Horspath Cricket Club News story

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Green and Richardson see Horspath home

13 Jun 2024

Stephen Green and Josh Richardson shared an unbroken century partnership as leaders Horspath made it five wins out of five in Cherwell League Division 1 with a resounding seven-wicket victory at Cropredy.

Having restricted Cropredy to 157-8 after putting them in to bat, Horspath stuttered to 35-3 as Joseph Sparkes took two early wickets.

But then Green (69no) and Richardson (57no) took charge with an undefeated 124 for the fourth wicket to see the side home at 159-3 off just 27.5 overs.

Green hit 13 fours off 83 balls, while Richardson smashed eight boundaries and three sixes from 45 deliveries in their 15.5-over stand.

Earlier, Horspath held the home side in check with a fine bowling and fielding display.

Two run outs by Tyron Eyles and Hussaan Ahmad accounted for openers Sam Coggins and Ed Smith after they had made solid starts.

Richardson (2-43) then trapped Sam Amos-Simpson for 29 after he put on 59 for the third wicket with Ed Somerton (33), who became Eyles's second run-out victim.

Horspath tightened their grip with paceman Asad Rafiq (2-19) returning to take two wickets in an over, while his brother, stand-in skipper Amin, picked up 1-20 off 10 overs.

Jehan Mohammed, playing with a injured left hand, also bowled well to concede the same number of runs from his 10 overs without success.   

The victory sees Horspath maintain their 17-point advantage over Banbury 2nd at the top ahead of Saturday's game at home to Cumnor.

Horspath 2nd bounced back to winning ways with a massive 201-run victory over Witney Swifts at the Recreation Ground.

Acting captain Robbie Eason (80) led the way with Dan Corner (73) and Dan Todd (50) also shining as the hosts posted 260-7 after electing to bat.

Swifts were then hustled out for just 59 with seamer Nishi Ranasinghe (4-13) and left-arm spinner Sam Leslie (3-11) the chief destroyers.

Eason shared an opening stand of 81 with Todd, who batted fluently to record his first 2nd XI fifty with his 51-ball knock including 10 fours.

Maintaining the momentum in a second-wicket partnership of 132 with Corner, Eason notched up his third half-century of the season with nine fours and two sixes in his 126-ball innings.

Corner completed a maiden Cherwell fifty with his runs coming off 99 balls and including eight boundaries, with the pair both falling to Max Godwin (4-39).

Ranasinghe then produced a superb 10-over opening spell to spark a spectacular Swifts collapse, sharing the first seven wickets with Leslie, who again bowled with great control.

It was left to Joval Calix (2-1) and Charlie Turner (1-5) to wrap up the innings with Swifts all out off 25.2 overs.

The victory mirrored the side's previous home game when they hammered Buckingham Town 2nd by 213 runs after posting 275-9 and then bowling the opposition out for 62.

It propels the side back up to fourth spot with a trip to Shipton-under-Wychwood next up.