Published: Wednesday, 25th June, 2008 08:00
Struggling Reading ready for crucial month
Comments (0)
Print Article
READING are ready to meet the challenge of one of the most important phases of their Division One campaign over the next month.
And despite lying third from bottom in the table, skipper David Barnes admits that there are some good chances to grab vital points over their next five games.
In that time Reading take on all three of the sides around them in the league – Henley, Falkland and Slough – and the opening batsman is hopeful that things will look brighter by the time that run comes to an end.
He said: “At the moment there are three or four clubs down there struggling, but because there are only 10 teams in the league that can all change round very quickly.
“There are a couple more games and then we are halfway in the season.
“So I think it’s important that we win those games and get a couple of decent performances out of the way because it will certainly look a lot healthier if we can do that.”
The first of those clashes sees Barnes’ men travel the 10 miles to Henley’s Brakspear Ground this Saturday for the always eagerly contested local derby.
After securing their first win of the campaign against fellow strugglers Slough on Saturday, Bjorn Mordt’s side leapfrogged Reading in the table.
And Barnes knows that the proximity of the two sides in the league may add an extra edge to the game.
He explained: “Henley had a good win over Slough last weekend which should give them a bit of boost before this Saturday.
“But these are always big games to play in and the fact we are both down at the bottom of the table just adds a bit to it.
“And its one of the ones we have to look at picking up some points from if we want to make sure we aren’t in this position in the league in a couple of months’ time.”
Henley will certainly go into the encounter in more confident mood than Reading after they went down to a disappointing seven-wicket defeat against Division One new boys Welwyn Garden City at Sonning Lane last Saturday.
The loss made it five defeats in their last six since the opening day win over WEst Berkshire rivals Falkland.
Missing influential youngsters Danny Housego (on duty with the Middlesex Twenty20 Cup squad) and Luke Beaven (knee injury), Reading simply could not cope with a fine all round display from Welwyn’s Aussie star Derek Tate.
Heavy overnight rain and some morning drizzle meant the start was delayed until 1pm, with the match reduced to a 94 over affair.
Batting first, Reading opened up solidly enough with Barnes again providing a platform at the top of the order with 40.
However, the slow nature of the Sonning Lane pitch made it difficult for the batsmen to break the shackles.
And while Jon Perkins, Heinrich Le Roux, Paul Turk and Sukhi Kang all made it into the 20s, nobody could go on to bat through the overs and get the hosts up towards the 200-mark.
In the end, with Tate Welwyn’s chief wicket-taker with figures of 4-47, Reading set a target of 169 – one which might have proved competitive given the conditions.
And in reply Jack Beaven got the hosts off to the perfect start, dismissing Daniel Blacktop with a spectacular caught and bowled.
However, James Hewitt and the visitors’ star man Tate soon settled down to put together the game’s crucial partnership and set them well on their way to the target.
And although Reading picked up two more wickets, Tate’s unbeaten 90 saw his side home by a cosy seven wicket margin.
The result left Barnes disappointed that his side had not batted with the same sort of discipline exhibited by their Hertfordshire-based opponents.
“I thought 170 might be quite tough to get on that pitch, but a couple of their lads got in and played nicely to get them over the line,” he reasoned.
“That was the key really because it was something we weren’t able to do when we batted and something we have had problems with this year.
“We have not had any major partnerships really this season and if you don’t bat in pairs then you start really struggling to put together competitive totals.”
Reading expect to welcome Housego back into the side this weekend to strengthen the batting, although Luke Beaven will again be missing as he is on duty with the Lord’s groundstaff for England’s one day international with New Zealand at headquarters.
Further Details
