Published: Wednesday, 22nd July, 2009 4:05pm

Sensational Shelvin fires Reading to victory

by Ben Steele

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Reading skipper David Barr has led his side to back-to-back victories in the last two weeks.

A SENSATIONAL unbeaten century from Shelvin Gumbs helped Reading make it back-to-back wins with a four-wicket defeat of Gerrards Cross.

The 17-year-old's magnificent 121no from just 98 balls saw the home side blast past the Cross total of 222-9 with seven balls to spare - despite seeming well off the pace when standing 73-4 from 27 overs and having lost three overs to a short rain delay.

And Sonning Lane skipper David Barr was full of praise for the young batsman, as his side followed up last week's win over Two West leaders Beaconsfield in stunning style.

He said: "It was a truly stunning innings from Shelvin that won the game for us.

"It didn't look like one that we were going to win, especially after the little rain break, but he just timed the ball magnificently and managed to hit the fours, even when the field was spread.

"He is a really instinctive and positive player, and was well supported by Sukhi Kang.

"We're just delighted to have got a win from such an unlikely position."

It is the first time in exactly two years that Reading have won consecutive games in the league.

And the victories have come at the ideal time, with the table compressing to such an extent that just 11 points separates faltering leaders Beaconsfield from seventh-placed Finchampstead.

Barr believes, that despite those two wins, his side will need to keep improving to play a big role in a potentially frantic climax to the season.

He said: "The table is now starting to really reflect what I have been saying all season, and that is that teams in this league can all beat each other on their day.

"Going into the last seven games, there are a lot of teams in with a chance of going up.

"But equally they could slip into the bottom three, so it will be a close finish at both ends of the table.

"There are still things for us to work on and areas we can improve in.

"For example we had them down at 140-7 and then they put on a good stand to get themselves up past 220.

"So even though we have won these two games, there is plenty more to come."

With 20 overs of Saturday's clash to play, the chances of Reading making it two wins in a row seemed very unlikely.

After Barr had won the toss and opted to field first, a weakened Reading attack kept the Cross batting in check throughout the early part of their innings.

The trio of Neil Saker, David Hartley and Osman Ali bowled all 52 overs and made regular breakthroughs to leave the visitors reeling on 142-7.

However, Gary Hales (39) and Richard Knudson (37) then came together to put on 78 for the eighth wicket and get their side up to 222-9 at the close of their innings.

Ali returned the best figures of 4-48 from his 16 overs, while Hartley chipped in with 3-115.

Reading's reply got off to a shaky start with Saker and Danny Housego both deprating for single figure scores.

Tom Fray had also come and gone for 29, by the time a 10-minute interruption saw three overs lost.

On the resumpion, however, Gumbs and Amardeep Singh started to play with some aggression, before the latter was given out lbw to Steve Rimmer (4-90) for 17.

Gumbs then took on the lead role and put his foot on the accelerator, reaching his 50 from 57 balls as he began to dominate.

Barr added just nine of the 47 runs put on for the fifth wicket, before departing with the score on 120.

Kang then joined Gumbs and got straight into his stride, getting Reading back on track with a quickfire 30 from 25 balls.

The pair had got the hosts within touching distance before Kang perished in the pursuit of quick runs with score on 193.

But Gumbs could not be stopped and continued to pepper the boundary in an innings containing 14 fours and three sixes, with his last 71 runs coming from 41 balls.

And it was left to Paul Turk to crack the winning runs on the penultimate over and seal a sensational win.

Reading will be looking for a hat-trick when they host second-placed Aston Rowant on Saturday, and Barr is predicting another exciting encounter.

"We played well to beat them away from home earlier in the season.

"They played some very positive cricket and have an aggressive batting line-up.

"They are a team riding high, but we should have a similar line-up out again this weekend so hopefully we can get another positive result."