Published: Friday, 3rd July, 2009 2:48pm

Skipper left hoping for a change in luck

by Ben Steele

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Luke Beaven took three wickets on his return to the Reading side against Burnham after a period of unavailability.

READING skipper David Barr was left to rue his side"s misfortune as he saw a glorious chance to pick up a second win of the season washed away.

A freak thunderstorm swept over Sonning Lane with Reading well in the driving seat against bottom of the table Burnham.

Play was duly abandoned with the hosts needing just another 125 with nine wickets in hand to claim a morale-boosting victory.

It is not the first time this campaign that Barr"s men saw an excellent chance of victory snatched from their grasp.

They have already seen their clash with second from bottom Thame Town fall victim to the weather, while last week they allowed Wokingham to escape with a draw after reducing them to 14-5.

And an exasperated Barr said: 'Burnham are a dangerous side when they come off but I still think we would have beaten them.

'We"ve now had both games against the bottom two rained off because it was the same story against Thame Town.

'And when I think that we could easily have beaten Wokingham last weekend by taking our chances we could have another 29 points by now.

'But we"ve got to forget it and try and move forward by winning the next game, though we could also do with a few breaks.

'It would be nice to have the rub of the green for a change and hopefully we will over the next few games.

'I don"t think we"re out of it yet. We still have to play the top two Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross and if we can string a few wins together we"ll be right up there.'

Even though they were forced to settle for six points from the weekend"s game, Barr was boosted by his side"s efforts in the play that was possible.

Although missing leading wicket-taker David Hartley and the rested Neil Saker, Reading welcomed back a trio of players in fine form at the start of the season with Benny Howell, Danny Housego and Luke Beaven all returning to the line-up.

Having struggled to bowl sides out in recent weeks, the hosts took wickets at regular intervals to ensure that the Burnham innings never gained any momentum.

Mohammad Fazal provided the only note of resistance for Burnham with a doughty 82no, but Reading kept making inroads at the other end to bowl out the visitors for an eminently gettable 173.

Beaven took 3-65 on his return while Edward Bird and Amardeep Singh Dosanjh chipped in with two apiece.

In reply, Reading lost Howell with just nine on the board, before the in-form Tom Fray started to dominate the Burnham attack.

He cracked a fluent 30 in a second wicket stand of 39 with the subdued Housego to put the home side well on track.

But the elements then took centre stage to ensure that Barr was left a frustrated man once again.

He explained: 'It was amazing. We had an isolated downpour at about 4pm when we were in a strong position to win the game.

'It was completely dry a couple of minutes down the road. It was a freak thunderstorm and a real blow for us.

'We certainly fancied our chances of getting another 125 runs with nine wickets to spare and plenty of overs. Sadly, we never got the chance and another 19 points have slipped away.'

Barr"s men make the short trip to West Berkshire rivals Falkland on Saturday with some of the availability problems that have afflicted the squad recently starting to ease.

Saker is set to return from injury after sitting out last weekend as a precaution while Shelvin Gumbs is also in line to return.

It promises to be a tough test for the Sonning Lane outfit, with Falkland making a good fist of securing promotion back to Division One at the first attempt, having come down with their visitors last season.

And Barr said: 'It"s a lovely ground to play cricket and hopefully we can go there and get the right result.

'I expect Falkland to be challenging for promotion. They came down from the Premier League with us last year but they"ve had a solid start and they look a strong team.

'It will be difficult but we have to go there and play with confidence.