READING were predictably on the receiving end of a defeat at the hands of Henley, leaving them winless after three Home Counties Premier League games, writes Dave Wright.

Having been put into bat following a delayed start, they were rolled over for a meagre 69 and the visitors needed just 11 overs to reach their target, although losing three wickets in the process.

Having gone into the season seriously depleted, Reading were further weakened on Saturday as skipper Bobby Malik and wicketkeeper Muhammed Qaiser were representing Pakistan in an international T20 competition, where they lost to Canada in the semi-finals, while all-rounder Amardeep Dosanjh was unavailable.

With second-team players Rajesh Singh and teenager Sam Gemmill making the giant step up from Division 3a of the Thames Valley League, it was the most inexperienced side ever fielded by Reading for a Division One game on a day they took on an unbeaten Henley side packed with current or former minor county players.

And Reading’s task of mountainous proportions became even tougher when they were put in to bat after Henley had won the crucial toss.

In overcast conditions, the powerful Henley attack proved almost unplayable.

Openers Tom Fray (pictured) and Sunny Jheeta put on 16 for the first wicket before the latter was caught at first slip by Bjorn Mordt off Tom Nugent for 11.

Martin Andersson only made two and from then on it became a succession of wickets, four of which came from lbw decisions. Neither of the debutants, Singh and Gemmill, disturbed the scorers, but at least Fray offered some stiff resistance before being ninth man out for 27.

The Henley wicket takers were Gurveer Singh 3-16, Nugent 2-20, Tahir Afridi 2-19, Euan Woods 2-8 and Mordt 1-5.

Ian Slatcher struck twice for Reading, trapping David Barnes lbw for eight and having Michael Roberts (7) brilliantly caught at mid-wicket by the diving Jheeta, while captain-for-the-day Jack Beaven bowled Cornwall county player Matt Rowe for 20.

But, with rain threatening, Richard Morris decided he needed to get the game over quickly, starting with a big six off Beaven.

The Berkshire batting star quickly raced to 32 to secure an easy victory for Henley in just the 11th over.

Reading are home again this Saturday (11.30am) when they entertain Burnham in a 50-50 game.

The visitors will be missing batsman Mohammed Fazal who has been banned for eight games, two of which are suspended, following an incident during the defeat by Henley two weeks ago.

He can appeal, however.

John Reed, who was one of the umpires at the Henley game, was also scheduled to stand at this Saturday’s game at Sonning Lane.

But it is normal that when an umpire submits a disciplinary report he will not take charge of the same team for a few weeks so things can cool down. His replacement is Alison Smith.