MP Sports Cherwell League - Graham Scott's Match Of The Day

Horspath climbed to the top of Division 1 for the first time this season on Saturday, and few would bet against them being in the same position after the final round of matches on September 4.

But they made a meal of overcoming winless Oxford Downs, despite bowling out their visitors for only 122.

In a thrilling finish Horspath scrambled the winning runs through their last pair.

Downs, who are rebuilding under new skipper Darryl Woods, had batted well in all five of their matches before the weekend and would have to post a challenging target on what is normally a fast-scoring ground.

However, they were bundled out in 48.3 overs by Horspath’s mercurial paceman Mohson Rana, who took 4-29, and medium pace swing bowler Will Eason (3-23).

After the interval Horspath also found run-scoring difficult, limping along at barely three runs an over while losing wickets to Downs’ seamer Calum Taylor (5-50), whose productive spell was ended prematurely by injury.

But they just had enough to get over the winning line in the 40th over.