29th April 2008:

READING v TOTTON & ELING   -   Sat 26th April 2008

Last weekend Reading entertained National Club Twenty20 champions, Totton & Eling at Sonning Lane.  The visitors are one of the stronger clubs on the south coast and are always in the mix when it comes to challenging for the Southern Electric Premier Division title.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat in excellent conditions.  The ground looked a picture and thanks should go to Aubrey Merry and Robin Dorrington for their tireless efforts in getting the ground and the pitch into excellent condition.

Totton made a watchful start in the face of tight bowling from Faisal Ali and overseas debutant, Heinrich Le Roux, and this pressure was brought to bear when Ali bowled former Hampshire man, Damian Shirazi.  The pair quickly followed up with another wicket apiece to leave Totton on 38 for 3.

At this point a moment of club history saw the Beavan brothers, Luke (18) and Jack (16) bowl in tandem for the 1st XI for the first time.  Luke, who joined the MCC groundstaff at Lord’s in March, has already bowled dozens of overs this summer and he already looks a much improved bowler.  Jack, playing his first match in the 1st XI, bowled like a man who has been in the side for years.  With pace and accuracy he increased the pressure on the Totton batsmen before inducing a poor shot from another former Hampshire man, Derek Kenway, for his first senior wicket. 

With Luke Beavan and then David Hartley getting in on the act Totton and Eling were reeling at 92 for 6 before a rearguard effort from the lower middle order saw them to 181 all out in the last of their allotted 50 overs.  Faisal Ali was the most successful bowler taking 4 for 32 off his ten overs.  Jack Beavan finished with 2 for 31 and brother Luke 1 for 20 from his ten over spell.

Needing 182 to win in 50 overs Reading began confidently with David Barnes and Johnny Perkins renewing their partnership of two years ago.  Perkins missed the whole of the 2007 season through injury but he announced his return with a typical cover drive.  Unfortunately he was bowled by the accurate and testing Goldstraw shortly afterwards but much will be seen of this pair in the coming months.

Perkins’ dismissal brought another debutant to the wicket, Danny Housego, and he quickly settled into his stride forming a match winning partnership with Barnes.  Having skilfully seen off the openers they set about the Totton bowling putting over 100 for the second wicket.  Barnes fell for an excellent 81, caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary but David Barr then joined Housego to see Reading home with over 15 overs to spare with Housego unbeaten on 68.

This was a good win against a very useful Totton & Eling side.  All of the newcomers to the side made a good contribution on the day, which bodes well for the coming season.  It was also an excellent start for new skipper, David Barnes, who rotated his bowlers skilfully before playing a captain’s innings.

Next week the 1st XI entertain Middlesex league outfit, Richmond at Sonning Lane before beginning their league campaign at Falkland the following week.

READING 2ND XI v TOTTON & ELING 2ND XI

New 2nd XI skipper, Gareth Edwards, won the toss and had no hesitation in choosing to bat in this 40 overs-a-side encounter on the club’s second ground on Saturday.

Brothers, Mohsin and Qasim Ali got the side off to a solid start, with Qasim looking particularly fluent on an excellent wicket.  It was, therefore, a surprise when he edged to the keeper with the score on 32.  Sukhi Kang announced his arrival at the crease with a couple of magnificent drives through the on side and he looked set for a big score before completely misjudging a delivery – 48 for 2.  Better teams will suffer at the hands of this talented batsman this summer.

Vishal Aeri joined Mohsin and the pair really set the innings going.  Aeri, especially, was quickly into his stride playing shots all around the wicket.  This was Vishy at his best and a couple of drives over the cover field were trademark efforts.  Although dropped on 37 his was a deserved first half century of the season and, although he had lost Mohsin along the way he had given the innings the right kind of momentum before being bowled for 56 – a score of 220 plus was now on the cards.

Aussie debutant, John Alderson was joined by kiwi, Ryan Nixon and the pair looked at home and under no pressure.  As is always possible at this time of year, the Aus drove at one on the up which stopped and a catch was spooned up to mid off.  He will be hungry to make amends this week.

Meanwhile, Nixon took advantage of some wayward bowling and, in partnership with the lower middle order, smashed the bowling to all parts on his way to a magnificent debut 100 for the club – he finished 105 not out and was responsible for 100 runs coming off the last ten overs.  Reading finished on 323 for 5 at the end of their allotted 40 overs – a daunting target for the visiting batsmen.

Youngsters, Ben Berryman and Ian Slatcher opened with the new ball and both put in useful spells without quite making the break through.  What was clear in this first ten overs however was that the game was already, effectively, won and lost.  The game became an exercise in trying to take wickets and in this respect Gareth Edwards, Osman Ali and Vishal Aeri all had a good work out.  Ossie especially, bowled a good tight spell and proved what an important bowler he will be in the coming league campaign.

Totton & Eling finished their 40 overs on 226 for 7 – a win for Reading by 97 runs.  With the right combination of youth and experience this is a team with a great deal of ability but with much tougher challenges to come.

25th April 2008 - Team Selections

Teams selected for this weekends games are now available under the 'team selection' section.

There are matches on both Saturday and Sunday

If you are unable to play as selected please contact the relevant Captain immediately.

Please ensure the Captain's know your future availability - or you can e-mail reading-cc@btconnect.com