Adam Krol finally broke Horspath’s barren run of winning the toss and inserted Farnham Royal in Saturdays Home Counties match but the home side were still unable to force a win.
Unlike previous weekends the weather was fine and the conditions were perfect for batting and certainly held no fears for Dan Simpson, who in a magnificent display of attacking batting achieved the rare distinction of scoring a century before lunch. Horspath achieved better fortune at the other end, when again Mark Skelton achieved the breakthrough by having Warren Miller caught by Mohson at mid off and then trapping the dangerous Duncan Bradshaw for nine.
Finally Simpson fell as he played on to Jehan Mohammed with the score at 201. There were useful contributions from Javed Khan (29) and skipper Olly Clayson (28) as Farnham looked to be on the way to a mammoth total.
However, to their credit Horspath fought back with Krol taking 4–41 and Paul Jeacock 2-46 prompting a collapse that saw Farnham subside from 263–4 to 273 all out.
Horspath’s reply got off to a flier as Robbie Eason and Jimmy Phillips put on 67 for the first wicket before Jimmy fell for a sparkling 42. Adam Krol quickly became the second wicket to fall as the wily Javed Khan began to work his way through the Horspath batting order assisted by some fine catching and an excellent display of wicket keeping by Miller.
Robbie Eason fell for 35 and whilst there were useful contributions from Andy Wynd (27) and Will Eason (31) nobody could play the major innings required. Mark Skelton and Paul Jeacock hung on for five overs to gain the points for a draw as Khan finished with the outstanding figures of 7–74 in 27 overs.
