A BRILLIANT spell by young seamer Ashley Blanchard appeared to have set up a straightforward victory for Banbury away to Division 1 strugglers Falkland.

But having bowled out the hosts for 192, Banbury suffered a disastrous collapse and ended up losing by 47 runs.

Falkland, who won the toss, were given a flying start, thanks to Hamza Riazuddin, whose 74 came off only 84 balls.

After he was out, Blanchard, the fourth bowler used, ripped through the middle order, taking 6-35 off 14 overs.

With plenty of overs in which to get the runs, Banbury slumped disastrously to 76-8 against the bowling of Riazuddin and Neil Gunter, who finished with five wickets.

New Zealander Lance Shaw, offered resistance with an unbeaten 44 off 65 balls, but Banbury were still all out for 145 in the 43rd over.

FALKLAND B Martin c Haupt b Blanchard 38 J Ettridge c Hawtin b Shaw 9 H Riazuddin c Phillips b Phillips 74 S Pope c Hawtin b Blanchard 0 T Cooke b Blanchard 0 K Malik b Blanchard 1 M Foster not out 45 S Piper b Blanchard 0 N Gunter b Blanchard 4 G Trewby c Shaw b Phillips 3 M Khan run out 0 Extras 18 Total (all out, 47 ovs) 192 Fall: 1-26, 2-86, 3-102, 4-102, 5-110, 6-152, 7-153, 8-177, 9-188.

Bowling: Shaw 11-1-60-1, Smith 6-0-31-0, Phillips 13-1-44-2, Blanchard 14-2-35-6, West 3-0-5-0.

BANBURY L Sabin b Khan 5 S Cheshire b Riazuddin 2 C Haupt b Riazuddin 9 S Ali c Ettridge b Gunter 7 I Tew c Piper b Gunter 22 J West c Martin b Gunter 2 L Shaw not out 44 A Blanchard c Foster b Trewby 5 I Hawtin c Piper b Malik 1 E Smith b Gunter 23 J Phillips b Gunter 11 Extras 14 Total (all out, 43.2 ovs) 145 Fall: 1-11, 2-13, 3-30, 4-53, 5-59, 6-60, 7-73, 8-76, 9-117.

Bowling: Khan 9-3-17-1, Riazuddin 9-0-41-2, Gunter 9.2-0-28-5, Trewby 9-2-23-1, Malik 7-0-29-1.

l Falkland 25pts, Banbury 6