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| Lloyd Belcher took 4-92. Picture: Simon Hipwell |
Despite a week of exceptionally wet weather, the game started on time thanks to the sterling efforts of the ground staff. Not surprisingly, Horspath skipper Will Eason had no hesitation in putting the visitors in to bat on a pitch which still retained plenty of moisture.
Together with Asad Rafiq, he proceeded to put the pressure on the Wycombe batsmen in an accurate opening spell, and it was the captain who made the breakthrough in the tenth over, trapping Conrad Louth lbw for seven with 17 on the board.
Eason turned to left-arm spinner Lloyd Belcher four overs later, and Eliot Callis, who had made a brilliant 151 at Horspath last season, quickly hit him for sixes over long off and long on. But Belcher was undeterred and exacted his revenge on the Wycombe opener by bowling him for 47 to make it 72-2.
With off-spinner Tom Cosford bowling in tandem with Belcher by this stage, Horspath kept things tight as captain Dan Marles and Lloyd Paternott saw the visitors to lunch at 106-2. Fourteen runs had been added after the resumption when Cosford struck for the first time as Paternott presented Rafiq with a catch at mid-on after making 24.
Marles brought up his half-century with a single to long on off Belcher, but he had only made one more when he was trapped lbw by Cosford for 51 off 126 balls, which included four boundaries and a six, to leave Wycombe 143-4. Matthew Gouldstone and George Russell kept the scoreboard ticking before three wickets fell on 187.
Wicket-keeper Will Hawtin sparked the collapse with a great bit of work, running out Gouldstone for 31 with a direct hit to the bowler's end after retrieving the ball from the offside as the Wycombe batsman went for a quick single. Cosford then took two wickets in two balls with Hampton caught by Stephen Green without scoring, before the Horspath off-spinner accepted a caught and bowled chance from Russell, who made 24.
Just two runs had been added when Belcher bowled Adam Dobb, and one run later it was 190-9 as Conner Haddow gave the left-arm spinner a simple return catch. Belcher struck again with the final ball of the allotted 64 overs by bowling Jonathan Burden to leave Wycombe 196 all out as the last six wickets fell for just nine runs. Cosford returned figures of 4-78 from 22 overs, while Belcher finished with 4-92 from 26 overs. Eason picked up 1-11, and Rafiq's accurate opening spell of ten overs cost just 13 runs.
Horspath may have been lifted by Wycombe's late-order collapse, but the visitors had still posted what looked like a challenging total on a difficult pitch. The hosts had reached 6-0 when play was interrupted by a heavy shower, which saw their overs reduced by three to 53.
After the break, openers Tom Coleman and Jimmy Phillips moved the score on to 13 when the former was lbw to Cameron Parsons for six. Phillips suffered the same fate shortly afterwards when he was adjudged lbw to Hampton for ten, leaving Horspath 21-2. Their plight increased when Cosford was bowled by a Hampton delivery which kept low after the all-rounder had hit two fours and a six for 14.
Horspath then lost the key wicket of Darryl Brown for 20 when the South African was adjudged to have edged a delivery from left-arm spinner Haddow into wicket-keeper Russell's gloves, making it 56-4. Without addition to the score, Stephen Green edged a rising delivery from Parsons to Gouldstone at second slip, and just two more runs had been added when the same player caught Kyle Hopper off Haddow to leave Horspath in disarray at 58-6.
Will Hawtin was next to go for 16 when he sent a leading edge back to Haddow, who dived forward to take a low catch and make it 87-7. Mark Skelton was providing solid resistance, though, and he took the score on to 120 with Eason, before the latter was caught behind off Burden for 23. Skelton hit Haddow for a massive six over the hedge at mid-wicket, but the left-arm spinner kept plugging away and bowled Rafiq for nine to leave Horspath on the brink at 139-9.
Hampton returned to the attack, and Belcher edged his first delivery to the third man boundary to take Horspath to a second batting point at 150, but then gloved his next ball to the legside where Russell ran round to take the catch and wrap up the innings. Skelton was left undefeated on 34, while Haddow (4-43) and Hampton (3-17) were the chief destroyers for Wycombe.
The defeat sees Horspath drop one place to eighth.
Posted by: Russ