SLOUGH CC suffered a narrow four-run defeat to defending Home Counties Premier Cricket League Division One champions Henley on Saturday.

The match at Upton Court Road was billed as a clash of the titans, and Slough captain Bobby Sher believed that his side were ready for the test.

Sher won the toss and chose to bowl first, and his team kept Henley down to a total of 204-8 from their allotted 50 overs.

Wickets were shared amongst the bowlers including Shaan Khan (2-23) and Ali Akbar Raja (2-35), whilst Ziafat Ashraf made 51 for Henley.

Slough came mightily close in reply, closing on 200-9 after 50 overs and just four runs short of a memorable win.

Lloyd Paternott (46), Sher (44) and Naveed Akhtar (42*) all made contributions with the bat, whilst Tom Nuget (3-49) led the Henley defence.

On Saturday, Slough make the short journey to rivals Burnham, who suffered a three-wicket defeat away at Reading last weekend.

Captain Harveer Gandam won the toss and elected to bat first at Sonning Lane, and his team reached a competitive score of 251-8.

Karan Kumar starred with a century (108), which included seven fours and four sixes, and Adnan Malik hit his way to 51.

Burnham had to recover from a poor start with the bat, restricted to 3-2 early on as Reading bowler Jack Beaven took figures of 4-44.

In reply, Reading smashed their way to 214-2 as Praful Waghela (119) and Martin Anderson (64*) put victory in sight.

Wickets began to tumble as Aftab Khan (4-41) clawed Burnham back into the match, but Reading (253-7) held their nerve to win with 10 balls to spare.

In Division Two, newly-promoted Datchet suffered a gut-wrenching five-run defeat away at Great & Little Tew on Saturday.

Datchet captain Steven Naylor won the toss and chose to bowl first, but the home team reached an impressive 266-4 after 50 overs.

Joe White finished unbeaten on 130 and fellow opener Matthew Clark made 61, whilst Harry Stephens took 2-44 with the ball.

In reply, Datchet came close as Tim Alldis (56), Stephens (54), Naylor (40) and Adam Jones (38*) all took on the bowling with some success.

But the most telling contribution came from the hosts’ bowlers, who restritcted Datchet to 261-8 after 50 overs and secure the win.

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