A BRILLIANT unbeaten century from Patrick Foster couldn’t save Horspath from a four-wicket defeat at Ynystawe in their rearranged Voneus Village Cup fifth-round tie. Having elected to bat, the Oxfordshire champions were in deep trouble at 50-5. But Foster, with the excellent support of opener Jimmy Phillips (56), took the Welsh side’s attack apart, making a stunning 113 not out off just 75 balls. The pair shared a thrilling sixth-wicket stand of 124 to set Horspath on the way to 225-7 off their 40 overs. However, it wasn’t enough as Carl Roberts hammered a superb unbeaten 99 from 100 deliveries to steer Ynystawe home at 228-6 with nine balls to spare.

Sulaiman Hussain made 25 to get Horspath off to a good start, but when he was run out with Rhys Palmer touching Phillips’s straight drive on to the stumps it triggered a top-order collapse. Five wickets went down for 20 runs before Foster and Phillips set about repairing the damage.

Taking advantage of a short boundary on one side, Foster hit 11 fours and six sixes, while Phillips’s 91-ball knock included three boundaries and two maximums. Lee Hicks took 3-43 for the Glamorgan & Gwent champions. Roberts and Morgan Hodges then put on 114 for Ynystawe’s second wicket as the home side reached 155-1. But when Hodges holed out for 57 off Foster, and three more wickets fell, Horspath sensed a chance with the home side 184-5. Controversy flared when Will Eason, in attempting to catch Luke Garthwaite’s off drive on the boundary returned the ball infield as he went backwards, but the umpire adjudged it was a six. After Garthwaite hit the next ball for four there was a disturbance on the sidelines, and a delay followed. But Roberts kept his cool to see Ynystawe home, sealing victory in style with a six over mid-wicket – his fourth maximum to go with ten boundaries.

Special thanks to Russell Smith for the report