Friday evening saw the Under 15s play Finchampstead in the Berkshire Cup. Ascot won the toss and elected to field first. Finchampstead reached a respectable 133 for 7 off 20 overs thanks to some big hitting at the end by Liam Bulteel with 42.

In the end, Ascot controlled the run chase well with Julius de la Hey 51 retired not out and Joshua Jayasingh 45 not out easing Ascot to a nine wicket win, with Binfield the next opponents.

The Under 15s also had a good win against Slough, while the Under 11s and 13s beat their counterparts from Binfield. Only the Under 9s lost to a strong Valley End side.

The 1s were at home to Finchampstead 2s. Finchampstead won the toss and elected to bat first. The game was finally balanced at 96 for 5 with Jayasingh and Hare taking the first 5 wickets, with Matthew Eldridge offering resistance with 43 off 58 balls.

But the lower order kept the Finch boat steady to reach 218 all out with Andy Lazenbury scoring 42 and skipper Jack Kendall 3 for 34.

However, at 51 for 6, Finchampstead looked like cruising to an easy win. However, a 95 run eighth wicket stand by Charlie Dunnett 87 and Nick Wiggett 41 not out kept Ascot in the match but Connor Corlet wrapped things up by taking the last wicket and a great spell of 5 for 42 to capture a 10 run win.

The 2s were the visitors at Boyne Hill 3s and were invited to bat first. Some good contributions from Jez Wing 51, Robbie Handley 41, Dan Corsini 31 and Jason Carr 30 not out saw Ascot reach 219 for 6 off 45 overs.

Boyne Hill were always above the run rate but lost wickets at regular intervals. Thomas Bishop 43 and Sam Hayes 39 kept them on course but with Jason Carr 3 for 41 and Mike Wyatt 3 for 72 the equation became very simple. Ascot needed one wicket and Boyne Hill needed 11 runs to win.

In the end Steve Abraham’s 31 not out and David Goodman 8 not out saw Boyne Hill home in a tense finish, and another close defeat for the 2s.

The 3s went down the M4 to visit Newbury 2s. Newbury won the toss and elected to bat first. The match was a low scoring affair as nobody got above 20 for Newbury as some good bowling and great fielding restricted Newbury to 123 all out with Tom Dummigan the pick of the Ascot bowlers with 3 for 18.

However, Ascot found the going hard as Newbury struck back. 61 for 1 became 85 for 6 with Deep Mohain top scoring with 30.

Dan Bailey 19 and an unbeaten 8th wicket stand between Andy Wiggett 13 not out and Richard Wyatt 12 not out help see Ascot home to win by 3 wickets with 23 balls remaining.

The 4s were at home to a very strong Bradfield 2s. Bradfield were invited to bat and put on an impressive 257 for 8 off 40 overs led by Paul Armstrong’s 84 not out. Satpal was the pick of the Ascot bowlers with 3 for 55.

Despite a valiant 47 by Nino Trapani, Ascot lost heavily by 112 runs with 3 overs remaining.

It has been a tough start for Ascot and we’ll be glad to see the end of May and look for better fortunes in June. The next league matches are:

1s v Beaconsfield 1 (Away)

2s v Thatcham Town 2 (Home)

3s v Slough 5 (Away)

4s v Wokingham 5 (Away)