Women v Emmbrook & Bearwood B

After being on the road to Holyport for a Cup and League match, the Women played their first home league match of the season at the Racecourse Ground.

Louise M stood in as captain and on winning the toss elected to field first. Emmbrook & Bearwood started well with the first two batting pairs putting on 23 each having lost only one wicket to reach the halfway stage at 246. But for the third batting pair, Ascot bowled and fielded really well. They did not get a wicket but by bowling 17 dot balls restricted them to 9 runs. This continued with the final pair as they only managed 10 runs after losing only one wicket to finish on 265 after their 16 overs. A great all round bowling and fielding performance by the team with special mention to Sophie Murray who bowled 3 overs for 5 runs and Sian Hobson who bowled 3 overs for 7 runs net and 1 wicket.

Gemma & Sarah got Ascot off to a great start with 30 runs off the first four overs. Unfortunately the fifth over proved costly as Louise was out three times, but batting partner Hemi helped restored in the next three overs leaving Ascot on 223 after 8 overs. Despite losing a wicket first ball, Sian & Clare finished with a partnership of 16 to leave Ascot on 239 after 12 overs needing 27 to win. Sophie & Chrissie scored 12 off their first over including a 6 from Sophie. The next two overs brought 14 runs which meant that the scores were tied in the final over. Yet another nailbiter of a match from Ascot! A single from Chrissie off the first ball saw Ascot ahead and Sophie saw out the rest of the over including a two to see Ascot to 268 and a win by 3 runs. A great match and performance by the team.

1s v Kew 2

Kew were the visitors at the Racecourse as we returned to the 100 over format with a maximum 52 overs in the first innings. Ascot won the toss and elected to bat first. Ascot started well with a 50 partnership between Mike Breet (26) and Dan Mallett (27). But when they departed Ascot struggled to score runs in the middle overs, in part due to the undoubted Player of the Match – Kew’s second overseas player – Sreshjot Singh – who kept the run rate low with figures of 15 overs, 5 maidens, 2 for 33 alongside Kailas Kulkarni who took 3 for 58.

Kamran Hanif kept the innings together with 60 and in the end it was left to Tamoor Hussain (41 not out) and Nick Wiggett (30 not out) with an unbeaten 72 run seventh wicket partnership that enabled to get Ascot to a respectable 240 for 6 off 52 overs.

However, despite taking a wicket with the first ball of the innings, it was one way traffic from Kew as Manpreet Athwell (71 not out) and Sreshjot Singh made 163 off 108 deliveries to put on 232 for the second wicket. Kew won comfortably with over 13 overs to spare and 8 wickets in hand.

Wokingham 4 v 2s

Ascot 2s were at Wokingham’s second ground and won the toss electing to field first. Wokingham openers Chinmay Kulkarni (68) and Suneer Bhat (23) put on 101 for the first wicket. The rest of the batting line-up chipped in and it was a sixth wicket stand of 55 between Glyn Clements (37 not out) and Ben Jarvis (20) that saw Wokingham reach 224 for 6 off 45 overs.

In response Ascot’s openers started strongly as well with Manvir Dhaliwal and James Docker both making 50. Joseph Summers made 40 but then Ascot made hard work of the chase going from 159 for 2 to 218 for 9, leaving last pair Rahul Mohindru and Tim Howson to get 7 with just an over remaining. Tim Howson kept his and Ascot’s nerve with the winning boundary for a narrow 1 wicket win. Akshay Dhanda did the damage for Wokingham with 4 for 37.

Burnham 4 v 3s

The 3s were at Burnham and were put into bat on losing the toss. Despite contributions from Uthkesh Balegara (49) and Jez Wing (34), Ascot knew that a total of 231 all out would not be enough due to the conditions. Maaz Ali and Nabeel Nawaz both took 3 wickets.

In response, Burnham reached the target with 6 wickets to spare and 21 deliveries remaining with Sonu Kumar top scoring with 98.

4s v Wargrave 4

At Locks Ride the 4s hosted Wargrave, who won the toss and elected to bat first. A strong bowling and fielding performance saw Wargrave restricted to 148 for 7 off 40 overs with Tim Pryke (47 not out) and Mike Andrews (46) forming the backbone of the innings.

Ascot started quickly and captain Elliot Mills (59 not out) and Toby Dodwell-Bennett (51) knocked off the majority of the score and Mill and Dirk Benneyworth say Ascot home by 9 wickets with over half the overs remaining.