Comeback kid Craig Haupt hit a sparkling century at Banbury yesterday to steer Oxfordshire into the second round of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.

The big left-hander had not played a competitive match for the county this season because of availability problems.

Craig Haupt puts down a chance from Creed

And he showed what they had been missing by stroking a classy unbeaten 126 as the home side beat a Nottinghamshire Board XI by five wickets.

Set 249 in their allotted 50 overs, Oxfordshire reached their target with two-and-a-half overs to spare.

The victory sets up a second round tie away to Shropshire on Thursday, September 13. The winners of that game will host a first-class county in the third round next summer.

Haupt's classy innings won him the man-of-the-match award and a cheque for £300.

However, the South African-born star's knock was not all plain sailing.

Haupt appeared to be dropped by the wicket-keeper during a torrid first over which also saw opening partner Stewart Laudat caught at third man on the boundary for a golden duck.

And he was also put down twice off huge skiers - once on 79 and again on 91.

On top of that, the Banbury man was involved in the run-outs of Adam Cook and Ian Evans, the latter making a fine and crucial 18.

But as all high quality players do, Haupt put these incidents behind him and went on to win the game for Oxfordshire.

Earlier, stand-in skipper Keith Arnold would have been delighted to see the visitors restricted to 87-2 at halfway after he had won the toss and asked them to bat.

That they managed to post such a challenging score was down to a third-wicket stand of 132 between Chris Tolley and Murray Creed.

NOTTS BOARD XI

J Hindson c Hawtin b Shahbaz Ali:15

B Patel b Arnold:6

C Tolley b Arnold:78

M Creed b Cook:77

J Hart c Shahbaz Ali b Laudat:10

T Savill not out:35

R Pilgrim not out:6

Extras:21

Total (5 wkts, 50 ovs):248

Fall: 1-13, 2-50, 3-182, 4-192, 5-208.

Bowling: Laudat 10-1-33-1, Arnold 10-0-46-2, Shahbaz Ali 5-0-33-1, Savin 10-1-37-0, Jeacock 6-0-29-0, Cook 6-0-39-1, Haupt 3-0-23-0.

OXFORDSHIRE

C Haupt not out:126

S Laudat c Savill b Hodgkinson:0

Shahbaz Ali c Hindson b Hodgkinson:7

C Knightley lbw Hart:28

A Cook run out:2

I Evans run out:18

G Savin not out:31

Extras:37

Total (5 wkts, 47.3 ovs):249

Fall: 1-1, 2-26, 3-100, 4-115, 5-171.

Bowling: Hodgkinson 8-1-46-2, Savill 8.3-0-45-0, Tolley 8-2-31-0, Foottit 3-0-18-0, Hart 7-0-42-1, Creed 5-0-32-0, Patel 8-1-38-0.