PATRICK Foster and Will Eason stole the show as Horspath made it back-to-back wins in Home Counties Premier League Division 2 with an emphatic 164-run victory at home to bottom club Burnham.
Foster hammered an unbeaten 91 off 58 balls to take Horspath to 273-6, before Eason returned league-best figures of 5-34 from 10 overs to send Burnham crashing to 109 all out. The win moves Horspath up to fifth place.
 |
| Will Eason starred with 5-34 |
Jimmy Phillips and Pete Ades got the hosts off to an ideal start with an opening stand of 87, before the latter was bowled by Farhaan Khan.
It sparked a mini-collapse with four wickets going down for 31 runs, including Phillips, who had put together a well-made 50 from 81 balls with sevens fours when he became Khan's third victim with Rahim Akhtar taking the catch.
That left Horspath 118-4, but then Foster and Tyrone Eyles got the home side back on track with some exciting strokeplay. They had added 69 for the fifth wicket when Eyles was trapped lbw by Sulaiman Javed for 44 from 56 deliveries, which included five fours and a six.
Foster has taken his batting to another level since rejoining the club this season, and he increased the tempo in a thrilling unbroken stand of 81 with Will Hawtin (14no) for the seventh wicket.
Dominating the strike, Foster reached his half-century off 43 balls, before plundering another 41 runs from just 15 deliveries as he rattled the score along in spectacular style with his innings featuring ten fours and four sixes.
It took Horspath to a formidable total, with Khan (3-35) the pick of the Burnham attack, while Muddassar Nawaz returned figures of 2-42.
Eason then took centre stage with the ball, making the breakthrough in his first over by having Syed Yousuf Tameem caught behind by Will Hawtin with just seven on the board. The Horspath seamer struck again four balls later, trapping Fahad Raja lbw without addition to the score.
Anupam Sanklecha responded to his opening partner's double strike by claiming a brace of victims of his own with Akhtar and Rizwan Nadeem both edging into Hawtin's gloves to make it 23-4.
Eason kept up the pressure and opener Sulaiman Javed was next to go for 24 with Sulaiman Hussain accepting the catch, and he tightened Horspath's grip when Khan fell to a smart stumping by Hawtin to leave Burnham 49-6.
Foster came into the attack and bowled Hamza Afzaal, before Eason completed his five-wicket haul when Nehman Nadeem fell lbw to leave the visitors 54-8.
Horspath's charge was held up by tailenders Mirza Nasir Baig and Nawaz, who added 55 for the ninth wicket before Jehan Mohammed polished off the visitors with the first two balls of his third over to finish with 2-1. He dismissed Baig lbw for 22, before bowling Muhammad Haroon with Nawaz left unbeaten on 24.
Eason's five-wicket haul beat his previous league-best of 5-40 at home to Banbury in 2015 - which was kick-started with the wicket of current Australia captain Tim Paine.
Sanklecha finished with 2-31, taking his tally for the season to 35, which sees him now head the division's leading wicket-takers by two from Amersham skipper Sam Helm.
Posted by: Russ