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| Horspath 3rd XI |
tense two-wicket home defeat by Aston Rowant 3rd, who are crowned champions.
Knowing they had to win to have a chance of a top-two finish, Horspath made 198-7 after being put in to bat. Several batsmen got starts, but no-one went on to make a significant contribution and it was left to Dan Todd with an unbeaten 35 to take Horspath to their final total after Chris Jones had made 29.
Leigh Lewis, who took 1-18 from his ten overs, then proved a thorn in Horspath's side with the bat, making 85 to set his side on the way to victory at 199-8 with 2.4 overs to spare as Sam Shepherd (38) provided solid support. Swapnil Kulkarni produced an excellent spell of 4-28 from ten overs, while Jason Cardy picked up 2-30, and Andy Cummings bowled five maidens in his ten-over spell of 1-20.
The defeat sees Horspath finish in third place - just three points behind runners-up Kimble.
Skipper Dom O'Connor and Jamie Stead hit half-centuries as Horspath 2nd went down by 34 runs at home to third-placed Bledlow Village in a high-scoring Division 2 encounter.
Faced with a daunting target of 304-7 after the visitors, who had an outside chance of promotion, had chosen to bat, Horspath staged a spirited run chase with O'Connor leading the way with 63 from 56 balls, which included 14 fours. He shared in a second-wicket stand of 77 with Stead, who also made 63 with his runs coming from 78 deliveries with ten boundaries.
Tejas Anand (29) and Ryan Hicks (25) chipped in, but wickets fell as Horspath battled to keep up the run rate, and they were finally all out for 270 with Stuart Berry run out following a comical mix up with Hayden Moon, whose unbeaten 20 included an exquisite late cut for four.
Former Horspath player Adam Mould (3-44) and Matthew Bolton (3-47) shone with the ball for Bledlow, who missed out on promotion with second-placed Didcot beating Wolverton Town.
Earlier, Bledlow opener Michael Winson had made 98 from 117 balls with 16 fours. He shared a third-wicket stand of 111 with Will Woodward, who hit a six and 12 fours in his 69 from 51 deliveries, before Martin Bloomfield added an unbeaten 36. James Earnshaw (2-50), Hicks (2-56), Moon (1-28) and Mohson Rana (1-42) picked up wickets.
The defeat sees Horspath end the season in fifth place.
Horspath finished fourth in Division 7 after ending the campaign with a nine-wicket defeat at champions Bledlow Village 2nd.
Having been put in to bat, Horspath were shot out for 96 inside 31 overs. Bledlow made short work of getting the runs, coasting to 100-1 off 18.3 overs.
Posted by: Russ