Apologies for the Janet Jackson inspired pun headline – for those of a younger generation then best to check out the video on YouTube!

More about Yateley later. The colts season is now under way and on Sunday the Under 10s opened their account in the West Surrey League against Weybridge. They won with a net score of 300 against 277.

The Under 11s also opened their account with a win against Chertsey in the West Surrey League chasing down a total of 77 for the loss of only 2 wickets.

This Friday, the Under 13s will be playing the Swiss U13 national team at the Racecourse Ground at 6pm. There will be a BBQ and so we encourage as many of you to come down and watch the match.

For the senior teams would Week 3 see them continue the momentum of the previous weekend? Yateley were the opponents for both our 1st XI and 3rd XI this weekend. It was sad to hear from the league that due to the loss of a number of 2nd XI players that Yateley have had to pull their 2nd XI out of Division 3a. Also, their 4th XI had to forfeit their fixture this weekend – so we all hope that Yateley will recover from this – and that they get back to full strength with 4 XIs in the near future and continue to be a strong member of the Thames Valley Cricket League and the cricketing community.

The 1s were visitors to Yateley 1s. The match was reduced to a 33 over match due to the rain and Yateley duly won the toss and decided to field.

Skipper Jack Kendall was out early for a duck. Runs were hard to come by and then Yateley made a triple strike as 34 for 1 became 37 for 4 as James Gamble 10, James Wensley 22 and Deep Mohain 0 departed.

Will Ellison 25 and Ollie Dunnett 36 rebuilt the innings and then some good hitting at the end by Andy Murray 32 not out and Andy English 25 not out saw Ascot reach a respectable 163 for 6 off 33 overs.

Andy Murray 1 for 12 and Mike Brown 1 for 16 kept the runs tight at the start of the Yateley innings going at just over 2 an over. As with Ascot’s innings, Yateley went from 44 for 1 to 57 for 4 as Kevin May 0 for 30, Nick Wiggett 1 for 29 and Ollie Dunnett 3 for 21 continued to keep the pressure on and despite James Halson top scoring with 27, Yateley could not keep up with the run rate and finished on 124 for 7 for Ascot to complete their second win by 39 runs.

This week the 1s will be at home to sixth place Burnham 2s.

The 2s were at home to Teddington Town. Again rain meant that the match was reduced from 100 to 84 overs. Ascot won the toss and decided to field.

Teddington were soon in trouble at 15 for 4 as Mike Wyatt 2 for 19 and Saeed Ahmed 2 for 24 provided a great opening spell. Potdar and Obani then repaired the damage and moved the score onto 63 but then Jason Carr 4 for 34 and Tim Howson 2 for 26 had the visitors at 86 for 9. A valiant 10th wicket stand between Phillips and Procter saw Teddington to 120 all out in the 41st over.

However, Ascot didn’t find batting easy either. 25 for 0 became 33 for 3 as Arup Vidyerthy 12, Murray Barter 11 and Jeremy Wing 5 were sent back to pavilion. Danny Parker 15 and Neal Feely then pushed the score to 68 before another cluster of wickets saw Ascot 78 for 6 and the game in the balance.

However, skipper Ralph Weeks 15 not out and Neal Feely 42 not out steadied the ship to see the 2s home in the 31st over and win by 4 wickets. Anthony Phillips with 3 for 23 was the pick of the Teddington Town bowlers.

This week the 2s visit fourth placed Slough 3s.

The 3s were at home to Yateley 3s, of which many of the players had previously filled in for the 2nd XI.

Ascot won the toss and elected to field and were rewarded as Tom Dummigan and Jacob Parry picked up 2 wickets a piece to reduce Yateley to 28 for 4. But the middle and late order started to score heavily with contributions from Mcgowan 33, Foster 30, Akhtar 25 not out and Pienaar 22 to see Yateley reach a very respectable 194 all out in 45.3 overs, with Jacob Parry being the standout bowler with figures of 4 for 37.

Ascot found the going hard against some good Yateley bowling and were behind the run rate when skipper Dirk Benneyworth joined James McElgunn at the crease at 66 for 4. But an outstanding partnership of 91 for the 5th wicket saw Ascot back in the chase and despite the loss of Benneyworth for 40 and two more wickets, James McElgunn saw Ascot home with 62 not out to win by 3 wickets.

This week Ascot will travel to ninth place Purley-on-Thames 2s.

The 4s were visitors to Hayes 4s and with only 4 overs lost Hayes won the toss decided to bat first. This decision was vindicated with a partnership of 80 for the 1st wicket in 10 overs as Josh Mahoney scored a quickfire 55. Naeem Mohammed 4 for 61 and Chris Thomason 4 for 60 the brought some control to the innings but Hayes finished on a respectable 183 for 9 off 45 overs.

Unfortunately Ascot were never able to get into the run chase. Openers John Dunnet and Nino Trapani departed with only 2 on the board but while Ascot were only to lose one more wicket – runs were difficult to find and the match petered out to a draw as Ascot finished on 102 for 3 with Richard Baker on 56 not out.

This week the 4s entertain third placed Kew 4s at Locks Ride.

Finally on Sunday, we saw Ascot play Wargrave at the Racecourse Ground in the quarter-finals of the Berkshire Cup – a 40 over competition.

Ascot batted well initially but the innings subsided as Ascot reached 178 all out. In the end Wargrave won at a canter with D Davies scoring 82 not out as Wargrave went into the semi-finals with a 7 wicket victory in the 30th over.