Sunday 27 May 2018

Eason and Brown steer Horspath to first victory

Darryl Brown shone with bat and ball
ROBBIE Eason and Darryl Brown hit contrasting unbeaten half-centuries to steer Horspath to their first Home Counties Premier League Division 1 win of the season with a convincing seven-wicket victory at Finchampstead.

Chasing 214-8 after putting the hosts in to bat, Horspath secured victory at 217-3 with 4.5 overs to spare as opener Eason played the anchor role with 69 not out off 134 balls, before Brown weighed in with a blistering undefeated 64 from 37 deliveries.

Following the early loss of Tom Coleman for seven, bowled by Rehan Akram, Eason shared a second-wicket stand of 80 with Mark Skelton, who made 42 before falling lbw to James Lincoln. Horspath had rotated the strike well and were well set at 90-2 after 25 overs. James Fitzjohn and Eason moved the score on to 123, before the former was bowled behind his legs by Lincoln (2-44) for 12.

Brown's arrival at the crease saw an increase in the tempo as his cleverly manipulated the field with his classy strokeplay. The South African all-rounder was also destructive at times, hitting two legside sixes plus eight boundaries as he saw Horspath home in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 94 with Eason, whose patient innings included six fours.

Brown had earlier been the stand-out bowler in Finchampstead's innings. His introduction into the attack brought about the breakthrough when he had Greg Smith caught behind by Robbie Eason for 16 with his second ball after the hosts had put on 49 for the first wicket. Brown then bowled fellow opener Shivam Jindal for 28 to make it 57-2.

Lloyd Belcher got in on the act by having prolific run-scorer Dan Lincoln caught at extra cover by James Fitzjohn for seven, leaving Finchampstead 69-3. Ten runs later, Robbie Eason's sharp stumping off Will Eason accounted for Tommie Predgen for 16 and when Jamil Faruq bowled Simon Bell to make it 83-5, Horspath were well on top.

However, Finchampstead rallied with Josh Lincoln and Ryan Quinn putting on 50 for the sixth wicket, before the former was run out backing up for 39 when Belcher palmed the ball on to the stumps. The hosts had moved the score on to 171 when Belcher trapped Darron Augustus lbw, and three runs later Will Eason claimed his second victim when Tom Cosford caught Akram at mid-wicket.

Quinn continued to bat well, though, and reached his half-century with his fifth four and a big six in the final over, which put a dent in Brown's impressive figures of 2-36 from ten overs. Quinn finished on 59 not out from 71 deliveries, while Belcher (2-45), Will Eason (2-47) and Faruq (1-17) were also among the wickets, with Cosford contributing eight economical overs at a cost of 28. The win sees Horspath move up to seventh in the table.

Posted by: Russ