Skipper Darren Cassidy has lost his place in the Oxfordshire side for their Tetley's Bitter County Championship quarter-final against Cornwall at Redruth this Saturday.

Cassidy, who led the side to the top of South Pool 2 with victories over Kent, Dorset & Wilts and Sussex, loses out because most of Henley's successful Allied Dunbar Premiership 2 side are now available to play for the county.

With the talented Steve Barnes coming into the back row, Willie Phillips switches to hooker, thus reducing Cassidy to a role on the bench. Speaking after Saturday's 19-8 win over Sussex, Oxon coach Jim McKay said: "All along I've said that we'll pick the best team available for each match. I anticipated that we need 35-40 players to have a successful run, and that's how it's working out," said McKay, who added that Henley's commitment to the county's cause is total.

Indeed 14 of the starting line-up for the county's biggest game in 34 years, are from Henley. The only exception is Chinnor prop Simon Matthews.

The new captain will be announced after training tomorrow night.

On paper, Oxfordshire should have an excellent chance of beating Cornwall to reach the County Championship semi-finals for the first time since 1966, when they lost 8-0 to Middlesex. But holders Cornwall will be no pushovers at Redruth's notorious 'Hellfire Corner' in front of 5,000 fanatical supporters, who will be urging their team to return to the scene of their Twickenham triumph last year.