HORSPATH have been rocked with the news that overseas star Darryl Brown could be sidelined for the rest of the season.

The South African damaged a knee in last week’s draw against Tring Park in Division 1 of the Home Counties Premier League.

Brown, who is now on crutches, went to hospital where scans revealed medial ligament damage.

He is joined on the sidelines by Luke Heritage, who went with Brown to the John Radcliffe after also hurting a knee.

He is also sidelined with ligament damage, but is expected to only be out for a few weeks.

The news on Brown, however, is a huge blow to Horspath’s battle to avoid relegation.

“He is crucial to us,” admitted captain Will Eason.

“The loss of any overseas player is going to impact a team, but he is such a key man for us – it will be a really, really big loss.

“But we need to cope without him and pick up some wins.”

Mark Skelton drops to the 2nd XI, with Tom Coleman, Liam Manley and Will Robertson called up.

Horspath travel to Banbury tomorrow, with the hosts hoping to maintain a fine run over their Oxfordshire rivals.

The north Oxfordshire side have got the better of their rivals over their last few years, but skipper Lloyd Sabin says that counts for nothing tomorrow.

They come into the game on the back of a convincing win over High Wycombe, with their captain hoping for more of the same.

“We know most of their team and have managed to beat them the majority of the time over the past two or three years,” he said.

“But we cannot be complacent about anything and know we need to carry on our good form from last week.

“Regardless of where Horspath are in the table, they always scrap so we know what to expect.”

He added: “Over the last two or three years we have maybe had one or two people carrying us a little bit at times.

“But now I feel we have a number of people who can win a match for us.”

Richard West and Charlie Hill are unavailable with Ed Phillips filling one of those places, with the other replacement yet to be decided.

Aston Rowant captain Josh Smith is calling on his side to produce a complete performance to pull themselves away from the foot of the table.

Defeat at Henley last week leaves them just nine points above the relegation zone, and they face another tough task tomorrow when they host second-placed Datchet.

“We have batted well at times and bowled well at others, but have not really produced a full performance,” Smith said.

“There are eight games to go and our aim must be to put ourselves in a position in each of those to have a chance of winning them.

Adam Muttitt replaces Leo Bethell in their sole change.

TOMORROW’S TEAMS

Aston Rowant (v Datchet, home): Reid, Coles, Condon, Smith, Fitzjohn, Watling, Muttitt, Harris, Morrick, Mathews, Rossouw.

Banbury (v Horspath, home): Sabin, White, Yousaf, Clarke, Tait, Rana, Whiteley, Wright, Thomas, Phillips, TBC.

Horspath (v Banbury, away): R Eason, Hopper, Green, W Eason, Faruk, Belcher, Cosford, O’Connor, Coleman, Manley, Robertson.

Division 2

JAMIE Perkin has urged his Oxford side to brush off last weekend’s heavy defeat and get back on track at home to Amersham tomorrow.

The leaders were on the end of an eight-wicket loss against Harefield, which saw their advantage at the top cut to just 11 points.

Although Perkin was not involved in the reverse, he knows a big improvement is required if they are to retain their place at the head of affairs.

“It was very disappointing indeed,” he said.

“We haven’t been playing well of late and need to get that out of our system.

“Hopefully the manner of the defeat can be a kick up the backside.”

He added: “I can’t be too critical because we are into the second half of the season and we are top of the league.

“That means our fate is still very much in our own hands, but we will have to play some much better cricket if we are to stay there.

“A lot of people owe us a big performance.”

Perkin comes back into an Oxford side that also sees Calvin Dickinson return and Ollie Price back after being given the green light to play by Gloucestershire.

Chris Humphreys and Balaji Ramalingam drop out, with the 12-man squad being reduced closer to the match.

Oxford Downs will be looking for a change in fortunes when they travel to Wokingham.

Despite batting well against bottom side Dinton last week, they were unable to bowl out their visitors, who avoided defeat for the first time this season.

Skipper George Sandbach feels he could have made the wrong call after winning the toss.

“In hindsight, we probably should have bowled first,” he said.

“We have got plenty of dot ball bowlers, but not so many

wicket-takers.

“We scored the runs, so maybe we would have been better chasing.”

Downs make three changes with Wasim Mehmood and Amin Rafiq promoted from the 2nd XI and Lawrence Brock back from injury.

They replace Curtly Slatter, Prav Chahal and Luke Maslen.

Thame Town will look to keep the pressure on the leading teams when they host Cookham Dean.

TOMORROW’S TEAMS

Oxford (v Amersham, home): from Perkin, Eltham, Nutt, Ayub, Simon, Tong-Jones, Mendis, Fallah, Keat, Craze, Dickinson, Price.

Oxford Downs (v Wokingham, away): C Sandbach, Smith, Watts, G Sandbach, Ellwood, Costley, Sillars, Crouch, Mehmood, Rafiq, Brock.