TOM Coleman and Tom Cosford hit maiden league centuries as third-placed Horspath took the lion’s share of the points away to Home Counties Premier League Division 1 leaders Henley in a high-scoring draw.
Horspath were in trouble at 35-3.
But then Coleman (117no) and Cosford (109) shared a club league record stand of 186 for the fourth wicket to take the visitors to 268-4 from their 64 overs.
Coleman hit 16 fours in his 164-ball innings, while Cosford destroyed Henley’s spinners with some powerful straight hitting in posting four sixes and 13 fours off 138 deliveries.
Henley’s reply had reached 142-1 in the 31st over when Matt Rowe retired hurt with a suffered a broken right hand after he was struck by a delivery from Ajmal Shahzad.
Six runs later, Waqas Hussain was out for 85 off 86 balls, with two sixes and 14 fours.
A series of brilliant catches - most notably Mark Jefferson’s stunning one-handed dive at extra cover to dismiss Euan Brock and Mohammed’s superb effort to run in 30 yards from the mid-wicket boundary to claim a skier from Ziahat Ashraf - suddenly had Horspath sensing victory.
But Henley’s ninth-wicket pair of Euan Woods (38no) and Nugent – effectively their last two batsmen with Rowe not expected to return to the crease – survived the final three overs as the hosts closed on 243-8.
HORSPATH
J Mohammad c Barnes b Nugent 7
T Coleman not out 117
J Fitzjohn c Davison b Nugent 1
M Jefferson c Davison b Nugent 7
T Cosford c Hussain b Afridi 109
A Shahzad not out 18
Extras 9
Total (4 wkts, 64 ovs) 268
Fall: 1-19, 2-25, 3-35, 4-221.
Bowling: Nugent 19-2-72-3, Afridi 20-3-53-1, Hussain 4-0-20-0, Brock 6-0-36-0, Ashraf 6-1-25-0, Woods 6-0-30-0, Rowe 3-0-26-0.
HENLEY
M Roberts c Fitzjohn b Shahzad 7
M Rowe ret hurt 48
W Hussain c Coleman b Shahzad 85
R Morris c Cosford b Faruk 6
E Woods not out 38
D Barnes c Eason b Cosford 19
S Davison c Fitzjohn b Belcher 4
Z Ashraf c Mohammad b Cosford 8
E Brock c Jefferson b Belcher 5
T Afridi run out 10
T Nugent not out 0
Extras 13
Total (8 wkts, 56 ovs) 243
Fall: 1-23, 2-148, 3-158, 4-202, 5-207, 6-221, 7-228, 8-242.
Bowling: Eason 9-3-21-0, Shahzad 15-1-79-2, Cosford 13-3-45-2, Belcher 11-0-46-2, Faruk 8-0-41-1.
Horspath 15pts, Henley 7
Oxford earned a three-wicket victory in a fluctuating match at Burnham.
Samad Fallah claimed 5-80 as the hosts recovered from 87-7 to reach 210 after being put in to bat.
The visitors then slipped to 27-4 before half-centuries from skipper John Barrett (69) and Shami Mendis (54) turned it around and secured their win with 3.2 overs to spare.
BURNHAM
G Basran b Fallah 0
F Raja lbw Musk 12
H Gandam c Perkin b Fallah 0
K Kumar c&b Eltham 10
A Khan c Perkin b Fallah 25
S Alam lbw Mendis 17
S Ali c Musk b Eltham 21
A Malik not out 51
S Javed c Barrett b Eltham 39
M Haroon c Perkin b Fallah 26
M Khalid lbw Fallah 2
Extras 7
Total (all out, 56 ovs) 210
Fall: 1-0, 2-0, 3-14, 4-48, 5-48, 6-87, 7-87, 8-159, 9-206.
Bowling: Fallah 21-3-80-5, Musk 4-2-16-1, Humphreys 0.3-0-0-0, Eltham 18.3-5-56-3, Mendis 5-0-22-1, Clough 7-1-30-0.
OXFORD
O Tong-Jones c Ali b Khan 11
H Eltham c Kumar b Haroon 16
A Clough c Malik b Khan 0
M Ayub c Khan b Faisal 33
J Perkin b Haroon 0
J Barrett c Javed b Khan 69
S Mendis lbw Haroon 54
M Beer not out 16
R Musk not out 5
Extras 10
Total (7 wkts, 50.4 ovs) 214
Fall: 1-19, 2-27, 3-27, 4-27, 5-84, 6-177, 7-201.
Bowling: Haroon 14-2-55-3, Khan 24.4-4-98-3, Khalid 7-0-24-1, Javed 3-0-17-0, Gandam 2-0-10-0.
Burnham 10pts, Oxford 25
Charlie Hill took five wickets to lead Banbury to a
three-wicket success at home to High Wycombe.
The spinner captured 5-20 in 12.4 overs as the home side were dismissed for 156 in their final over.
Earlier Ajaz Chema, Brad Taylor and Ollie Wright had tied down the Wycombe top-order.
From 116-3, Banbury faltered in sight of victory but an unbeaten 76 from skipper Lloyd Sabin, who hit nine fours, saw them home in the 50th over.
Great & Little Tew’s poor run continued with an eight-wicket defeat away to basement club Tring Park.
Choosing to bat first, Tew were bowled out for 128 in 47.2 overs, spinner Michael Payne taking 4-25.
After top-scorer Jancan Adams then claimed an early wicket for Tew, Tring were sped to victory in the 30th overs, by Charlie Macdonell’s sparkling 83 from 75 balls.
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