South Hampstead captain James Williams was disappointed with his side’s batting display in their defeat against league leaders Wembley – and with a sledging incident.

Ham & High: Wembley captain Chulananda de Silva (right) exchanges opinions with the umpire. Pic: Paolo MinoliWembley captain Chulananda de Silva (right) exchanges opinions with the umpire. Pic: Paolo Minoli (Image: Archant)

SH were skittled for 117 after 45.3 overs – and the visitors reached 118-7 in reply in the 29th over to inflict a three-wicket loss.

South Hampstead visit Kenton this weekend and, even though the home side are sitting in the bottom two, Williams says his team will need to improve to get a result.

“It wasn’t good enough. Quite simply we didn’t score enough runs,” he said. “We’ve got Kenton next and we need to be looking to win all our games.

“Despite their league position any team can beat anyone in this league if they perform on the day.”

Saturday’s match was marred by a sledging incident involving Wembley captain Chulananda de Silva and SH batsman Fuad Ahmed.

“It wasn’t great,” said Williams. “Because the incident was between a batsman and their captain it was difficult for the umpire, as usually it’s the captain who comes in to cool down these situations.

“We are local rivals and we were playing for 10 points. The umpires’ assessor was present but I’m not sure if any further action will be taken.”

De Silva said: “It is always a tough game with South Hampstead but it seems that when the chips are down they try to make us lose concentration.

“We played them in pre-season and it was similar. One of their players seems to get himself psyched up by sledging our bowlers and fielders.

“On Saturday one of their players was having a word with a few of my boys and then, when he got some back, he was going to the umpire complaining. Then he hit a six and came charging towards me swearing.

“Obviously we won the game, which is what we went there to do.”