CRICKET: Robbie rocks for Horspath

They chalked up 257 to win by seven wickets when the sides met in June, and on Saturday surpassed Brickhill’s 272-8 to triumph by the same margin.

Pat Foster picked up a season’s best figures of 6-81 for the hosts, who reached 273-3 with three overs to spare, thanks to Robbie Eason (98), Shahbaz Ali (87no) and Joe Todd (73).

Garth Davson earlier hit a superb 169 – the highest score in the top flight this term – but his efforts were in vain.

Horspath 25pts, Great Brickhill 8 Shipton-under-Wychwood are now the only team with a slim chance of catching Horspath after they continued their recent good run by squeezing past Oxford 2nd.

Sasha Barrass bagged 4-61 and Charlie Brain collected 3-33 as Oxford were bowled out for 216. Jon Barrett (87) and Luke Finch (48) supplied the majority of the runs.

Jason Hunt’s cultured 79 set up the chase, while Simon Hole and Craig Wood both hit 34. But wickets fell to Australian left-armer Adam Price (3-77) and Shipton only just made it to 220-8 with seven balls to spare.

Shipton-under-Wychwood 25, Oxford 2nd 12 Thame Town are up to third – their highest position of the season – and left Banbury 2nd looking over their shoulders at the foot of the table.

Banbury have not won since May 18, but have been riding high on the back of bonus points earned from ten draws.

On Saturday they were restricted to 172-7, of which Andrew Sabin contributed 40. Mike Higgs helped himself to 3-46.

Will Taylor (88no) and Fenil Soni (74no) then took Thame to 173-1 in 34 overs.

Thame Town 25, Banbury 2nd 4 Oxford Downs collected 19 points in their relegation dogfight with Twyford, but remain in danger of the drop.

Wes Bartlett hit an impressive 137 not out as Downs declared two overs early on 249-3, their highest score of the summer.

Amin Rafiq (4-43) and Lester Smart (4-52) looked like bowling their side to victory after the interval, but Rory Lyon hit 47 and the visitors hung on at 207-9.

Oxford Downs 19, Twyford 5 Buckingham Town’s season is imploding in spectacular fashion as they appear to have reacted badly to a recent 30-point deduction.

At the weekend they let Leighton Buzzard Town rack up 264-8 through Graham Carr (85), Dan Scott (52) and Antony Francis (42no).

They then succumbed for 129 against Lee Selfe (4-24) and Jack Kempster (4-28).

Leighton Buzzard T 25, Buckingham Town 4 Cumnor will be promoted from Division 2 if they collect eight points from Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts this week – the last team to deny them victory.

They made it eight straight wins by beating Cropredy, who made 161 before being bowled out. Ed Somerton hit 47 and Joe Fox 39.

Cumnor made light work of the chase, easing to 164-3 in 26.4 overs through Adam Cook (79no) and Matt Lake 35.

Cumnor 25pts, Cropredy 6 Tiddington kept their promotion chances alive by thrashing Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts.

Leo Bethol (46), Zia Hamid (45) and Bilal Ali (32) took Nondies to an apparently respectable 182 all out, in which Phil Pykett picked up 4-55.

But Tiddington made the score look woefully inadequate as Will Cooper (87no) and John Mackie (57) took the visitors to 183-1 in 36 overs.

Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondes 4, Tiddington 25 Charles Smook bagged 5-36 and Paul White 3-25 – which included his 1,000th senior wicket – as Abingdon Vale dismissed Challow & Childrey for only 92.

Pat Bryan (43) scored almost half the home team’s runs.

Dave Dyer then dashed to 76 not out as Vale used only 20.2 overs to reach 95-1.

Challow & Childrey 1, Abingdon V 25 Aston Rowant 2nd were bowled out for 91 in a 121-run defeat at Wolverton Town.

Mohammed Shazad (5-60) and Idrees Butt (3-22) did most of the damage.

Earlier, a good team effort had taken Town to 212 all out, with Aky Hussain (35), Zak Wade (34) and Babar Raja (32) all getting starts. Dominic Whatman took 3-52 and Tim Foster 3-61.

Wolverton Town 25, Aston Rowant 2nd 5 Bletchley Town made it a hat-trick of teams bowled out for less than 100 as they were blown away for only 63 by Bledlow Village.

Matt Bolton (5-6) and Mark King (5-16) took all ten wickets for the cost of 22 runs.

Bledlow then breezed to 64-3 in the tenth over.

Bletchley Town 3, Bledlow Village 25 Oxford Downs 2nd’s promotion hopes suffered a blow at Bledlow Ridge bin Division 3.

Johnny Law took 7-66 for Downs, but Ridge totalled 237 all out.

Geoff Tombs (59), Steve Bird (44), Martin Middleton (39) and Dan Maunder (39) were in the runs.

Nick Rivett’s 33 was the only highlight in Downs’ reply as they fell to 116 all out, Ben Keeping taking 4-51.

Bledlow Ridge 25pts, Oxford Downs 2nd 6 Cublington moved into second spot at the expense of Horspath 2nd after enjoying the better of a draw against their promotion rivals.

The home side’s 249-7 was their highest of 2013 and featured useful knocks from Dan Catt (50no) and Nick Talbot (47). Phil Pykett took 4-48.

Mark Skelton (45) then helped Horspath stave off defeat on 168-7.

Cublington 17, Horspath 2nd 6 Leaders Long Marston extended their lead to 41 points by beating Shipton-under-Wychwood 2nd to leave their opponents in trouble.

Marston declared three overs early on 224-7 after Stephen Moss made 50 and James Cockbain 42.

Les Hole (4-55) was the pick of the visiting attack.

Shipton then became the fifth team to be dismissed for less than 100 by Long Marston this summer, as James Beesley (5-14) and Pete Toovey (4-53) bowled them out for 99.

Long Marston 25, Shipton-under-Wychwood 2nd 3 Bicester & North Oxford defeated Dinton 2nd.

Richard Simpson took 4-35 and Faisal Ali hit 47 in Dinton’s 188 all out. Daniel Murphy (73) and Rob Humphreys (49no) then saw Bicester to 190-4.

Dinton 2nd 7, Bicester & North Oxford 25 Sandford St Martin slumped to 74 all out at Banbury 3rd, as Ollie Murrey (4-27), Saim Hussain (3-7) and Ross Freeman (3-31) ran riot.

The hosts lost only one wicket and used just 12 overs in reaching their target.

Banbury 3rd 25, Sandford St Martin 1 Warren Ainsworth spun his way to a second seven-wicket haul in three matches as Wallingford beat Kingston Bagpuize by five wickets in Division 4.

The Wallingford skipper and off-spinner finished with figures of 7-19 in 18.2 overs just a fortnight after bagging 7-43 against Stokenchurch.

His side gained revenge for the 59-run reverse they suffered when the two sides met back in June.

Kingston never got going this time around, with Arthur Verdin (43) and Dave Pearce (34) supplying more than half the runs in their side’s below par 139 all out.

Mark Carey hit 56 after the break to set up the home side’s victorious reply, which spanned 26.3 overs.

The two sides will lock horns again at this level in 2014 after enduring disappointing seasons. Both have talented individuals capable of producing match-winning performances, but neither has the consistency or depth to challenge for promotion.

Kingston Bagpuize 7pts, Wallingford 25 Didcot need only four points from their last four matches to clinch promotion after beating Chearsley to make it seven wins in seven outings.

Rob Keat collected 4-54 to restrict Chearsley to 175-7, in which Neil Davies top-scored with 41.

Simon Pritchard (58), Connor Morrison (52) and Matt Jones (30no) then delivered Didcot to 179-5.

Didcot 25pts, Chearsley 8 Great & Little Tew 2nd can secure promotion by beating nearest rivals Buckingham Town 2nd on Saturday after matching Didcot’s feat of seven in a row.

Michael Darby (4-23) and Josh Megson (3-21) sent Witney Mills to 78 all out.

Markus Jeacock then hit an unbeaten 50 in Tew’s 79-0.

Great & Little Tew 2nd 25, Witney Mills 0 Horley have eased back up to third after seeing off Stokenchurch in fairly straight-forward fashion.

Dave Eaton took 6-23 and Steve Palmer picked up 3-26 as the hosts crumbled for 116.

Dave Clark then hit 64 before Andrew Stanley (35no) finished the job for the loss of only one wicket.

Stokenchurch 2, Horley 25 East Oxford hung on for a draw against Buckingham Town 2nd.

Dominic Pritchard took 7-76 for Town, but could not see off the visitors. A Patil hit 64 for East Oxford as the tail remained defiant with the score on 207-9.

Town had earlier posted 231-8 thanks to Andy Thatcher’s 113 not out.

Buckingham Town 2nd 19, East Oxford 8 Richard Carr hammered 97 as Thame Town 2nd hit 292-9 declared from 49 overs at Twyford 2nd in Division 5.

Dan Patey (58), James Carr (44) and Sam Alexander (41) were also in the runs. Tom Jackson finished with 7-78.

George Patey picked up 6-63 as Twyford fell to 191 all out, despite Nathan Perna’s 63 and Josh Goff’s 50.

Twyford 2nd 8pts, Thame 2nd 25 George Glew (67), James Lee (34) and Ben Harben (30) took Cumnor 2nd to 211-6 at Tiddington 2nd.

But the hosts replied through Joe Robinson (87), Pete King (39no) and Nathan Brooks (34no) and reached 212-2 in the 43rd over.

Tiddington 2nd 25, Cumnor 2nd 6 Challow & Childrey 2nd crawled to 116-5 from 53 overs at Abingdon Vale 2nd. James Smith made 69 while Luke Mitchell took 3-25. Sam Chilvers (50) shone as Vale eased to 117-2.

Abingdon Vale 2nd 25, Challow & Childrey 2nd 3 Kimble completed the double over Oxford 3rd and jumped into third.

Julian Lawton-Smith (40), Ed Hands (38) and Miles Picknett (34) helped Oxford to 170-8. Sam Agace took 4-73.

Jon Stackhouse (63no) and Bradley Rose (40no) saw the visitors to 174-3.

Oxford 3rd 6, Kimble 25 Leighton Buzzard Town 2nd’s first loss saw them move off the top for the first time since May.

Anton de Beer (3-31), Glenn Burrows (3-37) and Adam Boad (3-42) starred as new leaders Great Brickhill 2nd ousted Town for 130. The hosts made131-1.

Great Brickhill 2nd 25, Leighton Buzzard Town 2nd 3 Didcot 3rd kept up the heat on Horley 2nd at the top of Division 8 with a one wicket win over Cumnor 3rd.

Cumnor batted first, declaring at 237-4 after 43 overs.

But Didcot chased it down with 13 balls to spare, thanks to 61 from both Jonny Meardon and the unbeaten Jim Head.

David Beck helped leaders Horley 2nd to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Wallingford 2nd, taking 5-32 as the hosts were all out for 164.

In Division 6, Didcot 2nd were restricted to 144, courtesy of some excellent work from Aston Rowant 3rd duo Jon Coles and Sam Shepherd, who took all ten wickets between them.

Shepherd finished with 4-57 while Coles took 6-38 as Aston Rowant coasted home.

Cropredy 2nd leapfrogged Cublington 2nd into fourth in Division 7 in a match the visitors won by two wickets.

Gordon Stuart hit 70 for Cublington, but it was in vain as Pat Somerton took 6-49 to dismiss the hosts for 203.

Cropredy passed Cublington’s total in 43 overs.

Great & Little Tew defeated Oxford Downs by ten wickets as Sam Barnes and Tom White put on an unbeaten 60 and 58, to meet Oxford’s target of 125.

Horspath 4th were knocked off top spot in Division 9 after a defeat to Bledlow Village 3rd by 110 runs.

Billy Wagerfield took 5-27 to bowl out the morning leaders for 109 as they chased 219-8.

Shipton-under-Wychwood 4th’s top-of-the-table clash with Long Marston 3rd ended in stalemate.