SLOUGH captain Bobby Sher has hailed his bowling attack after a four-wicket win at former Home Counties Division One leaders Banbury on Saturday.

Slough had been frustrated by wet weather in recent weeks - the trip to Banbury was only their sixth match of the season - but there were no signs of rustiness in Oxfordshire.

The home team were restricted to 185-8 from their allotted 62 overs before Slough reached 189-6 after five balls of the 33rd over to record a second victory this season.

“Obviously it was a good to play some cricket again after all the rain we’ve had,” Sher told the Observer. “It’s been difficult to train and Banbury were sitting top of the table, so it was a good win.”

Summer recruit Steven Green was the star on show with his impressive figures of 7-52 and Sher believes the left-arm spin bowler is deserved of his success.

He said: “Steven bowled exceptionally well and picked up seven wickets which is great on any day, but it was against the league leaders and on a wicket that wasn’t turning very much.

“He’s been a great addition to the club. A real professional and character, and a really good guy to work with.”

Sher added: “We wanted to go for a win, we felt that was best for us, and luckily we won the toss.

“Shaan Khan and Iklaq Raja bowled really well and on another day could’ve had two or three wickets each, especially Iklaq, who was very unlucky.”

Nabil Shah (73) and Berkshire ace Waqas Hussain (50) top-scored as Slough made light work of the run chase.

“I was definitely confident of our chances on a decent track which hadn’t had much cricket on it because of all the rain,” said Sher.

“Nabil has been out of sorts for the last four or five weeks, but we know what he can do and kept faith with him. He batted exceptionally well and I’m really happy for the guy to get some runs.

“Waqas has been quite consistent for us and got another 50 despite injuring himself whilst fielding. He got a bad hip and struggled to run or play shots into the leg-side, so it was a tremendous effort from him.

“Together they pretty much took us there, so it’s a shame we lost four more wickets to get to the target. We lost a few wickets late on but were always ahead.”

The win elevates Slough into the top-half of the table though Sher admits his team has under-performed and has called for improvement in the second half of the season.

“To be honest my assessment is pretty simple - we’ve not played to the best of our ability.

“We’ve had three matches cancelled, which is more than anyone else and that never helps, but we have been under-performing.

“Hopefully this is the catalyst for us to move on to better things but, when you think we are five matches unbeaten with two wins, we’ve not done that badly.

“We want to have a crack at the top sides and that starts this Saturday at High Wycombe. It will be a tough game and we need to put in another good performance, and there’s no reason why we can’t.

“I don’t know about avenging the defeat on the opening day but I would like to come away without a loss. If we can do that then we’ve done well.

“I’m looking for vast improvement compared to the first half of the season.”