Skipper pleased with team’s showing against Harpenden

RADLETT skipper Shane Burger ignored the frustration of his side’s rain-curtailed game with Harpenden to praise his troops’ showing.

Sheilen Patel and Kabir Toor both scored good runs at the top of the order before Burger himself scored an unbeaten century. Toor and Haydn Smith then performed well with the ball to leave Burger a happy man.

“We were in a commanding position, it’s always tough when rain comes down but you can’t control the weather,” Burger told the Herts Advertiser afterwards.

“I’m just really happy with the way my boys played. Some of the youngsters came through nicely, it was good to see our young wicketkeeper (Ben Charles) doing a great job for us and it was nice to have an old boy like Haydn (Smith) back in the team who’s played for a number of years. Whether he’ll keep playing for us, I’m not sure we’ll have to have a chat with him.

“The vibe was good and it was just a thoroughly enjoyable day.”

Burger admitted the side had taken a gamble opening with Patel but it was one that paid off as he scored 49 much to the delight of the Radlett skipper.

“We took a gamble opening with Shil. He often bats down the order but I’ve always believed he’s got the talent to get up the order.

“Today was a great opportunity to let him open the batting and see what he’s got. I thought he was flawless until he got out, he played a poor shot to get out, but to get to 49 like he did it just built a nice base to let the rest of us play around him.”

Burger enjoyed a delightful innings of his own smashing six 4s and five 6s on his way to an unbeaten 115.

“It was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it,” he said.

“It was a good wicket to bat on, a little bit slow, but it was a really good wicket to bat on and a really quick outfield too. It was just one of those days, I was a little bit lucky early on I got dropped in the twenties then after that everything seemed to go nicely.”

Radlett are boosted by the return of vice-captain Tom Jenkins after a spell working in Australia and Burger was keen to praise Ben Charles who’s deputised behind the stumps in Jenkins’ absence.

“We get Tom Jenkins back next week, he’s been in Australia for five weeks but Ben’s done a terrific job in his absence. Ben’s only been keeping for two or three years and to see a youngster like that come through is terrific.

“We didn’t have Faxy today, Fakir Dungaria, who usually plays for us hence why Haydn was playing, so we lost a few key players but we’re a club who believes in developing our youth. We don’t pay any of our players so we are really happy with the youth structure at the moment.”

Radlett’s next challenge comes in the form of Aston Rowant who make the trip to Cobden Hill on Saturday.

“It’s a big game for us, a really big game,” explained Burger.

“It’s a pity about the rain today we were really hoping for 25 points. Next week’s game for us at home, we like to believe we’re a better team at home, so we’re looking forward to them coming across and playing them for the first time.”