Using the max function with a query on column in SQL Server using vb.net

Hi here is code snippet used temprarily on button to debug. This works but i wish to use the 2nd snippet. 1st snippet Dim connString As New SqlConnection connString.ConnectionString = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("sql2008r2_857000_dmcsqlConnectionString").ConnectionString Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("select TOP 1 no from members ORDER BY no DESC", connString) Dim reader As SqlDataReader Dim lastNumber As String Using (connString) connString.Open() reader = cmd.ExecuteReader() While reader.Read lastNumber = reader.Item("no") End While End Using Response.Write(lastNumber) 2nd snippet Dim connString As New SqlConnection connString.ConnectionString = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("sql2008r2_857000_dmcsqlConnectionString").ConnectionString Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("select max(no) from members ", connString) Dim reader As SqlDataReader Dim lastNumber As String Using (connString) connString.Open() reader = cmd.ExecuteReader() While reader.Read lastNumber = reader.Item("no") End While End Using Response.Write(lastNumber) This gives error: System.IndexOutOfRangeException: 'no' no is a column name which has nvarchar(8) data type and allows nulls Any help would be welomed