Week 1 saw a chilly start to the new season. The colts have had an early start to the season with the Under 13s beating Cookham Dean in the Preliminary Round and Henley in the First Round of the Berkshire Cup. The Under 15s were knocked out in the First Round of the Berkshire Cup.

The 1s were away to Beaconsfield 1s in the new format in Division 2b – playing their first Limited 50 Over match with winner takes all. Ascot won the toss and elected to field. They got off to a great start with two early wickets as Beaconsfield were 10 for 2, but the middle order all contributed with David Heavyside 60, H Stephens 51 and E Barnett with 38 not out seeing Beaconsfield to a very good total of 240 all out off their 50 overs.

Debutant, Elliot Coggins with 3 for 35 and Andy Murray with 1 for 34 were the pick of the bowlers.

James Gamble 36 and Jack Kendall 37 got Ascot off to a good start but the introduction of Stephens 3 for 12 and Rendell 3 for 34 saw little resistance from the middle order with the exception of Andy Murray 27 saw Ascot reach 164 all out.

Next week the 1s will play their first home fixture against Sonning.

The 2s hosted the reverse fixture against Beaconsfield 2s in Division 4a in the traditional 100 over format. Ascot lost the toss and were asked to bat.

A good opening partnership between Murray Barter 30 and Arup Vidyerthy 26 then saw Ascot slump to 128 for 6. However a great partnership between Dan Corsini 73 and Nikesh Patel 29 not out saw Ascot recover and reach a respectable 215 for 9, with Beaconsfield reflecting on several dropped chances.

However, in the end it was Ascot that reflected on a couple of dropped chances as most of the Beaconsfield batsman contributed with Denzil Owen seeing the side home with 48 not out in the 44th over to take the 25 points.

Next week, Ascot 2s visit Eversley 2s as both sides look to record their first victory.

The 3s were away at Reading 3s and on a good wicket Reading took opportunity to bat first. Despite some tight opening bowling from Mike Wyatt 3 for 33 and Tom Dummigan 2 for 59, Reading were able to build a good score of 233 all out in the 52nd over. Chris Reynard 61 and Michael Griesel 44 were top scorers.

Ascot’s innings never really took off and in the end a determined 36 not out from Richard Ellison, Ben Clark 26 and Daniel Mallett 23 ensured that Ascot held on for the draw with 151 for 8.

The 3s are at home to Hurst 2 next week.

The 4s also hosted the reverse fixture with Reading 4s at Locks Ride.

Ascot batted first and a good batting display saw contributions from John Dunnet 31, Joshua Jayasingh 27, Nino Trapani 36, Oscar Pincus 24 enable a great platform which was topped by a superb century from Naeem Mohammed with 101 not out – and timing it to perfection needing 2 off the last ball of the innings to reach the milestone. Ascot finished on 263 for 5 off 47 overs.

Reading 4s were not put off and went for the win from the start. The innings was underpinned by a great 88 from Jay Blaney but wickets started to fall regularly towards the end and Oscar Pincus capped a good match by taking the final wicket in the last over the match finishing with 3 for 40 as Reading were bowled out for 210.

The 4s will be at Bagshot 3s next weekend – and hopefully their division will not see too many forfeitures as 2 out of 5 matches were not played as teams could not be raised.