Horspath drawn at home to Ynystawe in Village Cup

HORSPATH have been drawn at home to Glamorgan & Gwent champions Ynystawe in the Voneus Village Cup first national round on Sunday, June 20.

The first national round is on June 20

The club will look forward to hosting the Welsh side at the Recreation Ground after ending their 42-year wait to win the Oxfordshire area, which saw them progress to the last 32 on the road to Lord's.

Horspath will go into the game in confident mood after convincing wins over Sandford St Martin, Eynsham, Langford and Aston Rowant to claim the Oxfordshire title.

Ynystawe, who were crowned national champions in 2001, earned their place in the later stages of  this year's competition with a 108-run victory at home to Tondu in their area final on Sunday after racking up 296-5. All-rounder Thomas Morgan was the man of the match, hitting an unbeaten 90 off 65 balls, before taking 7-18.

That capped a strong regional campaign for the village side, from near Swansea, having held Miskin Manor to 165-7 in the previous round to set up a ten-wicket win.

In their opening game, they defeated Ponthir on superior run-rate after posting 268-3 before reducing their opponents to 90-8.

Ynystawe, who are top of South Wales Premier League Division 2, visited Aston Rowant in the 2017 national quarter-final with the Oxfordshire side running out comfortable seven-wicket winners. The Welsh club then, as now, included Swansea City under 23s defender Matthew Blake, who top-scored for his side on the day with 45. 

Meanwhile, Horspath's win on Sunday is featured on the website of competition organisers The Cricketer. The link is: https://www.nationalvillagecup.com/horspath-end-42-year-wait-to-be-crowned-oxfordshire-champions-with-victory-over-aston-rowant/

Posted by: Russ