Captain Ziya admits Boyne Hill's draw with Reading was a 'boring game'

Ziya Mohamed

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Boyne Hill captain Ziya Mohamed admitted Saturday's draw against Reading was a 'boring watch' for players and spectators alike, with the newly promoted visitors steadfastly refusing to try and chase their host’s total.

Having lost the toss and been put into bat, Ziya’s side batted well in the summer sunshine, reaching 273-6 declared, with Tharushan Iddamalgoda smashing 101 off 78 balls to add to Sajid Ali's knock of 50. However, despite coming off four overs early to encourage a chase from Reading - and bringing in their fielders to tempt the visiting batsmen into having a slug - Reading were content to bat out their overs and head home with a draw.

They did so very comfortably in truth, with Firaz Amjad's 64 coming from 131 balls and Praful Waghela batting more expansively for his impressive 84.

Reading currently sit sixth in the table and well above the bottom two, so there was little need for them to go gung-ho and chase Hill's challenging total, however, it would have made for a more exciting game if they had.

Ziya feels many of the sides in Thames Valley Division 1 are similar in terms of their strengths and weaknesses, therefore the battle for promotion could well go down to the final weeks and feature several teams. Boyne Hill are hoping to be one of them.

“I knew it was going to be a tough task, winning Division 1,” said Ziya.

“Because we’re all similarly poised and are similar teams with similar strengths. It’s going to be an interesting one from now on, I think.

“They (Reading) had so many wickets in hand, but they didn’t even try like they were going to go for it. They just knocked it out and it was a boring game to be honest.

“We gave them four extra overs to try and encourage them to go for it, but they didn’t. I couldn’t have declared any earlier to be honest. 270 was a good score, it was a bit of a tricky start, but Tharushan batted really well.

“The pitch had gone a bit flat by the time of the second innings because of the heat and we tried everything. We pushed all the fielders in and asked them to hit but they didn’t seem like they were going for it.”

Despite his frustrations, Ziya's side sit only 25 points off leaders Falkland, and with the table-toppers visiting second placed Marlow on Saturday, there's the potential for one, or both, to drop points.

Hill head to fourth placed Tring Park this Saturday knowing they have an opportunity to make up further ground. However, winning there will be far from straightforward according to the Hill captain.

“It’s going to be a big test for us at Tring Park because they do have a strong side,” added Ziya.

“But we did beat them last year and hopefully we can do it this year as well.”