SIMON Goodrham has admitted that Taplow were left frustrated after a winning draw at home against Penn & Tylers Green on Saturday.

Taplow are traditionally slow starters and captain Goodrham would have been delighted with their position in Division One had they won last weekend, but the visitors held on for a share of the points.

Having lost the toss, Taplow were invited to bat first and took advantage to reach 253-5 after 52 overs. Javed Khan carried his bat through for an unbeaten 106, while opener Darren Grist added a half-century.

Raunak Biswas was the pick of the bowling attack with his figures of 2-68, with Steve Powell (1-66) and Matt Lance (1-66) also taking wickets.

In response, the visitors closed on 167-8 after 48 overs with captain Lance (91), Andy Francis (26) and Biswas (19) the only batsman to reach double figures.

Khan (2-25), Rob Court (2-26) and Matt Newman (2-27) led the Taplow bowling attack.

Goodrham told the Observer: “The problem was the track we played on was good to bat on and they came to draw, so it was a bit frustrating.

“We were excellent with the bat. The openers made a really good start and then Javed came in and got a century, It was a great innings to watch and he really accelerated the run rate as soon as he came in.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Taplow star Javed Khan (left) raises his bat in celebration of his century on Saturday.

“I was really pleased with the batting as a whole. I was happy with the total and it was just a matter of bowling them out.”

He added: “The problem we had is that we got early wickets then they had a good partnership in terms of the number of overs batted. We got the wickets too late to bowl them out.

“They hung on for the draw and we were frustrated really because we were in total control and just couldn’t break them in the end.

“We were the only side trying to win the game, trying different things in the field and changing our bowling.”

Commenting on their season so far, Goodrham said: “I’m fairly happy because we’ve had injuries and availability isn’t what I would like it to be.

“Traditionally we start slow so I’m not too disappointed at the moment. When we get players fit and in form, I expect improvement.”

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