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Skelton smashes superb ton for Horspath 3rd

12 Jun 2023

MARK Skelton smashed a brilliant unbeaten 141 as Horspath 3rd chalked up an emphatic 116-run victory at Didcot 2nd in Cherwell League Division 3A.
He came to the crease with Horspath in early trouble at 34-3 and proceeded to take the Didcot attack apart as the visitors rattled up 271-6 dec off 43.4 overs after electing to bat.
He hammered 15 fours and eight sixes in his stunning 116-ball knock to post the highest individual score in the Cherwell League last weekend.
Treating those watching to a dazzling display of spectacular hitting, Skelton brought up both his fifty and century with sixes - with the latter one landing on the road outside the ground.
He shared a blistering stand of 190 for the fourth wicket with Pete Healey, who made a sparkling 86 from 104 deliveries with 13 fours after Ben Wright (3-31) had inflicted the early damage for Didcot.
Horspath then reduced the home side to 16-3 and there was no way back from there as they subsided to 155 all out to give the visitors their third straight win.
Skipper Ryan Hicks led the way with 4-38 well supported by Josh Cummings (3-13) with only Scot Wheeler (30) and Will Huish (29) providing resistance.
Meanwhile, Horspath 3rd were handed a walkover by Stokenchurch in the Airey Cup first round on Sunday and are now away to Kidlington in the quarter-finals on July 9.
Skipper Craig Wharton's third half-century of the season set Division 6A leaders Horspath 4th on the way to a fifth successive win with a seven-wicket victory at home to bottom club Garsington 2nd.
The opening batsman hit 67 off 79 balls with 12 fours as Horspath chased down the visitors' 189-9 after putting them in to bat.
Wharton shared a first-wicket stand of 99 with Hadi Ali, who blasted 49 from 39 deliveries, before putting on 60 for the second wicket with Azlan Sharif (30) with Horspath securing victory at 190-3 off 27 overs. Satish Gummadelli took 2-29 for Garsington.
Earlier, Horspath's bowlers had shared the wickets around with left-arm spinner Robin Pykett picking up 2-42 from 15 overs. Sam Murphy took 2-20 and Tom Smith 2-45 with the side taking seven catches.
Most of Garsington's batsmen got a start, but no-one was able to make a telling contribution. Sajan Mathew (26) top-scored with the bat, while their total was boosted by 38 extras.