CHERWELL LEAGUE

Division 1

HORSPATH enjoyed a successful return to the Cherwell League when they saw off Great & Little Tew by five wickets.

Champions in 2010, Horspath won only once last season on their way to finishing bottom of Home Counties Premier League Division 2 West.

But they showed enough on Saturday to suggest they will be in title contention this term as they dismissed Tew for only 140.

Adam Krol (3-28) and Patrick Foster (3-41), who bowled 25 overs between them, did most of the damage.

Matt Taylor then took 4-25 from 12 overs for Tew, but Jimmy Phillips hit 71 and Shahbaz Ali 35 as Horspath eased to 141-5 in 43.3 overs.

Great & Little Tew 7pts, Horspath 25

Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts restricted Leighton Buzzard Town to 158-8, but then undid their good work by slumping to 120 all out.

Mark Strong took 4-49 and Ross Brown 3-26 for Nondies, while burly all-rounder Dan Scott struck 59 invaluable runs for the home side.

Strong (31) then top-scored for the visitors, but Leighton's long-serving left-arm spinner Lee Selfe bagged 4-29 and Alan Priestley 3-28 to claim help Town claim maximum points.

Leighton Buzzard Town 25, Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts 4

Great Brickhill pipped Banbury 2nd to the second division title last summer but were outclassed when the two sides met on Saturday.

Banbury’s 199-9 was built around Anish Desai’s 64 and Ed Phillips’s 43.

Garth Davson (4-41) and Doug Aris (3-55) both enjoyed success with the ball for the visitors, who then crawled to 98-8 from 47 overs in reply.

Jacques Prinsloo finished with the remarkable figures of 3-18 from 13 overs – seven of them maidens – but was unable to prise out the Brickhill tail.

Banbury 2nd 18, Great Brickhill 4

The match between Buckingham Town and Bletchley Town followed a similar pattern, with the home side dominating but unable to force a win.

Buckingham declared more than three overs early on 242-8 after Jack Parish had been out one run short of his century and Rob Lightfoot had made an impressive 80.

As ever, Graham Simpson (3-28) was the pick of the Bletchley attack.

Paul Strong hit 44 and James Gear took 3-52 after tea, but the match petered out into a draw with the visitors on 164-7 from 50 overs.

Buckingham Town 18, Bletchley Town 6