HORSPATH'S survival hopes in Home Counties Premier League Division 1 suffered a massive blow with a 44-run defeat in a high-scoring encounter at home to relegation rivals Slough. Will Eason's side remain five points from safety behind Tring Park, but face an uphill battle now to beat the drop with a home game next Saturday against newly-crowned champions Henley and a trip to Great & Little Tew to come. Having put Slough in to bat, Eason made the breakthrough by trapping Fahim Qureshi lbw with the score on 11. And the Horspath skipper struck again to make it 31-2 when Daniyal Akhtar chipped a delivery to Lloyd Belcher at mid-on. But then Lloyd Paternott joined Nabil Shah to put on 85 for the third wicket, before the Slough opener was caught at deep mid-wicket by Ian Slatcher in Tom Cosford's second over for a run-a-ball 66, which contained two sixes and seven fours. Shaan Khan carried on where Shah left off, though, by sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 112 with Paternott, before the latter was bowled by Cosford for 82 from 100 deliveries with four sixes and six fours. A similar dismissal by the Horspath off-spinner then accounted for Khan, who had hit a six and eight fours in his 59 from 71 balls as Slough reached 237-5. It looked like Slough may surpass the 300-mark at one stage, but Slatcher's return to the attack pegged the visitors back in the final overs. He had Slough skipper Bobby Sher caught behind by Robbie Eason to make it 252-6, and five runs later Tom Coleman accepted a chance from Feroz Baig off the Horspath paceman. Slatcher then bowled Steven Green to complete the innings with a wicket maiden and finish with 3-43 as Slough closed on 279-8. Cosford returned figures of 3-77, while Will Eason picked up 2-53, and Belcher, although wicketless, bowled well, conceding 40 from his ten overs. It was a formidable target, and Horspath's hopes of challenging it were soon in disarray as they slumped to 30-3, with the impressive Ikhlaq Nawaz doing the damage. In-form opener Robbie Eason was first to go, caught at mid-wicket by Green with 16 on the board, and one run later, Coleman edged behind to Shazad Rana, before James Fitzjohn was bowled. Mark Jefferson and Cosford took the score to 70, before the former was bowled by one that kept low to become Nawaz's fourth victim. Two runs later, Cosford, who had moved nicely on to 25, fell to a low catch by Shah at extra cover off Khan. It left Horspath with a mountain to climb, but although the odds were heavily stacked against them the remainder of the order showed plenty of fighting spirit. Stephen Green joined Will Eason to put on 60 for the sixth wicket, before being bowled by Sher for 22. Mark Skelton fell to a catch at deep square leg by Zohaib Ahmed off Slough's Steven Green after making a breezy 25 to leave Horspath 167-7. Eason had looked untroubled throughout, and he went to his first half-century of the season with a single to long-on in the 45th over after Green misfielded off his own bowling. Slatcher produced some clean hitting with three sixes in his 25 until he was caught by Sher off Ahmed, making it 197-8. Jamil Faruq adopted a similar approach, cracking 16 off six balls before being bowled by Sher with the score on 221. Eason finished with a defiant unbeaten 59 - his highest Home Counties score - from 83 balls, with some superb off drives among his nine boundaries as Horspath closed on 235-9.
Posted by: Russ
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