The final week of a short season saw the 1s on the road at Finchampstead 3s, and a win would guarantee them top spot in Division 3a.

The 1s won the toss and elected to field first. Richard Reed and Jamie Brown got Finch off to a great start with a 50 partnership before Billy Baker run out Reed for 24. Ascot then got the upper hand as they reduced Finch to 94 for 4 as Jamie Brown was out for 32 caught behind by Dan Corsini off Joshua Jayasingh.

Andy Webb and Phil West then helped Finch recover with a 49 partnership and the late order helped Finch reach 208 for 9 off 40 overs.

Ascot got off to a quick start but lost Harry Watson for 13 and Gareth Baker for 1. But an unbeaten 150 partnership from Joshua Jayasingh 91 not out and Andy Murray 63 not out saw Ascot home by 8 wickets and 16 deliveries to win the division.

The 2s finished the season at home to Henley 3s. Ascot won the toss and elected to bat first. Gary and Tom Clarke got Ascot off to a fast start until Tom Clarke was bowled by Andy Chappell. But despite Gary Clarke top scoring with 40 and James Docker with 30, Ascot looked like they were going to fall well below 200 until a last wicket partnership between Rob Handley 38 not out and Myles Trainor 25 not out got them to a respectable 203 for 9.

Sean Taylor 2 for 22 and John Neville 2 for 23 were the pick of the Henley attack.

Henley looked in control with Chris Dyer and George Laslett at the crease. However, when George Laslett was out for 46 caught on the long off boundary by Matt Hurdwell off Jeremy Wing then the required run rate started to climb.

When Chris Dyer departed for 36 bowled by Matt Hurdwell it was left to the talented youngster Magnus Wrottsley to try and see Henley home. With a technique similar to Steve Smith, he made a great 57 not out but with wickets falling at the other end, Henley fell short by 13 runs, finishing on 190 for 7. Jason Carr was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 25.

The 2s finished in 3rd place.

The club is very grateful to Windsor CC for hosting our home match as the 3s played Windsor 2s at the beautiful Home Park ground. The 3s won the toss and batted first.

Several players got in but then got out so no one got the big innings that would have seen Ascot reach 200. Deep Mohain top scored with 32 as Ascot finished on 165 all out off 37.4 overs. Four Windsor bowlers took 2 wickets each.

Jacob Parry with 4 for 35 had Windsor in early trouble, but the middle order of Vinay Vasita 41, George Smith 35 not out and skipper Jag Bhabra 31 saw Windsor home by 3 wickets and 7 overs.

The 3s finished in 9th position but it could have been different as they were at the wrong end of several close matches.

The 4s were at Slough 6 for their final league match. Slough won the toss and elected to bowl first. With Nino Trapani top scoring with 24, Ascot were all out for 121 with 2 overs remaining. Opening bowlers Pardeep Kalsi 3 for 23 and Karan Kaul 3 for 24 doing the damage.

Slough eased to a 7 wicket victory with 13 overs remaining as Mehmood Kochai top scored with 40 not out.

Despite this defeat, the 4s finished 6th in a 14 team league.

At the end of the day, the big winner was cricket as we managed to get a truncated half season in which was a massive lifeline to our club and I’m sure other clubs to ensure that we got in much needed revenue in 2020.

A big thank you to all the committee members on the Thames Valley Cricket League who were able to sort out rules and fixtures at such short notice to get the game on – and also to all the clubs in ensuring that we got cricket on this season. Hopefully we will see a more normal season in 2021.