Last Friday, the Under 15s had their quarter-final match against Binfield. Binfield batted first and some tight bowling and fielding meant that Binfield struggled in the first 10 overs. Some big hitting at the end helped them reach a respectable 114 for 6 off their 20 overs.

The Ascot innings started brightly and continued that way. A big opening partnership by Samm Daniel 49 and Joshua Jayasingh 50 retired not out meant that in the end Ascot won comfortably by 9 wickets and face Slough in the semi-finals.

In other colts news –

• Under 15 B team lost a close match against Datchet by 9 runs
• Under 12s had a comfortable 53 run win against Weybridge
• Under 11 Academy team won by 39 runs against Stoke D’Abernon
• Under 10 A team beat Pyrford by 20 runs
• Under 11 Lightening won by 23 runs against Cookham Dean
• The Girls enjoyed some good performances in the Festival held at Ascot

While the Colts are having a strong start to the season the Seniors are having a tougher time. Due to poor availability we had to cancel the 4th XI match – the first time we have ever had to do that for the 4s and hopefully the last.

The 1s were on the road to Beaconsfield and elected to field first. Beaconsfield started strongly based around Jonny Bowers 57 but at 149 for 6 the game was swaying Ascot’s way. But James Rendall with the tail wagged hard and his 73 not out got them to a very good total of 285 for 9 off 50 overs.

Mike Brown was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 45.

Ascot started slowly and were behind the run rate due to an excellent spell from Joseph Bracey with 1 for 13 in 10 overs.

Jez Hare 63 and Charlie Dunnett 54 got the momentum going and Jack Kendall continued that with a good 40. But in the end, the run rate kept climbing and eventually Ascot were all out for 257 with 13 balls remaining.

Ziafat Ashraf claimed the bowling honours with 4 for 42.

The 2s were at home to Thatcham 2s. Ascot batted first and reached a respectable 227 for 7 off 45 overs led by Gary Clarke’s 72, Jez Wing’s 39 and 62 extras.

But this was never enough as Tom Mahoney scored a great 115 not out to lead the visitors to a 6 wickets win with over 7 overs to spare.

The 3s were at home to Slough 5s. Ascot batted first and made a good 183 for 8 thanks to 57 from James Docker and John Dunnet’s 30. Prashant Patil led the bowling with 3 for 28.

But this was never enough as Slough reached the total with nearly 15 overs to spare as Ulaganathan Thanikachalam 52, Abdul Saboor Abassi 50 and 48 not out from Praveen Hiremath saw them home by 4 wickets.

Igneshas Perera was the pick of the Ascot bowlers with 3 for 24.

Another hard week for the Ascot teams as they look to turn things around.

Saturday’s fixtures are:

1s v Thatcham Town at the Racecourse

2s v Maidenhead & Bray 2 at Bray

3s v Binfield 3 at Waltham St Lawrence CC

4s v Finchampstead 5 at Locks Ride