EMMBROOK and Bearwood fell to defeat in a low scoring match against Holyport as their opponents claimed a quick victory.
The visitors Holyport won the toss and elected to field first. Emmbrook made a poor start to their innings as they lost two wickets in quick succession as Sanjeev Jain was bowled out for just one run by Adil Ashraq and Alistair Fairhead was bowled by Adrian Mumtaz for a duck.
Captain Alex Cobb remained at the crease and was joined by Jack Narraway, although earlier than they would have hoped, the pair managed to build a decent partnership to boost the total.
Cobb top scored for Emmbrook with 23 runs before he was dismissed from the bowling of Ashraq who then gained his third wicket of the day by removing Narraway for 12.
Emmbrook’s innings was in trouble having lost their top order for a relatively low score, but the hosts batting problems continued throughout the middle and tail order as they failed to establish a formidable partnership to increase the total.
Qadeer Rasool bowled clinically to pick up three consecutive wickets in the middle order and having only faced 28.5 overs, Emmbrook’s innings came to an end when Richard Cole (5) was run out by Kashif Rasib.
With only 85 runs to defend, Emmbrook had a difficult task ahead of themselves to try and salvage a result from the match.
Holyport also made a shaky start to their innings as Emmbrook’s aggressive early bowling saw them pick up two vital wickets. Hussain helped to recover Holyport’s innings as he knocked 35 runs which saw the visitors edge towards the target set by Emmbrook.
Hamza Choudrey (26*) then hit a good innings to take his side close to victory, and partnered by captain Qadeer Rassol (9*) at the crease, Holyport secured the win with four wickets to spare having surpassed the total in just 17.5 overs.
Emmbrook and Bearwood will be hoping to stop the rot of recent results when they host Little Marlow at the weekend.
Emmbrook and Bearwood batting: A Cobb 23, Jain 1, Fairhead 0, Narraway 12, Prathamesh 4, Williams 9, Shinde 8, Howarth 10, M Cobb 8, Cole 5, Marshall 0no.
Emmbrook and Bearwood bowling: Ashraq 3-23, Mumtaz 2-32, Rasool 3-14, Hussein 1-13.