Firstly, we need to congratulate our fellow sporting neighbours, Ascot United, on their historic win against Newport Pagnell to win the FA Vase at Wembley on Sunday. In a thrilling and tense match, Ascot won 1 – 0 to cap a brilliant double as they had already sealed the CCL Premier Division North Championship.

Ascot United are one of the largest community football clubs in the country and run many teams from girls and boys to veteran sides and we’re proud to share the same ethos and commitment to the community. They have done Ascot proud and are sure that more success will come their way.

Also, a special well done, to their chair, Simon Negus. Simon has also been involved with our club running one of our very successful Colts teams and he richly deserves this success.

So the weather finely turned for the better and all 4 teams were able to play – although it will not be a weekend to remember from a cricketing perspective!

Theale & Tilehurst v 1s

Ascot made the trip to Douai Abbey, to take on Theale & Tilehurst. Ascot lost the toss and were put into bat first. The wicket was not easy at first, and Ascot were soon in trouble at 26 for 2 losing Sam Burling and Owen Bowles early on.

Jem Bains (44) and Andy Murray were able to rebuild the innings putting on 91 on for the third wicket as Murray reached his 50.

Skipper Adam Smith then upped the scoring rate with a quick 34 until Wellings bowled him. Andy Murray fell for 79 and it was left to Dan Corsini to get some quick runs at the end with 17 not out to help Ascot reach a respectable 211 for 5 off 45 overs.

James Bozarth was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 40.

Theale & Tilehurst got off to a blistering start going at 7 an over, and it took a run out and an lbw from Joe Warren to get both openers including Jacob Stoner who made 40 off 31 balls.

Nick Wiggett with 3 for 40 and Owen Bowles with 1 for 24 were able to put the squeeze on Theale & Tilehurst and the game was in the balance at 186 for 7.

However, an undefeated partnership of 26 from Robbie Jeffrey (13 not out) and James Bozarth (16 not out) saw them home with 3 wickets and 4 balls to spare.

A great match but just on the end of the wrong result.

2s v Binfield 2

At the Racecourse Ground, local rivals, Binfield were the visitors and they elected to field when they won the toss.

Runs were hard to get initially as Kali-Ann Docherty and Kamal Gupta (9-4-10-2) kept the run rate below 2. Unfortunately for Ascot, Gupta then snagged 2 wickets in his final over as he got Kamran Zaki (19) and Ian Dawkins (0) out to leave Ascot on 41 for 2.

Deep Mohain made a well constructed 50 but was then caught by Patel off the bowling of Choodamani for 52 to leave Ascot on 92 for 3, soon to be followed by Manvir Dhaliwal (22) at 100 for 4.

Runs were needed quickly and Saria Muhammad (18) and Tom Clarke (15) fell in that search by Jeremy Wing (42 not out) and Sehaj Dhaliwal (16 not out) helped Ascot reach a reasonable total of 189 for 6 off 45 overs.

Binfield got off to a better start despite the early loss of Mitesh Patel. Andy Mills hit a quick 31 to gain momentum before Saria had him lbw leaving Binfield on 61 for 3. Ascot continued to chip away and looked in a good position with Binfield 90 for 6.

But opener Steve Jeffrey remained resolute and with Venkatram Choodmani (22) put on 50 and then a stand of 41 with Chris Bullett (16) to get them within 9 runs.

Jeffrey (77 not out) and Peter Henly (5 not out) saw Binfield home with 2 wickets and 8 balls remaining.

Another fine margin.

However, this match did make a landmark as the official Royal Ascot Cricket Club Youtube was launched and this is the first match that was live streamed using our new Frogbox system.

The match in its entirety can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/live/GI8vVYHOZQ0?feature=share

Cookham Dean 3 v 3s

The 3s made the trip to the Odney Club at Cookham. Ascot won the toss and elected to bat first. However, Ascot were soon in trouble thanks to a fine spell of bowling by Kashish Choudhary, as she took 4 for 11 as the top order were soon dispatched.

Dirk Benneyworth (36) was supported by some lower order batters but Ascot could only muster 133 all out off 36.4 overs.

Cookham Dean soon put that score in perspective as Jonathan Gay (32) and Richie Hopkins (65 not out) helped them ease to an 8 wicket victory with 19 overs remaining.

4s v Boyne Hill 4

At Locks Ride, Boyne Hill were the visitors and were put into bat by Ascot. Unfortunately Ascot’s fielding was not up to the task with several dropped catches and opener Martin Preston smashed 116 while being supported by Charlie Parker (41) and Matt Roberts (40) to help Boyne Hill reach an imposing 284 for 8 off 40 overs.

Ascot were never at the races as Jack Spencer-Jones (3 for 22) and Callum Hayes (4 for 25) as they reduced Ascot to 62 for 8 (effectively 9 as Chris Thomason was injured while fielding) but thanks to a rear-guard action by Ahmer Mughal (74 not out) and Richard Wyatt (17 not out), Ascot were able to reach 158 off 29.1 overs.

Another wide margin.

A weekend for the cricket part of Ascot to forget. But last week, the T20 team were able to record their first win against Sandhurst. It was a thrilling, nail-biting match as Ascot won by 1 run. Unfortunately those of us watching the live stream as well as having the handicap of no live scorecard were also left with a blue screen as the live streaming failed just before the match finished!