Reading lose tight match to league leaders

Reading lost a high quality encounter against a very good East Woodhay side who have now won their first 5 league matches this year.
Reading lost the toss and were put into bat. Aarav and Raheel were resilient against some accurate opening bowling and were 17 without loss after the first 3 overs including a well struck 4 by Raheel. In the next over Raheel was was unlucky when he tried to hit a rare lose delivery and hit his own stumps in the follow through. Gaajuran came to the wicket and was soon hitting powerful shots all round the wicket. Aarav continued to be solid in defence, but was always quick to run singles. Gaajuran was soon retired on 25. Ashwyn was unlucky to face a very good delivery first ball to be bowled. Fergus quickly followed when he was run out. Fergus had turned up for the club despite feeling unwell. Henry came in and was looking confident and on form hitting some well timed strokes including a stylish 4. He was therefore disappointed to be caught on a score of 7. He has been unlucky to be out for some low scores recently, and I am sure that with his ability a big score will come soon.
Tight bowling by East Woodhay, and an unselfish attempt by the Reading lower order to try and push the score on led to further wickets. Aarav continued to keep the scoreboard ticking along and was retired on 25. Him and Gaajuran were soon back as the remaining wickets fell. Gaajuran added a further 10 to make 35 before being given out LBW. A real captain’s innings. Aarav finished on 31. Reading ended up on 118 all out off 19 overs. A decent but not ungettable total. I had the feeling with better running and more careful playing of the straight ball we could have posted a more challenging total.
Ashwyn and Raheel opened the bowling and challenged the East Woodhay openers with accurate fast bowling. The openers were well organised in defense and started to push singles and use the bowler’s pace to score occasional boundaries. Gaajuran also bowled well to 2 classy batsmen, but was unable to force a breakthrough. Sebastian Chapman retired not out on 25. He looked a very good player – he apparently has a batting average of well over a 100 this year as he has only been out once. Soon after the next East Woodhay player was run out after some good fielding. Sam, Ajamal and Aarav continued to bowl well to stop East Woodhay getting above the asking rate. The other opener retired on 25, and Bertie Darke also looked a talented batsman before being bowled by Sam for 23. Sam took another wicket next ball also bowled but was unable to complete his hat-trick, though almost had a third wicket at the end of the over when a catching chance went down.
The pressure was now on the East Woodhay batsmen, when another player was run out and the East Woodhay middle order struggling against our pace bowlers. It looked like it was going to go to the last over but a bye the an edged 4 off the last ball of the 19th over sealed victory for East Woodhay.
Well done to all Reading’s players who played the match with enthusiasm and in a good spirit. The East Woodhay coach was very impressed with our team, saying we were easily the best side they had played this year and on another day the result could easily have been different