Phillips and Eason sparkle in Horspath's Village Cup win

JIMMY Phillips and Robbie Eason shared a sparkling century opening partnership as Horspath launched their Voneus Village Cup challenge with a seven-wicket home win over Sandford St Martin.

Jimmy Phillips hit an unbeaten 80

Chasing Sandford's 199-5 from 40 overs in the first-round tie, Phillips made an unbeaten 80 off 108 balls with six fours and a six, while Eason's 62 from 76 deliveries included six boundaries with the pair putting on 116 for the first wicket. 

Sulaiman Hussain (23no) joined Phillips to see Horspath home with ten balls to spare, securing victory in style with a straight six. 

Earlier, Horspath had bowled well to hold Sandford in check after opener Russell Beckett hit 49. Chris Thompson weighed in with 47 and George Welch made 38, but Horspath pegged the visitors back with Luke Heritage (2-32), skipper Lloyd Belcher (1-21) and Graham Beer (1-32) returning tidy figures. 

Horspath are now at home to Eynsham, who beat Ascott-under-Wychwood by 42 runs, in the second round on Sunday, May 9. 

Phillips had also featured in a century opening stand the previous day with Tom Coleman, who made 100 retired, in a 100-run friendly win at Cumnor. 

Coleman's terrific ton came off 80 balls with 15 fours and a six, as the pair rattled up 179 for the first wicket with Phillips contributing 60 from 89 deliveries, which included nine fours. 

Their partnership set Horspath on the way to an impressive 307-3 off 40 overs. Elliot Ruff smashed 57 from 44 deliveries with eight fours and a six before Stephen Green chipped in with an unbeaten 41. 

Cumnor were then restricted to 207-7 with Andrew Hodder-Williams and Sam Cross making 47 apiece as Belcher and Hussain both picked up two wickets. 

Horspath 2nd found Oxford University Authentics too strong in their home friendly, going down by 71 runs. Ali (82) and Callum Job (57) shone as the students racked up 274-7 off 40 overs, with Jason Cardy (3-43) the home side's most successful bowler. 

Horspath never threatened the target despite Dominic O'Connor making 55 off 77 balls with seven fours, while captain Alex Thomas made 34 and Pete Ades 30. 

Horspath 3rd had a cracking friendly against Reading Lions for the second week running, this time turning the tables for a two-wicket home win with the game again going to the last over. 

The visitors made 259-7 off 45 overs after being put into bat with Shiva Aruna (84no), Vinoth Palanisamy (58), Keerthi Prakash (36) and Babu Loganathan (31) in the runs as Josh Cummings took 3-50. 

Young opener Christopher Hofen hit a fine 55 in Horspath's run chase, before ninth-wicket pair Hayden Moon (59no) and skipper Jamie Stead (44no) combined to secure victory. Moon put the icing on the cake with a mighty six to see the hosts home with four balls to spare.

Posted by: Russ