Hofen hammers superb maiden Cherwell ton for Horspath 3rd

CHRISTOPHER Hofen hit a brilliant maiden Cherwell League century as Horspath 3rd secured a resounding 205-run victory at home to bottom club Long Marston 2nd in Cherwell League Division 4A. 

Christopher Hofen after making 103

The 15-year-old opener made a sparkling 103 to set Horspath on the way to a massive 280-3 after they elected to bat in a match reduced to 29 over-a-side due to rain. 

Hofen's terrific 92-ball knock included 15 fours and was the highest individual score of the weekend in the league. He shared an impressive first-wicket stand with Dan Todd, who hammered 78 from 57 deliveries with 13 fours.

Hofen's terrific innings finally came to an end when he was stumped by Simon Robinson off Simon McLeman, but Tejas Anand (33no) and Ryan Hicks (25) kept the runs flowing to take Horspath to their final total - which was also the highest team score of the weekend. 

The target proved well out of reach for Long Marston, who closed on 75-7 with Hayden Moon (3-23), Jason Cardy (2-16), Hicks (1-10) and Saif Dogar (1-16) picking up the wickets as Robinson top-scored with 26. 

Horspath 2nd were shot out for 68 as they crashed to a seven-wicket defeat at home to second-placed Aston Rowant 2nd in a rain-affected Division 2 encounter. 

Having chosen to bat, the hosts were reduced to 36-4 before a lengthy interruption due to rain. When play finally resumed, things didn't get any better for Horspath as Anton Eisner (4-12) and Will Dobson (4-15) worked their way through the rest of the order. 

Asad Rafiq removed both openers in Rowant's reply, but Will Hammersley blasted 35 off 15 balls before falling to Andy Cummings - and even a break for lightning couldn't save Horspath as the visitors secured victory at 69-3 off 11 overs and top spot. 

Horspath 4th fell to an eight-wicket defeat on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method at promotion rivals East Oxford 2nd in Division 6B.

Going into the game, Horspath in third spot were 20 points ahead of their opponents with three teams going up to Tier 5. 

But East Oxford's comprehensive victory sees them leapfrog Horspath and they now have a three-point cushion with two games remaining. 

Put in to bat, Horspath slumped to 106 all out with only Arsalan Khattak (31) showing any resistance as Amugham Shahid (6-5) did the damage. 

With East Oxford's target reduced due to rain, the home side clinched a DLS victory at 85-2 off 9.5 overs with Mubasher Hassan smashing an unbeaten 59.

Posted by: Russ