Horspath Cricket Club News story

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Horspath miss out in Hartwell Cup final

19 Sep 2023

HORSPATH'S hopes of lifting the Hartwell Senior Cup were dashed with a 30-run defeat in a low-scoring encounter against local rivals Oxford on Oxfordshire T20 Finals Day at Sir Paul Getty's Ground, Wormsley.
With the game reduced to 15 overs-a-side following torrential rain shortly before the scheduled start, the side did well to restrict Oxford to 85-6 after they had chosen to bat.
But then it was an all-too-familiar tale as Horspath crashed to 55 all out to leave Oxford winners of the competition formerly known as the Bernard Tollett Oxfordshire Cup for the first time since 2012.
It was only fantastic work by the ground staff which enabled the game to take place following a 90-minute delay with the super sopper the star of the day as it removed 5000 litres of water from the flat sheet covers on the square.
Manan Parmar and skipper George Tait put on 27 off five overs for Oxford's first wicket in front of a crowd of around 100 before Jehan Mohammed came into the attack and made the breakthrough.
Tait had looked dangerous with two fours through mid-wicket but was trapped lbw for 12 by the medium pacer, who punched the air in delight with both hands in his customary celebratory fashion.
With boundaries and wickets in the picturesque setting somewhat incongruously greeted by music and flamethrowers, leg-spinner Josh Richardson then struck with his first delivery when Justin Clarke ran in from long off to take a good catch above his head to dismiss Dominic Whinfrey and make it 28-2.
As mist lifted from the trees on the surrounding Chiltern hills under grey skies, the conditions were favourable for seam bowling while the pitch was also amenable to spin.
The two Horspath bowlers were combining well, and Richardson knocked Jack Wilkins's middle stump out of the ground, before Mohammed removed Harvey Jupp's leg stump to make it 44-4 in the 10th over.
Parmar, though, continued to accumulate the runs while surviving a chance to mid-wicket to collect his second boundary, adding 31 for the fifth wicket with Dylan Swanepoel, who made 14 before being caught by skipper Amin Rafiq at cover off Tyrone Eyles.
Parmar had made 35 from 43 deliveries when he was run out at the non-striker's end off the final delivery by Charlie Turner's excellent throw from deep mid-on as he attempted a second.
However, it was to prove a match-winning innings with the real merit of his knock only borne out when Horspath came to bat.
Richardson (2-11) and Mohammed (2-12) excelled for Horspath with the ball, with Eyles (1-17) the other wicket-taker.
Three-time winners Horspath, in their sixth final appearance, made a disastrous start in reply with a run out off the second ball - a blow from which they never recovered.
With Oxford's bowlers, led by left-arm seamer Swanepoel (2-10), turning the screw plus another kamikaze run out, it was a catalogue of woe with Horspath quickly in disarray at 27-6.
Richardson was the only batsman to make double figures, striking 16 off 15 balls, but when he holed out to Whinfrey at mid-wicket off Jupp's left-arm spin to leave Horspath 42-8 the game was up.
To add to the side's agony, Rafiq suffered a calf injury. He batted on with a runner, before being the last man out when he was bowled by Jupp, who finished with 3-6 off eight balls.
It capped an impressive fightback by Oxford with Tait (2-13) and Wilkins (1-11) the other wicket-takers.
Horspath had subsided in just 12.2 overs to finish runners-up for a second consecutive year with their innings highly reminiscent of last year's final when the side were bowled out for 85 in the defeat by Banbury.