Horspath found themselves on the end of an outstanding innings from South African Lesiba Ngoepe as they fell to a 207-run defeat at Ickenham in their Home Counties Premier Cricket League Division 2 opener.
The 33-year-old left-hander hammered 157 off 126 balls to take last season's Thames Valley League champions to an imposing 320-7 after they had been put in to bat.
With Horspath having their first competitive experience of white-ball cricket, Ngoepe took centre stage with his brilliant knock including 14 fours and 11 sixes.
The opener played the leading role in a first-wicket stand of 96 before Viv Narayan made the breakthrough when captain Elliot Evans was caught by Derval Green for 20.
Horspath, led by acting skipper Josh Richardson, enjoyed further success with Tyron Eyles dismissing Luke O'Driscoll courtesy of a Tom Nichols catch to make it 120-2.
But then Ngoepe and Nikhil Nair proceeded to take the game away from Horspath with a third-wicket stand of 124.
The former South African Under 19s batsman went to his century in style with a six before motoring past 150, with his sparkling contribution finally ending when he was caught by Eyles off Asad Rafiq to leave Ickenham 244-3.
Nair brought up his half-century by adding a six to his seven fours and had moved on to 54 from 38 balls when Ryan Hicks, on his Home Counties debut, claimed his first wicket with an lbw verdict.
Derval Green (2-56) chipped in with two wickets and Hicks (2-48) picked up a second victim, before the visitors were frustrated by an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 25 between David Morgans (17no) and Yawar Tariq.
Horspath then collapsed to 113 all out off 26.1 overs. The visitors had reached 35-0 when they were rocked by losing two wickets in as many balls to Raihan Hussain (2-29).
Opener Dominic O'Connor stood firm with a fluent 43 before becoming one of four victims for Morgans (4-27) as the innings subsided with Nair (2-6) also among the wickets.
Horspath bid to bounce back when they host Wargrave, who beat Thame Town by eight wickets, at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.
Horspath CC would like to thank the following 2026 Player Sponsors:
Amin Rafiq (STRONG Pilates Oxford)
Asad Rafiq (STRONG Pilates Oxford)
Will Eason (Oxford Marquees)
Josh Richardson (Steve Richardson)
Tyron Eyles (Interduct UK Ltd)
Robbie Eason (ARB UK Ltd)
Tom Coleman (RJA & SL Coleman)
Ryan Hicks (Green & Wakefield)
Ehsan Hussain (RMA Properties)
Tom Nichols (Savona Foodservice)
Josh Cummings (Gardiners Opticians)