Lovegrove falls short of ton as Hurst 2s thrash Reading 3s

OLIVER LOVEGROVE fell just short of a century as Hurst 2s thrashed Reading 3s in 6b.

Lovegrove, who top scored for the Hurst first team last week, made the seamless transition into the 2s, firing in 98 during a high-scoring innings.

Kelvin Baillie (76no) and Roy Head (34) also contributed well as Hurst declared on 284-6.

And a five-wicket haul from

Ian Harvey, who ended with figures of 5-22, helped bowl out Reading for 106 to give Hurst the victory which lifts them up to sixth.

SONNING 2s leapfrogged FINCHAMPSTEAD 4s at the top of the table with a six-wicket win over the former leaders.

Finches batted first, but were dismissed for 155 as Mohammed

Atif posted figures of 5-31.

Gary Woodford’s 57 was the best score for the visitors.

And Sonning made light work of the chase, despite the best efforts of Dave Higginson

(3-18), with Atif (55no) and Dan Anderson (39no) doing most of the damage.

EVERSLEY 3s slipped down to seventh in 7a after a losing draw against Kidmore End 2s.

Chasing 245 to win, David Howorth (54) and Seb Powers (65) did admirable work with the bat as Eversley closed on 190-7.

Glyn Clements top scored with 57 as WOKINGHAM 4s suffered a tight losing draw against Fleet 2s.

Fleet reached 175-6 after their 47 overs and the Oaks could not quite chase down the total, closing themselves on

168-9 to take seven points from the contest, compared to 15 for

Fleet.

FINCHAMPSTEAD 5s suffered defeat for the first time this season in 8a, going down by 69 runs to Hayes 4s.

Finches have had to forfeit two matches due to unavailability, but in the three matches they had played, they were unbeaten until Saturday’s loss.

Chasing 197 to win, Dave Marles top scored in the reply with 38 but the visitors fell short, bowled out for 127.

SONNING 3s were outplayed by Theale and Tilehurst 3s, but did hold on to a losing draw.

Gary Phillips took five wickets while Charley Phillips picked up three as Sonning eventually bowled out Theale for 251.

But with the best Sonning batting scores coming from Wazir Khan (38) and Gary Phillips (31), it was all about surviving, which the visitors did, closing on 126-8.

Jake Staples shone with bat and ball as WOKINGHAM 5s beat Cove 5s by 69 runs in 9a.

Staples top scored with 65 as Wokingham set a target of 147 to win and while that may have looked achievable, figures of 3-6 from Staples held bowl out Cove for just 77.

EVERSLEY 4s forfeited their game against WARGRAVE 3s.