BOBBY Sher has admitted that Slough must learn from their mistakes after suffering a 136-run defeat away to High Wycombe on Saturday.

Sher had targeted a good start to the new Home Counties Division One season to build confidence in his side but instead they were well beaten at London Road.

Ali Akbar Raja (3-50), Steven Green (2-54) and new overseas Zohaib Ahmed (2-67) were the pick of the Slough bowlers as High Wycombe made 283-8 from their allotted 50 overs.

Skipper Nathan Hawkes top-scored with 98, while George Russell (74) and ex-Cookham Dean star Patrick Castleden (31) batted well for the home side.

In reply, Slough were bowled out for just 147 after 38.5 overs with Sher (68), Mohammed Avas (23) and Fahim Qureshi (21) the only batsman to reach double figures.

Jonathan Burden (4-32) and Cameron Parsons (3-39) were the pick of the High Wycombe bowlers.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Bobby Sher made 68 for Slough on Saturday.

Slough skipper Sher told the Observer: “We bowled quite well to start with. Ikhlaq Nawaz (1-26 from 10 overs) bowled superb as his figures show.

“We were unlucky to beat the bat quite a lot but, in the middle to the end, we were let down by our bowling.

“We gave them 60 extra runs but George Russell came out and batted really well.”

He continued: “We just didn’t bat particularly well and kept on throwing our wickets away.

“To best honest, it seems a lot worse than it was. But, we have got to learn from our mistakes, move forward, and realise we’ve got to work hard to score runs and spend time at the crease.

“We knew it was going to be a testing score but we spoke about it and realised that someone in the top four needed to score 100, or have big partnerships of over 50.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Ikhlaq Nawaz recorded figues of 1-26 from his 10 overs.

“Obviously that didn’t happen and we were well beaten in the end.”

Commenting on his own performance, Sher said: “It is not about individual scores, it’s about the team, but it was nice to get some time in the middle.”

Slough welcome Great & Little Tew to Upton Court Road in their first home fixture of the season this Saturday.

Sher said: “They’ve started off well and must be quietly confident. They will certainly be strong so we need to make sure that we’re up to the mark and work very hard to come away with the result in our first home game.

As far as I know they are a very similar team to last year. They are a good team and a good unit and it shows because they've beaten Henley."

Commenting on the possibility of home advantage, Sher said: "It does not make a difference. It's about how you perform on the day because cricket is a one-off thing, especially when you play 50/50.

"A good spell can completely change the game so we will have to be focused on Saturday.

"We've just got to work hard to improve our game, and work a lot harder in the middle to fight for our runs and wickets."

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