A good batting performance and brave run chase fell short against a well-drilled and disciplined Reading side, on a barmy midsummer's evening at Sonning Lane. Having won the toss and elected to put the opposition in to bat, the Cougars struggled to maintain control over their bowling, offering up plenty of scoring opportunities to tidy batters, who put away the ball to the generously short boundaries with aplomb. The Cougars bowling and fielding was below par, with bowling extras totalling 35. There were wickets for Joe Parr, Ahmad Syed and Aadi Bhatt, but the pick of the bowlers was Alastair Taylor, whose figures of 2 overs, 2 wickets for 4 runs speak to the control with which he bowled, but also the way he bamboozled quality batters, particularly with his first wicket - a googly spinning back to take the inside edge back onto the stumps. Chris talked about the way that he and Harry are finding energy towards the target and balance at the crease - something for everyone to work at to increase accuracy and target the stumps.

Chris also talked about how, largely, we batted better than the opposition. The opening pair, Aadi Bhatt and Fynn Ellison, belied their tender years to bat very maturely, defending good balls and putting away bad balls for a partnership of 18. Captain for the day, Jaxson Mackinnon, followed up an excellent performance with the gloves to inject impetus into the Henley innings with 16 off 13 balls. But it was the partnership of 41 between Avi Kohli and Alastair Taylor that gave the Cougars a fighting chance of eclipsing Reading's total, with the former finishing unbeaten on 23, anchoring the innings, and the latter reaching his first mandatory retirement (not out) of 25 of 24 balls, with some impressive strokes mixed with some intelligent running, as the two put pressure on the fielders. Despite Toby Barlow's best efforts (9 off 8, not out), there was just too much to do against a Reading side that was clearly going all out to win, with their four best bowlers taking their full allocation of three overs each, and some "generous" wide calls from the home umpire.

This contributed to the difference of 22 between the 35 bowling extras conceded by the Cougars, and just 13 conceded by Reading. A difference of 22 which, when the winning margin was 19 runs, shows how much closer the game could have been had we bowled with a touch more discipline. But overall a great game, against a really nice group of players at Reading, who were generous with their sporting outlook and complimentary about the way we went about our game. We look forward to welcoming them to Henley at the end of July.