Slough show strength of batting line up in positive draw with Banbury

Slough produced one of their best batting displays of the summer in Saturday's deserved draw with Banbury, but again it was their middle and lower order – rather than the top order – who supplied most of their runs.

Having been inserted in challenging, overcast conditions, Slough put on 3069 with the bat, with huge contributions coming further down the order from the likes of Kashif Ali (right) (83 from 98 deliveries) and Mishan Silva (64).

Of the top order Josh Lincoln played his way into form with 53 from 51 deliveries, but the depth of Slough’s batting line up was illustrated once again.

If they could just get their top order to fire, they'd possibly put themselves in a position to challenge for a top four finish this season. As it stands, they’re sixth, but just 37 points behind leaders Datchet going into Saturday’s trickylooking clash at Wokingham.

While their batting performance stole the headlines on Saturday, the display of their bowlers was also impressive, restricting Banbury to 188-6 from their 46 overs. Saif Zaib took their best figures of 2-17 with Silva, Raja Nawaz and Josh Lincoln also taking a wicket apiece.

“It's been the story of our season,” said Syed afterwards. “The middle and lower order scoring runs is good, and I’ve said it before, it’s only a matter of time before the top order comes to the party for us.

“We’ve got a lot of depth to our batting, and I was happy with the way we went about things against Banbury.

“We scored good runs and we managed to get several of their wickets as well to score good points.

“Overall, it was a good performance, but we can't be complacent. Maybe we could have done a little bit more on the fielding side of things as we dropped a catch or two.”

Had it not been for rain delays and interruptions, Slough might have fancied their chances of a fourth win of the campaign, however, captain Nadeem Syed admitted afterwards that all outcomes would have been possible had a full day of cricket been played.

“Had it been a clear day we might have won, but I wouldn't have discounted them from winning the match either because they were playing well,” added Syed. “It was a good track to bat on and I’m sure they would have had a chance as well. To be honest, a draw was probably fair, but all the outcomes were possible.”

Slough travel to fourth-placed Wokingham on Saturday, a side who’ve picked up just 10 more points than Syed’s men this summer. On Saturday they drew with Henley in another raininterrupted match.

“It’s very congested in the league but that’s also a positive,” said Syed.

“If we have two or three good games and results go our way then we’d be in a very good place.

Slough have also reached the Julian Cup semi-finals and will take on league rivals Henley at home for a place in the final on Tuesday evening.