High Wycombe, the visitors to the Recreation Ground for a Home Counties Premier League Division 1 game, were seven-times champions since the competition was founded in 2000. They were also the early pacesetters that campaign after winning their first three games.
Horspath, promoted as Division 2 winners, had also started well, winning twice, but it was surely expecting too much of Will Eason's side to lower the colours of the Bucks club - or was it? As the highlights from the club's YouTube channel, which can be accessed here (for full screen click on play and then the word 'YouTube'), show the hosts rose to the challenge in fantastic fashion to pull off a thrilling five-wicket win with four balls to spare.
Wycombe, whose powerful line-up boasted players with tall reputations, may have been steeped in Home Counties history. But that meant little at the time to Mark Jefferson, who in just his second game in the first XI after joining from Colwall in Herefordshire emerged as Horspath's match-winner with an unbeaten 54 from 70 balls.
Having restricted Wycombe to 198-7 off 50 overs after putting the visitors in to bat with Harrison Ward (3-28) the pick of the attack (unfortunately the first four wickets didn't make the highlights due to a power failure!), the game was evenly balanced with Horspath 88-4 when Mark came to the wicket.
After making a rapid 39 from 25 balls, Rameez Raja had just being given run out - a decision which as the highlights show left the Pakistan Twenty20 international devastated as he sank to his knees on the outfield, convinced he had made his ground.
Mark takes up the story: "Everyone was like how was that out and I remember Rameez being quite gutted about it. I think that season I started off in the twos and played a good knock of 80-odd against Banbury 2nd and the next game versus Finchampstead I came in about six or seven and we still had a bit to do. I didn't really understand the league at that point or the teams, so I went out and played naturally and didn't think about it and got runs (40).
"Looking at it now Wycombe are a top side in the league. I remember before the game there was a lot of hype about their quick bowler (Tom Hampton) who had played for Gloucestershire. Everyone was going on about him. It was my second game in the ones and I think I was batting at six again. With the situation of the game and with me being new to the club I went out there with no real pressure, so I didn't feel anything and there were no expectations.
"I went in and just thought I'd play my game. I had been hitting the ball well in the nets and had been playing good cricket before and was confident. When I got to about 20 I felt in and was playing the bowling really comfortably. There were no real demons in the wicket and it was nice to play on. I found Hampton was quite a nice pace and not overly quick on that wicket. Thinking about it now it was easier facing him than the slower bowlers and spinners as I could use his pace off the pitch, going to the boundary."
Mark and James Fitzjohn took the score to 136 when the latter was caught at mid-wicket for 35, but Stephen Green helped maintain the momentum as Horspath inched towards the target. Mark continues: "I remember at that point I was in the middle and wasn't thinking about too much, but to just play and have a good time. It was good fun with Greeny and as we got closer I thought we can do this - it kept going our way."
Arriving at the last over, Horspath needed three to win. "It got a bit tight," says Mark, whose terrific knock included five fours and a six. "Hampton was bowling from the Pavilion End and I was just thinking I have got to hit a boundary and not get them in ones. I was swinging at every ball and it got to the second ball and I played it up to the short boundary near to the cycle speedway track.
"I barely got hold of it and we ran two and then somehow sprinted for the third to win it. It was a terrible shot - it came off the bat and plugged in the outfield. It was lucky I was with Greeny because he is quick between the wickets and although the other lads are good players I don't think many of them would have run three!"
Horspath had been roared on to victory by their enthusiastic band of supporters. "It was just real jubilation and a good feeling to make a contribution to the team," adds Mark. "We had done well in the first innings to keep them to 198. It was still a decent total and I thought we just needed one decent partnership. It didn't happen early on, and the partnership with Greeny was important.
"There were a lot of people there. The little guy (Diddy), who is always there, and the Horspath Barmy Army were brilliant to hear. I remember it being quite tense at the end. It was on a knife edge, and cricket is a funny game, but when I was in I always thought we were going to win. One of the highlights after it had all calmed down and we had got over the line was sitting on the outfield enjoying a beer. It was a brilliant day and against a good side as well."
Mark, who studied business management at Oxford Brookes University, played for Lechlade the following season when he smashed an unbeaten 130 off 108 balls against Westbury & District in the West of England Premier League Premier 2 Glos/Wilts. "I was moving about with clubs," he says. "I didn't really play a full season because of my work and what was going on with university. I finished playing in 2018 and then for the last two years I have been working on a graduate scheme."
Now settled in Guildford from where he commutes to Portsmouth for his work on modular buildings and site accommodation in the construction industry, he is thinking of joining a local club when cricket resumes following the coronavirus pandemic.
He adds: "If Horspath was closer to me I would definitely come back, but it is a little too far away from Guildford. I have fond memories of playing for Horspath even though it was just for one season. It's a fantastic club. It's a friendly club especially when you join as a new player. You are made very welcome and there is a really good vibe about it. There is a good core of people who do a lot behind the scenes, which makes it a brilliant club."
Posted by: Russ