The semi-final pitted the Horspath youngsters against Oxford Downs. Batting first, Horspath chalked up 130 for 7 from their twenty, with both Chris Batten and Adam Hamid retiring on 25* and adding much needed stability to the innings after the fall of early wickets.
Tight bowling in the second innings meant that Downs could only manage 72 for 6 in response; the younger contingent of Horspath particularly impressive. Christoper Hoffen bagged two wickets and Euan Barrett and Joe Hickey also chipped in with a wicket apiece. Joe took one very solid catch and Chris Batten took two spectacular efforts; the first a diving catch at short cover. The whole team was sharp in the field, looked really hungry and played as a cohesive team.
The final saw Horspath come up against Abingdon who had seen off Hook Norton (previously unbeaten this season) in their semi-final. Abingdon won the toss and chose to bat. It was to prove a costly decision. The Abingdon batsmen were in for a bit of a surprise and could not live with the pace attack of Charlie Turner and Owen Dore.
Consistently quick and accurate bowling gave the Abingdon side no breathing space at all and pretty soon the wickets were tumbling. The excellent fielding was again in evidence with run outs from Lukas Yendole and Adam Hamid. Charlie Turner was on fire and managed to capture figures of 7 wickets for 6 runs in his 4 overs, including the rare feat of 4 in 4!
The keeper, George Crawford, took some sharp catches behind the stumps as Abingdon wickets fell thick and fast. All ten batsmen were back in the hut by the beginning of the 8th over as Abingdon crumbled to 19 all out.
Josh Richardson and Joe Hickey looked in fine form with the bat as they strolled to the required total by the end of the third over. The contest was very one sided and it is hard to imagine many sides living with a team playing that well, every kid,' to a man', playing out of their skins and doing the horse on the badge proud.
Posted by: Neillsen
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