Football might be coming home but it was a nightmare for this Saturday’s League administrators, groundsmen, officials and captains as negotiations took place to allow players and officials to watch the England v Sweden World Cup Quarter Final.

The 1s started earliest at 10.30am at home to Hurst. Sometimes there is not much to be said. Ascot won the toss and batted first. Ascot were 62 all out and Hurst scored 65 for 3 to win by 7 wickets – just before the official start time of 1pm.

The 2s started at 11.30am away at Boyne Hill 2s. The 2s won the toss and elected to bat but despite a couple of players getting a start, Gary Clarke 25 and Jeremy Wing 23, they subsided to 117 all out off 43.3 overs. Chetan Bhanot 5 for 46 and Jay Lloyd 4 for 33 being the chief destroyers.

Boyne Hill then went on to comfortably make the target with 7 wickets in hand thanks to Don Pike’s 53 not out.

The 3s started at 12.45pm against Wokingham 4s to allow the second half to be watched at an extended tea break. Wokingham won the toss and inserted Ascot.

Ascot’s innings was built around a 97 run second wicket stand by skipper Marc Ames 50 and Ralph Weeks 62. But from the great start, Ascot faltered from 116 for 1 to 198 all out in 40.2 overs with Arvind Bhat taking an impressive 6 for 53.

Wokingham were soon in trouble at 15 for 3 with Satpal Madhan Singh taking 3 for 27. A fourth wicket recovery saw Wokingham reach 91 for 3 until Dersh Patel was out for 11 caught behind by Dan Mallett off Jacob Parry.

The critical passage of play was at 114 for 4 when 3 wickets fell for 0 runs. Mike Wyatt bowled Raj Acharya and Diptesh Patel, and then Rob Major took the crucial wicket of Hasanain Ghafoor for 53 caught at slip by Marc Ames.

Wokingham were bowled out for 133 in 35.4 overs with Mike Wyatt taking 4 for 43.

The 4s won a conceded match against Sonning 3s.

Next week’s matches are:

1s v Wokingham 2 (A)

2s v Henley 3 (H)

3s v Theale & Tilehurst 3 (A)

4s v Bracknell 2 (H)

On Thursday evening the U12 and U14 Girls played their first ever match against Binfield in a friendly and won by 5 runs. A great achievement and we now have 30 girls in this section and are keen to expand more.

On Friday evening the Under 15s won their Berkshire U15 Cup semi-final against Finchampstead in the final over to set up a home final against Peppard Stoke Row – which will hopefully be played this week.