HORSPATH collapsed to an 84-run defeat at home to Banbury in Home Counties Premier League Division 1.
Having produced a solid performance in the field to hold the visitors to 187-8 after putting them in to bat, Horspath caved into 103 all out, with Oxfordshire paceman Brad Taylor (5-12) doing the damage.
The start was delayed half an hour due to a wet outfield, with the roadside boundary being brought in to allow play to get under way. Banbury had put on 23 for the first wicket when stand-in captain Darryl Brown made the breakthrough with Craig Haupt falling to a sharp low catch by Lloyd Belcher at short cover.
Belcher then struck with his left-arm spin as Banbury skipper Lloyd Sabin, who had made 17, got a looping edge and Tom Coleman dived to his right at slip to take a smart catch, making it 41-2. Without addition to the score, Charlie Hill became Belcher's second victim when he came down the pitch, and was stumped by Robbie Eason.
Former South Africa A player Qassim Adams was next to go for 12 with Jehan Mohammed diving to his left to take a good catch off his own bowling, leaving Banbury 58-4. Ollie Clarke had made a patient 16 when he was caught by Brown at mid-on off Jamil Faruq, and Horspath were on top with the visitors 83-5.
However, Richard West and Shazad Rana led a fightback by putting on 50 in 77 deliveries for the sixth wicket, before the former was trapped lbw by Brown for 43. Rana was then run out going for a second by a brilliant bit of fielding by Asad Rafiq on the fine leg boundary for 21, making it 157-7. Two runs later, Brown claimed his third wicket when Steven Green was caught by his namesake, Stephen Green, at cover.
But then former Horspath player Graham Beer and Ollie Wright added valuable runs, sharing an unbroken stand of 28 for the ninth wicket to take Banbury to their final total, which was boosted by 24 wides. Brown finished with 3-47 and Belcher 2-34, but the pick of the Horspath attack was Faruq, who took 1-21 from his ten overs, while Mohammed also impressed with 1-15 from seven overs.
Horspath's batting then failed in spectacular fashion as Taylor wreaked havoc. Both openers fell with the score on 17, with Tom Coleman first to go, lbw to Beer for 13, before Eason was caught at slip by Haupt off Taylor, who then had Green caught behind by Rana to make it 26-3. Nine runs later, Jimmy Phillips went to the same combination, and when debutant Will Robertson was bowled second ball by Taylor without scoring it was 35-5.
Horspath slipped deeper into the mire with Mohammed lbw to Ollie Wright, making it 52-6, and one run later Faruq became Taylor's fifth victim when he was caught by Sabin. Amidst this clatter of wickets, Brown was batting freely at the other end, but rapidly running out of partners. Rafiq helped him take the score to 80 before he was lbw to left-arm spinner Green, and a run later Belcher went in the same fashion to West's off-spin.
Horspath managed to post three figures, before Brown was the last man out for 39 off 45 balls, a fifth lbw victim with West again doing the damage. The defeat sees Horspath slip a place to eighth in the table.
Posted by: Russ