Oxford produced a terrific fightback to lift the Hartwell Senior Cup and be crowned Oxfordshire T20 champions for the first time in 11 years with a 30-run win over local rivals Horspath in a low-scoring encounter at Wormsley.
With the game reduced to 15 overs-a-side following torrential rain shortly before the scheduled start, Oxford were restricted to 85-6 after choosing to bat in the showpiece decider on Oxon T20 Finals Day. But then they produced an excellent display with the ball to send Horspath crashing to 55 all out and end a wait stretching back to 2012 since their last triumph in the competition formerly known as the Bernard Tollett Oxfordshire Cup.
It was only fantastic work by the ground staff which enabled the game to take place following a 90-minute delay with the super sopper the star of the day as it removed 5000 litres of water from the flat sheet covers on the square.
Manan Parmar and skipper George Tait put on 27 off five overs for Oxford’s first wicket in front of a crowd of around 100 before Jehan Mohammed (2-12) came into the attack and trapped the captain lbw for 12. With boundaries and wickets in the picturesque setting somewhat incongruously greeted by music and pyrotechnics, leg-spinner Josh Richardson (2-11) then struck with his first delivery when Justin Clarke ran in from long off to take a good catch above his head to dismiss Dominic Whinfrey and make it 28-2.
As mist lifted from the trees on the surrounding Chiltern hills under grey skies, conditions were favourable for seam bowling while the pitch was also amenable to spin, and Richardson knocked Jack Wilkins’s middle stump out of the ground, before Mohammed removed Harvey Jupp’s leg stump to make it 44-4 in the 10th over.
Parmar, though, continued to accumulate the runs while surviving a chance to mid-wicket to collect his second boundary, adding 31 for the fifth wicket with Dylan Swanepoel, who made 14 before being caught by skipper Amin Rafiq at cover off Tyrone Eyles. Parmar had made 35 from 43 deliveries when he was run out at the non-striker’s end off the final delivery by Charlie Turner’s throw from deep mid-on as he attempted a second. However, it was to prove a match-winning innings with the real merit of his knock only borne out when Horspath came to bat.
The three-time winners made a disastrous start in reply with Christopher Hofen run out off the second ball. With Oxford’s bowlers, led by left-arm seamer Swanepoel (2-10), turning the screw plus another run out, Horspath were quickly in disarray at 27-6. Richardson was the only batsman to make double figures, striking 16 off 15 balls, but when he holed out to Whinfrey at mid-wicket off Jupp’s left-arm spin to leave Horspath 42-8, Oxford were on the brink of victory.
To add to Horspath’s agony, Rafiq suffered a calf injury. He batted on with a runner, before being the last man out when he was bowled by Jupp, who finished with 3-6 off eight balls. It capped a stunning fightback by Oxford with Tait (2-13) and Wilkins (1-11) the other wicket-takers as Horspath subsided in just 12.2 overs to finish runners-up for a second consecutive year.
Scores: Oxford 85-6 (15ovs, M Parmar 35), Horspath 55 (12.2ovs, H Jupp
3-6).