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| Horspath celebrate winning the Bernard Tollett Oxfordshire Cup |
The destructive left-hander hammered a sensational unbeaten 129 off 69 balls to take Downs to a formidable 193-3 in a gripping game at the Chadlington Brewery-sponsored Oxfordshire T20 finals day at Wormsley, near Stokenchurch. But Horspath, inspired by an explosive half-century from opener Tom Cosford, dug deep on a superb batting pitch to secure victory at 196-6 with three balls to spare in front of a crowd of around 500.
Will Eason saw his side make a terrific start after he won the toss and elected to field, with left-arm seamer Liam Manley bowling Andrew Lake without scoring with the third ball of the match to leave Downs 0-1. However, that only served to bring Sandbach to the wicket, and after almost being run out early in his innings by Stephen Green he proceeded to flay the Horspath attack to all parts of the picturesque Sir Paul Getty's Ground.
He breezed past fifty as he dominated a second-wicket stand of 120 with Will Watts, who made 30 before being bowled by the first ball of the 15th over as Cosford returned for his second spell. Sandbach had powered on to 99 when Green produced a brilliant run out to remove Amin Rafiq for ten, racing in from the mid-wicket boundary before whipping the ball in from around 40 yards for a direct hit at the non-striker's end to leave Downs 150-3.
A single saw Sandbach complete a spectacular century, and he kept up the onslaught to the end of the innings with his stunning knock including five mighty sixes, including two with extravagant reverse sweeps, and 13 fours. Cosford's figures of 1-23 from his four overs were all the more admirable in the context of the game, while Manley picked up 1-26 from his three overs.
Downs had posted a formidable total, but Horspath were undaunted and Cosford got their reply off to a blistering start. With some powerful straight hitting, he put on 52 for the first wicket with Tom Coleman in just four overs, before the latter was lbw to Harry Sutton for eight.
Darryl Brown maintained the tempo, though, with Cosford before Horspath were rocked when Sandbach took two wickets in the space of as many balls in the seventh over. Cosford had made 52 from just 18 deliveries with five sixes and four boundaries when he was caught at point by Watts, and Will Hawtin then fell to a catch by Sutton on the mid-wicket boundary.
However, Shahbaz Ali steadied the ship with Brown, taking the score to 114 before the South African all-rounder was bowled by Watts for 37 from 25 balls. Horspath suffered a further setback in the following over with Green caught at long off by James Ellwood for seven to make it 121-5.
Eason and Ali moved the score on to 164 when the latter was bowled by Sutton for a run-a-ball 29, leaving Horspath requiring 26 to win off the last three overs. That brought Jamil Faruq to the crease and, with 20 needed off the final two overs, four singles were garnered before he hit Rafiq for a massive six over mid-wicket.
The umpires then stepped in to inform Downs they had gone over the allotted time for bowling their 20 overs, and awarded Horspath six penalty runs, leaving four required for victory off the final over. Singles came from the first two balls bowled by Brad Airey, before Eason fittingly hit the winning boundary over square leg to spark wild Horspath celebrations. The captain was unbeaten on 29 from 19 balls, while Faruq's 16 not out came off just eight deliveries.
Sandbach, who added to his stunning century with figures of 2-30, was named as man of the match, while Sutton picked up 2-43 and Watts took 1-19 from four economical overs.
Eason, who was presented with the cup by Yorkshire's former Oxfordshire paceman Jack Brooks, said: "It was a fantastic game of cricket and George's innings would have been well worthy of winning the final. I was pretty proud of our lads just in terms of the way we didn't give up. It would have been easy to do so chasing a total like that, but we kept up with the run rate the whole time."
It was the third time Horspath have been crowned the county's T20 kings with their previous successes coming in 2013 and 2014. Eason added: "I think with the way the competition is now structured we play seven midweek games and to win it on the back of that is a big thing for us because we have put a lot of hard work in through the summer. It's a reward for the performances we have put in over the previous weeks."
Posted by: Russ