Elliot Ruff cracks a cover drive during his brilliant knock of 58. Pictures: Rob Judges |
Ruff wasted no time in getting the Recreation Ground rocking after Horspath elected to bat, with three fours in the second over, before he repeated the feat with three consecutive boundaries in the next.
He kept up the sublime strokeplay with two more fours in the fifth over, before a sweetly-struck straight six by the scout hut saw Horspath race past 50.
Ruff brought up his own half-century with a four over extra cover in the next over, before his brilliant knock came to an end when he was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by the hedge off Gus Watts for 58 to make it 70-1. His runs came off just 31 balls and included 12 fours and one maximum.
Jimmy Phillips hits out on the way to making 42 |
Phillips hit a straight six over long on by the cycle speedway track before being caught off Welch's next ball at mid-on as he attempted to repeat the shot for 42 from 38 deliveries.#
Welch was enjoying success with his leg spin and claimed two more wickets to finish with 4-33 as Horspath closed on 168-6.
Bowling with good pace, Charlie Turner (2-16) then struck two early blows in Downs' reply with Alex Ling flicking a delivery off his legs into Phillips's hands on the deep square leg boundary by the hedge, before Luke Maslen was trapped lbw to leave the visitors 30-2.
Spinners Imraan Manack (2-23) and Josh Richardson (1-19) tightened Horspath's hold with a wicket apiece to make it 60-4 as opener Matthew Young (24) and Frankie Crouch fell with Subhan Javaid and Tyrone Eyles taking good catches in the deep.
Downs were never in the hunt from that point and left-arm spinner Lloyd Belcher ripped through the lower order with 4-7 as they closed on 103-9, despite a hard-hit 22 from Watts.
Posted by: Russ