SHAID Nadeem is confident Burnham Cricket Club can avoid relegation from Home Counties Division One this season.

Nadeem was left frustrated on Saturday after his side could only manage a winning draw against Henley, extending the winless streak to seven matches.

However, Burnham dominated the league leaders, causing Nadeem to believe the Memorial Ground club can pull off a second consecutive 'great escape'.

Burnham are 15 points adrift of safety and begin the second half of the campaign against fierce rivals Slough this Saturday (11am start).

"Slough look a very good, balanced side," skipper Nadeem told the Observer. "It'll be very tough but it all comes down to who handles the pressure and performs on the day.

"It was good to see everyone put the effort in against Henley, their body language was excellent.

"It's a very stiff task ahead but we've got everything to play for. You just need that bit of luck that things go your way so fingers crossed." Burnham put in a much improved performance last weekend, posting a competitive score of 251 before restricting Henley to 178-7.

Batting first, a partnership of 72 between Harveer Gandam (68) and Aftab Khan (30) set the foundations for an imposing score before Nadeem added 34 in the middle order and number 9 Naveed Bashir finished unbeaten on 41.

David Barnes (38) and Fahim Qureshi (24) got Henley's reply off to a strong start, but they were reeled in by the bowling of overseas star Khan (4-70) and Azhar Ali (3-78).

The hosts looked set for a shock victory with Henley 119-7 but Cameron Boyce (53*) and Tahir Afridi (7*) stood firm at the crease for a match-saving stand of 59.

"It was a far more encouraging performance," said Nadeem. "Just a shame we didn't come away with the win.

"Harveer was well supported, then Navir, who I brought up from the two's, batted exceptionally well having not played first team cricket this year.

"We lost an early wicket but everyone batted really well, 250 on our pitch was a very good score." He continued: "Henley got off to a good start but then we started going through them. Azhar bowled exceptionally well and Aftab got four wickets.

"But it was a horrible day where things didn't go our way. The ball was beating the bat without getting the edge and batsmen were hitting into gaps in the field. We played all the cricket and Henley had to hold out for a draw." **PICK up a copy of the Observer, out every Friday, for all the latest sports news and action** **FOLLOW the Observer on Twitter @Observer_sports**