JAMES Fitzjohn hammered an unbeaten 66 as Horspath made it four wins out of four in the Bernard Tollett Oxfordshire Cup South Group with a seven-wicket home victory over bottom club Oxford.
Having demolished Didcot by nine wickets and recorded a 47-run home victory over Oxenford following their opening night win at Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts, Horspath marched on at the top of their section in the Twenty20 competition. Chasing Oxford's 140-9 after the visitors chose to bat, Horspath secured victory with 11 balls to spare as Fitzjohn played the leading role.
Arriving at the crease with the hosts in trouble at 7-2, he shared a third-wicket stand of 83 with Shahbaz Ali (24) to repair the early damage. Ftizjohn, whose runs came off 52 balls with a six and six fours, and Darryl Brown, who smashed an unbeaten 33 from 14 deliveries with a six and four boundaries, then saw Horspath home at 145-3.
Earlier, Horspath had reduced Oxford to 14-3, with Mark Skelton striking twice and Jehan Mohammed also getting in on the act. Arthur Muir led Oxford's recovery, hitting eight fours in an unbeaten 59 from 55 deliveries, but Horspath's bowlers kept the visitors in check. The wickets were shared around between Brown (2-12), Skelton (2-16), Mohammed (1-13), Will Eason (1-22), Luke Heritage (1-25) and Fitzjohn (1-40).
In the previous week's win over Oxenford, Will Hawtin top-scored with an unbeaten 38 off 26 balls as Horspath posted 153-5 after being put in to bat. He shared in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 64 with Jamil Faruq (23no) after Mohammed had made 32 and Ali 24.
Oxenford were then bowled out for 106 despite Zabi Saeed blasting an unbeaten 54 from 38 balls, which included a six and nine fours. Tom Cosford (3-12), Liam Manley (2-9), Ryan Hicks (2-32), Tom Coleman (1-12) and Swapnil Kulkarni (1-24) shared the wickets.
Horspath bid to take another step on the road to finals day at Wormsley when they entertain Thame Town on Tuesday.
Posted by: Russ