PRAFUL Waghela scored another brilliant century as Reading defeated Marlow by 181 runs in the Thames Valley League to stay just above the Division 1B relegation zone.
He hit 131 off 113 balls with the help of 22 boundaries, taking his total past the 10,000 runs mark as an overseas player, with an average of 70. He and Arjun Srinivasan (51) added 115 for the third wicket as the Sonning Lane men posted a 50-over total of 298-6. Marlow were skittled out for 117, with Moin Khowaja taking 3-10 and Aditya Srinivasan 3-19.
Sonning boosted their chances of avoiding relegation by defeating Finchampstead 2nd by six wickets, only their third win of the season.
They dismissed the home side for 233, which included 60 by Tommie Predgen, 59 by Matt Eldridge and 54 from Connor Rees, with Mohammed Zahid taking five for 35.
Sonning reached their target with two overs to spare, with Alex McCloughlin making 78, Muhammed Ayub 52 not out and Dhruv Peshkar 43.
Division 2A leaders Theale & Tilehurst thrashed fourth-in-the-table White Waltham by 152 runs after posting 271-9. Baber Hussain made 106 and Rehaan Hassan 79 in a third-wicket partnership of 184.
Kunal Mogla claimed 6-46 off nine overs. They then dismissed the home side for 119 (Dan Molloy 47) in 33 overs, with three wickets apiece for Rehan Akram and Akshay Balaji.
The bottom of the table is getting tighter, with just 13 points separating six teams.
Sixth-placed Purley produced one of the league's best performances of the day against the ninth team, Thatcham. They posted a 50-over total of 302-7, with Drew Jackson blasting 79 not out off 58 balls, and then dismissed the home side for 201, with Seamus Levin making 92 off 73 balls.
Bottom club Sulhamstead & Ufton join Thatcham on the 193-point mark by winning by 22 runs at Aldershot. They made 250-5 with Phil Walden scoring 83 not out and Stuart Hornby 55, and then restricted the home team to 228-9 (Tom Varney 88no) with Doug MacDonald taking 4-25.
Eighth-in-the-table Kidmore End edged home by seven runs (228 - 221) against seventh-placed Peppard Stoke Row.
This Saturday's fixtures are Binfield v Kidmore, Peppard SR v Aldershot, Purley v Wargrave 2nd, Sulhamstead v White Waltham and Theale v Thatcham.
Bracknell United kept on course for the Division 3A title by defeating bottom-club Reading 2nd by nine wickets. They sent their visitors sliding from 68-3 to 101 all out (Mayank Kedia 3-12) and needed just 12 overs to reach their target with Daud Sardar remaining unbeaten on 48.
Harpsden, 14 points behind the leaders, lost by 19 runs at Falkland after being dismissed for 227, while Royal Ascot are third after a 13-run victory at Fleet.
There are centuries for Jason Middleton and Sean Woodward as Division 4A champions-elect Emmbrook and Bearwood hammered Eversley 2nd by 149 runs. Skipper Middleton blasted 104 off 60 balls with 60 balls with six maximums and 11 fours, while Woodward's 102 came from 103 balls and included three sixes and 14 fours. They put on 208 for the third wicket.
David Healey then took 5-43 off six overs as Eversley were dismissed for 212 in 29.2 overs.
Second-placed Goring scored 254 (Jack Walsh 68, Chris Walsh 68) on their way to beating Aldershot 2nd (243-7) by 11 runs.
Shinfield made 220-9 (Sam Charles 43, Anurag Shukla 42) and bowled out Wokingham 3rd for 196 (Antony Smith 41), keeping them 22 points above the relegation zone, currently occupied by Mortimer West End and Kidmore End 2nd.
Mortimer WE improved their chances of avoiding the drop by scoring 230-7 (Adam Telford 59, Nick Kingston 53) to beat Theale and Tilehurst 2nd (226; Nazeem Hussain 50) by three wickets.
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