Bernard Tollet Knockout

Dateline Friday 5th June 2009. After receiving a bye in Round 1 Horspath will play Abingdon Vale away in Round 2 on Tuesday evening 16th June. Start time 6.00. Click here for directions

Breaking News: Downs withdraw from Village Cup Knockout

Dateline 4th June. The Oxford Mail is reporting that Oxford Downs have withdrawn from the Village Cup competition. See news item here. If the item is correct then Horspath will play Aston Rowant in the Oxfordshire final at the Rec on Sunday 14th June.

Club Caps Now in Stock

Dateline Weds 3rd June. Supremo of Stash Pip Murray is pleased to report that we now have 24 Club Caps in stock. £10 each. Reserve yours now on ed@horspathcricket.com

Latest Fantasy League Scores at 2nd June. Rhub's Ruby's on Top as Skelly and Stu Soar

Click here to see the leaderboard. Week 4 of the Fantasy League and last week's riser, Rhub's Ruby's are up another 4 places to top the table and knock Burr's Bracves from No1 for the first time this season.

At the end of the week 2 Cooky's selection sat at a lowly No24 but two spectacular weeks later - underpinned last weekend by 100+ performances by the skipper, Toddy and Creedy and Adie plus 355 from the flashing blade (or was it flashing ball) have catapulted Cooky to top of the tree (contributing 97 points himself to his own cause).

If Cooky's team performed well over the past two weeks then Tage's were most impressive in week 4 with 1320 points, 50 more than Rhub's Ruby's. Tage had "Chuck" Berry to thank for 388 points as well as big returns from Andy, Adie, Cooky and Ples.

Biggest riser on the week were Bubbles Bouncers, up 19. Biggest fallers were Badmen, Old Acacians and Beat da Baal - all down 26 places, while Porthcawl Pups remain rooted at the foot of the table.

In the Player Rankings Andy's wicket taking heroics bagged 355 points and leapfrogged him over Bisto and Creedy into the top slot, while Chuck scored most points in the week (388 from his 5 wckts on Sat). Skelly was the biggest mover up 11 places into the top 20 for the first time with 132 points from his 82 runs over two days.

Finally a special mention for the leaping salmon that is Adie Manger. The Club Captain is the only player to score 200+ points for two weeks running and he's up another two places to No6

"Number Cruncher"

Fortune Favours The Brave. NVC Knockout, Oxfordshire Semi Final 31st May 2009. Horspath 242-6 Cumnor 127-9

For Oxford Mail match report click here. In 2008 Horspath played Cumnor four times; in a pre season warm up match, two Cherwell League Div 1 matches and in an NVC Oxfordshire final. In all four matches Cumnor won the toss, put Horspath in to bat and won on a knife edge with a few balls to spare. So it took courage for Horspath to win the toss in brilliant sunshine at the Rec this afternoon and elect to bat first.

 

Robbie and Creedy opened the batting moving it along nicely until Creedy was caught by Scott in the eighth over from Ayaz Khan with score on 40. Phil Chanel batted 3 but fell for a quick 8 to Ali Morteza. Mossy was next up for 10 before being bowled by Umar Ghazali. Will Eason came in for an impressive 29 from 33 balls before being caught by Mitty from skipper Carl Thompson. Robbie eventually departed given lbw in the 26th over for an impressive 40 with the score on 114. Enter superhero Mark Skelton at six who scored 56 from 44 balls and carried his bat ably supported by wily old fox Adie Manger (22 from 17 balls) and Cooky with a classic late innings 32 from 12 balls including the biggest six into Richard Parker's garden that anyone at Horspath has seen for a long time. Horspath ended on 243 -6.

 

Cumnor's reply was strained, slow and never looked up to the challenge and wickets fell rapidly in a tight opening spell by Mossy and Will Eason. Jimmy Neilsen went first caught behind to Mossy in the 4th over with the score on 3, followed by danger man Ali Morteza in the 5th over to a wonderfully cool catch in the deep by Greeny from Will Eason with the score on only 9. Graham Scott went LBW to Will at 29 with the score on 12 and J Douglas was caught smartly by Adie Manger from Ginge with the score on only 61 from 20 overs. From this point it wasall uphill for Cumnor and though S Jones made a stand with 39 and Matt Neilsen with 26 it was all up as Andy Cummings cleared out the tail with 5-28 from 5 overs. (Ayaz Khan dnb - ret'd hurt.)

 

This was a game played in the fine spirit we have come to expect between Horspath and Cumnor and for the first time for a while Horspath came out on top and by a fair margin.

 

Horspath will play Oxford Downs at the Rec in the Oxfordshire Final on Sunday 12 June. See you there!

For match scoresheet click here.

"The Black Cat"

Will does the Business. Horspath V Banbury XX. Saturday 30th May 2009

 

Skipper Robbie Eason won his second toss in a row on a hot bright afternoon and asked the visitors to bat.

Opener Pearce took a few overs to settle in then started to go after the bowlers and made a dangerous 32 from 49 balls when Toddy caught him behind from Lee Mason, Masey's only reward for a superb opening spell of 11 overs for 17 runs. Pearson then provided the bedrock of the visitors total, while the wickets tumbled around him. Creedy, Mossy and Cooky all took two wickets bowling really well but the pick of the bowlers was Mitch Meredith who took 3-26 from 9 overs. When Pearson was dismissed (ninth wicket) with the score on 165 he had scored 90 of the 101 runs scored since he arrived at the wicket - a truly remarkable effort. XX were all out for 168 with 5 balls remaining.

Horspath lost Toddy early but Robbie dug in for the long haul. Adam Krol looked in good nick and looking well set before falling lbw for 27, and Mossy Rana was unfortunately run out in the next over. Will joined Robbie at the crease and the bro's put on an excellent 62 for the 4th wicket before Robbie fell for 40. Phil Chanel took over for 8 before falling lbw to be replaced by Mark Skelton. Veteran bowler Keith Arnold had strangled the run rate and taken three wickets when Skelly joined Will - 58 runs were needded and the clock was ticking away. Skelly went after the bowling and was spectacularly succesful, hitting his way to 26no off 18 balls. Man of the match Will scored a superb 62 was out with the scores tied leaving it to Creedy to come in and finish the game at 7.25pm.

Result: Horspath win by 4 wckts. Horspath 25pts, Banbury XX 9pts

"Authentic Taff"

Flash Results Saturday 30th May 2009. 8.20pm

1sts V Banbury XX. Horspath won toss and fielded. Banbury XX 168 all out (Mitchell Meredith 3-26). Horspath 172-6 (W Eason 62, Robbie Eason 45, K Arnold 3-60)

Result win for Horspath. Horspath 25pts, Banbury XX 9pts

2nd's V Bourton Vale. Bourton Vale won toss and fielded. Horspath 2nd 227-6 (A Manger 63, G Plested 49, J Parker 34). Bourton Vale 163-9 (D Cummings 3-26)

Result Draw. Horspath 2nd 17 pts, Bourton Vale 12pts

3rd's V Cumnor 3rd. Horspath won toss and fielded. Cumnor 3rd 126-9 (S Berry 5-25). Horspath 124 all out (D Watts 36 R Lavin 5-19)

Result: Win for Cumnor 3rd. Cumnor 3rd 25pts, Horspath 3rd 5pts

 

Breaking News - Maiden Skipper Greeny Scuppers Champs Charlbury in the Combe Knockout

Dateline Friday 29th May. A scratch team of 'Pathians led by maiden captain Steven Green managed to overcome obstacle 1 and make it around the ring road on a Friday afternoon and arrive at Combe in time to play cricket on a perfect early summer evening. Obstacle 2 was Charlbury - winners of the Combe Knockout trophy for the past two years. Charlbury won the toss and elected to bat which suited Greeny. Tight bowling and fielding repressed the Charlbury batsmen to 66 for 8 from their 16 overs with youngsters Ceri Holmes, Hayden Moon and Matty Herman taking two wickets each with Ceri particularly impressive opening the bowling with 2 wickets for just 6 runs from his 4 overs, and young visitor Josh Winfield removing danger man Esterhuizen for 19. Greeny then top scored with 29 as he led the team to a win with 68 for 3 with two overs to spare. Good support from Wattsy senior with 11 inc 9 singles, and Gazza with a respectable 10.

"The Black Cat"

 

Breaking News - Village Cup Semi Final to start at 2.00pm

Dateline Thursday 21st May. Sunday's Oxfordshire npower Village Cup semi final against Cumnor at the Rec will now start at 2.00pm by agreement of the two clubs.

Fantasy League: Rhub's Rubies are rising, Creed is climbing! See the latest Fantasy League Table

Week 3 of the Fantasy league sees Hannah's Burr's Braves continue to top the table a clear 82 points ahead of Whitters Wonders but fastest risers this week are Rhub's Rubies up 19 places to No 5 putting a smile on Cooky's face for the second time in a week after passing his driving test. Heading south, down 18 places are Tony's Trashers and 19 places Messengers Miracles. Headley's Hitmen also plummeted from No2 to No 15 on the week.

In the player rankings "Bisto" Smith hangs onto the top slot but Creedy is closing in - his 303 points was the biggest on the week by a distance. Adie Manger gained most places on the week, his 253 points taking him up 14 places to No 8 and Mossy's fine weekend saw him leapfrog 8 places to No 7.

"Authentic Taff"

Breaking News: Horspath Relinquish Hold on Chearsley Sixes

Dateline Tuesday 26th May. Horspath relinquished their hold on the Chearsley six a side trophy yesterday as they crashed out in the semi-final against a reformed Morris Motors Exiles team who were eventual winners. Horspath won their group to enter the semi's after a remarkable 43 ball bowl out with Chearsley!

Breaking News: Horspath through to Round 4 of npower Village Cup Knockout

Dateline: Sunday 24th May 2009. Horspath defeated Hanborough today in Round 3 of the npower Village Cup KO played at Hanborough after last week's match was cancelled due to rain. Hanborough won the toss and put Horspath in to bat. Horspath 248-5 (D Creed 83, R Eason 57, M Rana 39). Hanborough 169 all out (36 overs) M Busby 63, D Creed 3-29. Horspath will face the Cumnor in the Oxfordshire semi-final at the Rec next Sunday 31st May at 1.00pm.

Runfest at The Rec. Match Report: Horspath V Oxford 2nd. May 23rd 2009

Photo's here. Skipper Robbie Eason won his first toss of the season and invited Oxford to bat on the hottest day of the year so far. A blisterin opening spell by Lee Mason saw the visitors at 26-2 leaving opener Mehmood in with Ian Crosby but then two successive major partnerships put on 96 for the 3rd wicket (Crosby) and 99 for 4th wicket (Mendis) with Mehmood finally going for 92 from a very cool run out by skipper Robbie Eason. Horspath put down several catching opportunities and Oxford went on to post a formidable 304-6 from a very good batting performance on a good track with a lightning fast outfield. W Mehmood 92, S Mendis 60, I Crosby 38, I Evans 33no

Horspath took the field ready to have a go but a good opening spell from P Evans and Beer restricted the early runs and Horspath settled in for the long haul to 7.30. Toddy fell for 11 and Robbie and Adam Krol put on a strong second wicket stand before Krol was given LBW to Mendis. Mohson Rana came on at 4 to show what he could do with the onhand blade - which was a lot as he supported Robbie with a fine 63, but achieving 304 was never really on given the slow start and Horspath batted professionally to pass the 220 run max batting points threshold with Robbie achieving a very fine 67 and Phil Chanel a stylish 27no to close the game. R Eason 67, M Rana 63, A Krol 36

A frustrating day for the visitors having posted 304 runs but Horspath bowled tightly in the second half of the Oxford innings to deter a declaration and then batted well to make the best use of the situation.

Result Draw: Horspath 10pts, Oxford 13pts. Man of The Match M Rana

"Authentic Taff & The Black Cat"

Flash Results: Saturday 23rd May - 8.15pm

1st's. Horspath won toss and put Oxford 2 in to bat.

Oxord 2 304-6. (W Mehmood 92, S Mendis 60, I Crosby 38, I Evans 33no. Horspath 237-6 from 52 overs. (R Eason 67, M Rana 63, A Krol 36, P Chanel 27no

Result: Draw. Horspath 10pts, Oxford 2 13 points

 

2nds. Tiddington 2 won toss and put Horspath2 in to bat. Horspath 196-6 ( A Manger 71, C Gray 36). Tiddington 198 - 6 from 44 overs (N Smith 35, A Mackie 35, A Moore 39. T Smith 3-45, D Heritage 2-29

Result: Win for Tiddington 2 . Tiddington 2 25 pts, Horspath 2 10 points

 

3rd's. Buckingham 3 won toss and put Horspath 3 in to bat. Horspath 221-5dec. (C Thompson 79, D Watts 52,T Chase 50no). Buckingham 131 all out (Oshipman 47, S Helps 38no. M White 4- 26 T Murray 3-34

Result: Win for Horspath 3 . Horspath 3 25 pts, Buckingham 3

 

Fantasy League Table Now Online

Click here to see the latest Fantasy League Table

Breaking News - Grant towards new pitch confirmed

Dateline Weds 20th April. We are delighted to report that HCC has been awarded a £2000 grant by the Oxfordshire Community Foundation to support the cost of developing the second cricket pitch at Horspath. We thank the Oxfordshire Community Foundation for their support of grassroots sport. Watch this space as details of the project are released over the next week or two.

What an Ell of a toss to win! Match report: 1st's v Buckingham 16th May, 2009

After much rain overnight and in the early morning the prospects of play did not look good when the Horspath boys rocked up at Bourton Rd. By 2.10 the pitch was drying out a bit allowing Capt. Robbie to put aside his reservations about play. Buckingham Captain Jason Ell won the toss and unsurprisingly put Horspath in to bat.

Creedy was an early victim of the swinging ball to be replaced by Adam Krol who formed a firm partnership with Robbie in the face of full range of the elements: blustery wind, swing, seam, turn and wickedly unpredictable bounce. Krolly helped put on 60 for the second wicket and was out for a very good 33. The Eason bros added 16 for the third wicket but then the 'path lost the last seven wickets for just 36 runs. Robbie's excellent 34 was top score and Joey Todd batted well with Lee Mason to ensure that Horspath used all but 2 balls of our reduced overs. Buckingham's bowlers took advantage of the conditions but to be fair, were assisted by some poor shot selection from the visitors and Jason Ell finished with 5-33

After 3 hours of drying wind and sun there was always the fear that the wicket would lose much of it's unpredictability after tea and so it proved. Lee Mason got the 'Path off to a good start bowling Walters for 0 and Will Eason toiled with no luck against a side that batted well and with discipline. Dean Creed picked up two wickets but J Cater performed particularly well with 44 and Buckingham eased home with 15 mins left on the clock and seven wickets in hand. Buckingham 25, Horpath 4

"Authentic Taff"

 

New! Poets Corner

Saturday The 16th May

Turbulent skies and stormy winds
Green, soft and damp were the tracks
This was not a day to lose the toss
But Horspath lost all three
Er…that’s it
EJ Thribb 17 1/2

Flash Results: Saturday 16th May - 7.30pm

1st's. Rain affected game - reduced overs. Buckingham won toss and put Horspath in to bat.

Horspath 116 all out. (A Krol 33, R Eason 31.) Buckingham 117-3 in 32nd of 34 overs

Result: Win for Buckingham. Buck 25 pts, Horspath 4 pts.

 

2nds. Brackley won toss and put Horspath in to bat. Horspath 113 all out (A Manger 37, S Green 32, J Whittenbury 20no). Brackley 53 all out (T Smith 7-37, A Cummings 3-11)

Result: Win for Horspath. Horspath 2nd's 25 pts, Brackley 5 pts

 

3rd's. Bicester & NO won toss and put Horspath in to bat. Horspath 107 all out (R Cooke 20, D Watts 23). Bicester 108-9 (T Murray 4-19)

Result: Win for Bicester & NO. Bicester & NO 25 pts, Horspath 3rds 10 pts

Flash Result: U15's don't quite pull it off against Aston Rowant

Dateline Mon 11th May, 2009. The U15's had a disappointing start to their 2009 campaign with a home loss to Aston Rowant at the Rec tonight. Batting first in a biting wind on a lightning fast outfield Aston Rowant accumulated 140-3 from their 20 overs including 47 from J Tolson. Horspath were in the game though and managed 121 for 5 in reply inc 50 (retd) from skipper Jack Biggs supported by Matt White with 24. On the positive side there are lessons to be learned on fielding positions and run restriction which can be put to good effect in forthcoming matches.

Flash Result: Horspath Maiden Match Win in the Thames & Chilterns Sunday League

Horspath 200, Bledlow Village 180. R Eason 57, A Krol 47. Win for Horspath

2nd's Win at Sandford St Martin

Sat 9th May. Toss won by Horspath who elected to field.

Sandford St Martin 86 all out. Horspath 2nd's 87 -4. Horspath 25 points, Sandford -1 (no umpire 5 pts deducted)

Horspath 2nd's started their 2009 campaign strongly with a good win at Sandford. Andy Cummings and Tom Smith opened the bowling and restricted the runs to 86 from 39.5 overs supported by Dave Heritage (3-3 from 6.5) and an excellent fielding performance from the team. Horspath's reply started well enough but runs proved difficult with the pitch helping the bowlers and it took 42 overs to chase down the runs. with Greeny (25) and Stu Berry (26no) performing well with the bat. Man of The Match: Andy Cummings with 12-4 from 13 overs.

 

3rds: Holmes Cracks The Code at Bletchley

Horspath 196 - 9. Bletchley Town 231-5. Horspath 9 points, Bletchley 17 points

Horspath won the toss and elected to field. Excellent opening spells from seamers Tom Murray amd Matt Herman kept the score down to 28 from the fist 10 overs. Bletchley stepped up the pace for the next 12 until Murray finally dismissed opener Shepherd with the score on 105 for 1 from 22. Dan Todd and Ceri Holmes came on and slowed the scoring with Dan taking his first league wicket for Horspath by bowling opener Greenway on 67.

Openers Robbie Cooke and Carl Thompson got off to a flying start until Cooke was dismissed LBW to be replaced by Tom Murray. Carl and Tom kept the scoreboard ticking until Carl went for a rapid 33 after putting on a 50 partnership for the second wicket. After Tom went for 36 wickets began to tumble and Derek Watts stepped in to provide staunch resistance to keep the innings togetherwith a steady 39. Up stepped the youngsters with an hour to bat and Ceri Holmes and his teenage colleagues Maseh Sadiqi, Dan Todd and Matthew White all dug in with Ceri and Matthew seeing Horspath home for the draw. A good performance from a young side. Man of the Match: Ceri Holmes.

2nd's Win at Sandford St Martin

Sat 9th May. Toss won by Horspath who elected to field.

Sandford St Martin 86 all out. Horspath 2nd's 87 -4. Horspath 25 points, Sandford -1 (no umpire 5 pts deducted)

Horspath 2nd's started their 2009 campaign strongly with a good win at Sandford. Andy Cummings and Tom Smith opened the bowling and restricted the runs to 86 from 39.5 overs supported by Dave Heritage (3-3 from 6.5) and an excellent fielding performance from the team. Horspath's reply started well enough but runs proved difficult with the pitch helping the bowlers and it took 42 overs to chase down the runs. with Greeny (25) and Stu Berry (26no) performing well with the bat. Man of The Match: Andy Cummings with 12-4 from 13 overs.

1st's Force Winning Draw Against Bicester

Horspath  240 -5 Bicester & North Oxford 167 - 7

Horspath 15 pts Bicester & North Oxford 8pts

A very encouraging start to the League season saw the firsts come out on top against an experienced B & NO. Although they were unable to complete a victory, maximum batting points plus 7 bowling points enabled them to garner 15 bonus points in total

Robbie Eason lost an important toss, but he and Dean Creed made a solid start and had posted a half century stand before Robbie became the first of three quick wickets to fall, Dean[27] and Skelly following to leave the score at 60 – 3.
There then followed a superb stand between Adam Krol and Joey Todd of 123. They steadily rebuilt whilst never losing out on the opportunity to score.
A century on debut beckoned for Krolly when he was caught at square leg for 75 [ 73 balls] Joey Todd continued to sparkle and was well supported by Will Eason [10] AND Phil Chanel [16*[ as quick runs were chased at the end. Joey completed a maiden first team 50 going on to be unbeaten on 67 [65 balls]

B& NO reply began in similar fashion to Horspath. Lee Mason bowling a typically testing opening spell. He was well backed up by Mitchell Meredith who bowled with pace and accuracy to complete his seven over stint for only 17 runs.
However the breakthrough didn’t come till Mohson Rana bowled the dangerous Aussie, Yates, in his first over. With a further wicket in his third over, and with Ben Cook bowling with a good rythm removing the obdurate Darrly Woods, Bicester were getting further behind the clock. Any result was possible whilst the dangerous Duncan Bradshaw remained. However the pressure exerted by excellent fielding resultedin him being run out for 39. With Dean and Cooky taking further wickets and Krolly completing a great day for him by buying one. Bicester were left holding on at 167 - 7. Man of The Match: Joey Todd

"Charles Clark"

 

Welcome! 445 times

Dateline May 6th 19.00 GMT. We've just had the first set of statistics since we started collecting them on April 7th. Here are some interesting facts:

* We have had 445 unique visitors who made 1,800 visits

* Each visitor spends on average 5 mins on the site

* We had an average of 50 visitors per day for the first three weeks

* We had an average of 80 visitors per day over the last week

* We had an average of 100 visitors per day over the bank holiday weekend

* 62% of you came directly, 25% via Google, 4% via Facebook, 8% via other search engines and 3% via the Cherwell League Website

* 98% of visitors are in the UK but we have had visitors from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Pakistan and Spain.

We hope to have the Player Profile Section up in the next few days which we know people are looking at. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon!

 

2009 HCC Fantasy League - Choose your fantasy team.

See and copy the 2009 Fantasy Team Sheet by clicking here. All entries to Adam Thompson by no later than noon on Saturday 9th May. May the best manager win!

Chanel No 5 puts 'Path on the scent.

Dateline Sunday, 3rd May 2009. In a nail biting Village Cup round 2 match Horspath managed to overcome Tiddington with five balls to spare in a hard fought and finely balanced game. Horspath won the toss and put Tiddington in to bat on a sunny but cold and blustery day. Tiddington put on a respectable 210 runs for the loss of 9 wickets from their 40 overs with Nick Pykett breaking the "Curse of Horspath" with an impressive 68 runs including seven sixes batting at no 5, supported by Will Cooper with 31 but Cooky managed to slow the assault with three wickets for 26 runs in the middle order. Enter Horspath with a slow start but a burning sense of enterprise. Opener Creedy fell quickly with the score on 10 but fellow opener Robbie Eason and Skelly moved the score on to 65 for 2. Will Eason moved in and moved it along smartly with Robbie until Robbie was run out for 42 in contentious circumstances with the score on 98. I think this rather annoyed the good burghers of Horspath and so Phil Chanel went in at No 5 to redress the matter and stayed to carry his bat for 42 after scoring the winning runs with a well struck 4. Phil was ably supported by Mossy Rana with a quick 14 and "Ginge" Cummings with a spectacular 19 from six balls including two sixes. Horspath passed the total with five balls and two wickets to spare. An entertaining match which could so easily have gone either way.

Tiddington 210 -9 (N Pykett 68, W Cooper 31, N Edmonson 29. B Cook 3-26)

Horspath 213 - 8 (P Chanel 42no, R Eason 42, W Eason 41. I Pykett 4-64)

"The Black Cat"

1st's Go For A Burton Against Bourton But 2nd's Shine at Shipton

Dateline Sat 2nd May 2009. Horspath never really fired on all cylinders against Bourton in Round 2 of the Senior Cherwell League Cup at the rec today. Bourton won the toss and put the home side in to bat but Horspath had difficulty getting it off the square. With only 14 runs off the first ten overs and the score on 25 for 2 off 17 Horspath's batsmen were struggling. The middle order tried to up the pace with Mark Skelton knocking 16 from 17 balls, including two sixes and Phil Chanel hitting a top scoring 33 from 33 balls, assisted by Joey Todd working away in the background for 30 and Greeny with an impressive 20 runs from 24 balls, to achieve 145 all out from 44 overs. Bourton Vale didn't hang around in reply and were always well ahead of the required rate and won the match in 28 overs for the loss of 4 wickets.

Result: Horspath 145 (Chanel 33, Todd 30 E Hill 4-34) Bourton Vale146-4 (E Shaw 55)

 

Over at Shipton Horspath 2ndXI youngsters earned a victory over Shipton 2nd's in their pre season warm up. Batting first, Shipton put on 119 for9 from their 35 overs. with new boy Mitchell Meredith taking 3 for 21, Dan Todd 3 for 36, Ceri Holmes and Hayden Moon 2 for 17. The average age of these four players is 16! Horspath lost 4 wickets achieving the total with Mitchell Meredith scoring 46no. Well done to the youngsters.

Shipton U Wychwood 119 for 9. Horspath 120 for 4

"The Black Cat"

Did Sandra and Michelle once have a quiet day off?

Inspection of the ancient runes show that once, long ago, four Easons and three Thompsons played in the same cricket match. Click here to find out more. A quiet day? Probably not - odds on they did the tea.

Breaking News

The 2nds will now play Shipton U Wychwood in a pre-season warm up match on Saturday. 1.00 start. See Team News on the left for team details.

2nd's Gain A Round 2 Bye in The Cherwell League Cup

Dateline Tue 28th April 15.30. Horspath 2nd's have been awarded a bye in the second round of the Cherwell League Junior Cup. The 2nd's will now play the winner of Abingdon Vale and Great Tew in Round 3 on Saturday September 12th

A Close Run With The Caribbeans

Dateline Sunday 26th April. Open day guests Oxford Caribbeans put on an impressive 254 for 6 from 40 overs batting first at the Rec on Sunday afternoon restricted by some excellent bowling in particular from Greeny and Ceri Holmes after the Caribbeans got off to a flyer. A Horspath side combining a mix of youth and experience pulled off a nailbiting win in the 39th over for the with strong contributions from Adam Krol (46), Kiwi Gerard Whittaker(35), young Daniel McNiffe (31) and Greeny (23).

OC 254 for 6. Horspath 258 for 8

2nd's Struggle at Tetsworth

Dateline Sunday 26th April. The 2nds struggled to follow Tetsworth's 175 for 9 off 45 overs in Saturday's friendly warm up match. After a difficult start Horspath eventually put on 126 for 6 at the close with Stu Berry on 40 no and Matty Herman on 37no

 

Horspath top the Cherwell League Umpire Marks for Conduct

In the Table of Summary of Umpires Markings for the 2008 Season in the recently published Cherwell League Handbook, Horspath has achieved the highest average mark for Conduct with a score of 5.53. Horspath was rated 5th overall in the umpires Division 1 ranking but was third for Pace on the pitch, 4th for Bounce on the pitch and equal 4th for outfield. Our lowest mark was for Umpires Facilities for which we were almost two full marks behind the leader in that category and this brought our overall ranking down! Congratulations to Horspath players and groundsmen for a exemplary performance in 2008.

Creed and Cook Put Brickhill to The Trowel

Dateline 25th April 2009. Dean Creed scored a ton from the last ball he faced as Horspath defeated Great Brickhill in Round 1 of the Cherwell League Senior Cup at the Rec today. Horspath won the toss and put Brickhill in to bat. Brickhill moved along smartly and looked set to post a large total with a second wicket partnership of 94, until wickets started to tumble with the 6th, 7th and 8th wickets falling for just 4 runs and finally posted a total of 202 all out from 43.5 overs. Pick of the bowlers was Cooky with 5-22 including two superb catches from Stephen Green. Enter Creedy and Joey Todd to chase what looked to be a pretty challenging total on a cold and blustery day. Joey fell for 9 in the 4th over with the score on 22 to be replaced by Mark Skelton. Now it has to be said that neither Creedy nor Skelly are noted for conservative batting and they played their shots without constraint for the next hour building a second wicket partnership of 130 with both Skelly and Creedy gaining their half centuries. Phil Chanel came next followed by Tom Holmes who coolly partnered Creedy to the 31st over when Dean knocked a quick 2 to win the match and score 100 off the same ball. Cooky asked the reporter to point out that Creedy scored the 100 runs with Cooky's bat and he would like it back please! Sorry I can't mention by name the Brickhill No1 and No3 bats who knocked a pretty smart 59 and 50 respectively but our new fangled computer scoring software crashed during the first innings. To see photo's Click Here For the Oxford Mail report click here

"The Black Cat"

 

Ah Bisto! Horspath 2nd's Through to Round Two of The Cherwell League Junior Cup Knockout

Dateline Sat 18th April. Tom Smith took an amazing 5 wickets for 16 runs in Horspath 2nd's victory at Leighton Buzzard this afternoon. Put in to bat on a damp pitch Horspath put on a respectable 178 for 6 off their 45 overs with Tage top scoring with 38no supported by skipper James Whittenbury with 32 and Greeny chipping in with 19. Leighton Buzzard started well enough in reply until 11 overs in with two wickets down and 40 on the scoreboard a remarkable four wickets fell in four balls, the first from new boy Oliver Delamore then a hat trick from Tom Smith. LB never recovered and eventually succumbed at 102 all out. Smithy will be glad he made the journey down the M1 this weekend! Click here for the Oxford Mail report.

To see the scorecard click here.

The First Cricket Weekend Of The Season Coming Up

Next weekend - the 18th and 19th April - will see the first matches of the season. On Saturday 18th the 1st XI will face Great Brickhill at the Rec in the first round of the new Cherwell League Cup knockout competition while the 2nd XI will face Leighton Buzzard away. Start 1.15pm. On Sunday Horspath play Holton at home in a pre-season friendly at 2pm. To see the Team Sheet click here

Cricket Force Day Thank You

A big thanks to all who helped to prepare the club on Friday despite the wet weather. The nets are ready for use, 150M of boundary boards installed, square and outfield cut and rolled and the clubroom transformed. See some pics of the day by clicking here

Nets Refurbished

Over the past few weeks the training nets have had a complete overhaul. In March a group of volunteers carried out the backbreaking work of digging a trench around the periphery and installed a drain to prevent rainwater flooding the tracks. On 6th April specialist contractors removed the astrtroturf and underlay and levelled and compacted the substrate. The astroturf was then tensioned, fixed and cleaned with a special machine. The netting should be fitted on Good Friday and the tracks should then be ready for use.

CricketForce Day - Good Friday 10th April

Don't be square - be there!

Believe it or not the first game of the season is on 18th April! Please join us on Good Friday to do all of the things necessary to bring the ground and clubhouse to life - installing the boundary boards, erecting the practice nets, clearing rubbish, cleaning the sight screens, sorting out the clubhouse, changing rooms and showers. What fun - and free suasage sizzle with Norman Woodcock on the bbq. Come and join us from 10.00 on. Many hands make light work.

2009 Club Open and Enrolment Day Sunday 26th April

The club will have its first ever "Open Day" on Sunday 26th April with a youth practice match in the morning, an adult practice match in the afternoon, bar open, sausage sizzle and kit sales. Come along and find out more about the club and sign up and pay subs.Also bring any used (or unused) kit you would like to sell on - especially club shirts and training kit - many of our youth players need to move up a size!

New Website Goes Live

Friday 20th March 2009

www.horspathcricket.com went live at 11.30 this morning for basic news and information. Over the next few weeks we will be adding the Forum bringing the "top" buttons into use. If you have any ideas for content or news stories please send them to ed@horspathcricket.com

Read More..