The boys hit the road to Marlow this week as they looked to put the disappointing performances of last week to bed.

In a well-contested match, Marlow batted first, putting up a respectable total on the scoreboard. Imran Syal led the way with a composed 53 off 62 balls. Will Bovill also contributed significantly with 56 runs off 66 balls, including 10 boundaries, before being trapped lbw by Luke Beaven. Harvey Brennan played a quickfire knock, scoring 34 off just 20 deliveries, peppering the boundary 7 times and clearing it once. It’d be fair to say the Reading bowlers would have been glad to see the back off him early on in the innings after his performance last time round.
Phil Lines added 31 runs off 50 balls, while Ibrahim Zafar chipped in with a handy 20. Key contributions also came from the bowlers, with Jack Beaven leading the attack, claiming 3 wickets for 33 runs continuing his excellent form. Luke Beaven also picked up crucial wickets, ending with figures of 3 for 31.

Chasing the target, Reading faced a challenging task. Waqas Ahmed gave them a steady start with 22 runs off 30 balls, hitting 3 boundaries. Gaajuran fell early on and was followed by Firaz Amjad who played a steely knock but fell in the end to a terrific caught and bowled by Chris Goede. It got worse for the visitors as their banker for runs, Praful was bowled on his first ball, a rarity for him.

Luke Beaven provided some resistance, scoring 33 off 47 balls, while Jack Beaven added a quick 20 off 22 balls. Dylan Wood contributed 14 before being trapped lbw by Imran Syal, who was the standout bowler for Marlow, taking 3 wickets for 38 runs.

However, some lower-order resilience, including an unbeaten 18 off 62 balls by Ashwyn Rupasinha, aided by Yawar Tariq and Adi Srinivasan helped the boys snatch a draw and deny Marlow of maximum points.