Victory eluded Horspath as they slipped to a four wicket defeat against Dinton in their Home Counties away match on Saturday.
It was no surprise that they again failed to win the toss and were asked to bat first in bowler friendly conditions. Despite losing Joey Todd early on, Robbie Eason and Jimmy Phillips batted sensibly to take Horspath up to 82 before Eason became the first of Shakil Ahmed’s five victims just before lunch for 38.
After the break Matt O’Connor joined Phillips in a productive stand, before unfortunately running out the latter for a fine 55. O'Connor followed not long after, again by Ahmed for 32, which saw the Horspath innings falter. With nobody able to get on top of Ahmed the innings ended on 192-8, about 30 runs light of an imposing score.
Dinton’s openers made an unhurried start before a smart bit of work by Moshon Rana ran out Dinton skipper Mike Sutcliffe for 32. Adam Krol followed that up by bowling Rob King. Things got even better for Horspath when 17-year-old Jack Biggs struck with the important wickets of the South African Gareth Sharpe for two and then Lee Marland caught by Andy Wynd for a duck, in a very impressive burst.
Unfortunately Pervez Aziz survived a sharp chance before he set about restoring Dinton’s fortunes with a fine 69 no. Wickets fell at the other end to Krol and Mark Skelton before Aziz, in partnership with Ahmed, saw Dinton home with two overs to spare.
