Falkland face must-win game

Relegation showdown at basement club Reading

FALKLAND face a must-win game at Thames Valley League strugglers Reading on Saturday.The Wash Common side had to settle for an entertaining draw against Boyne Hill on Saturday.
But that result leaves them second from bottom in the table and needing a win at bottom club Reading to haul themselves away from danger.
Not that Falkland are in any imminent danger of the drop, as they lie just 14 points behind third-placed Gerrards Cross, but they need a win to bolster their challenge for the second half of the season.
They made a good fight of their game against Boyne Hill after the visitors got off to a steady start.
It was not until the introduction of Bobby Malik and Nigel Trumper that wickets began to fall and at 155-5 Falkland would have fancied their chances of cleaning up the tail.
But Boyne Hill’s Shalika and Mohammed put their side back on top with a 95-run partnership, which was ended by Trumper, who then mopped up the tail to leave Hill on 279.
Trumper was the pick of the bowlers with 5-79, while Malik took 2-68 and Jason Williams chipped in with 1-11.
The Falkland reply got off to a bad start with the previous week’s top scorer Paul Jenkins chopping on for four.
Any signs of a Falkland collapse were soon dispelled as Bruce Martin joined Will Langmead in a quality display of patience, good running and boundary hitting.
They took the score to 160-1 before Martin was caught for an excellent 70.
Kieran Wood tried to move the scoring rate along before he was leg before for 19.
All hopes hinged on the league’s leading run scorer Langmead, but a mixture of fatigue and a bad shot saw him go for a fine 83.
Williams went up the order to join Jim Ettridge in a last attempt to steal the game away from Boyne Hill, but the overs ran out and they both ended up not out on 19 and with Falkland 30 runs short of their target at 249-5.