Women v Maidenhead & Bray

On Sunday, the women played their third Berkshire Soft Ball league match, at home to Maidenhead & Bray. Maidenhead & Bray won the toss and elected to field first.

Sarah & Gemma faced some good bowling and fielding and despite losing a wicket in the first over managed to get the score to 211 after 4 overs. Hemi & Sue build on this in the second partnership and were going well but lost a wicket in the final over as they too the score to 223 after 8 overs. Laura and Sian then made the most of the conditions scoring several boundaries to take the score to 260 after 12 overs and were then following by some more good batting by Sophie and Christie to help them reach a final total of 299 for 2 off 16 overs.

Sophie bowled the first over and 2 wickets had Maidenhead & Bray in trouble at 193. But the opening pair of Sana & Alyzeh recovered to get them to 224 after 4 overs. The captain, Jiffy, and Sasra then built a strong second partnership to get Maidenhead and Bray in a very strong position at the halfway mark as they reached 259 after 8 overs.

But some strong bowling and great catching in the next 4 overs saw Gemma take 2 wickets and Hemi one wicket, which swayed the momentum as the third partnership made 2 leaving Maidenhead & Bray on 261 after 12 overs – needing 30 runs to win. But Ascot’s strong performance in the field continued with Sarah and Sophie taking a wicket each to restrict Maidenhead & Bray to 270 for 7 off 16 overs. Ascot winning by 29 runs.

A couple of friendlies are up next before they face Wokingham at home in the league.

T20 v Farley Hill (Plate Quarter-Final)

After narrowly losing to Reading in the Cup, Ascot went into the Plate competition with a home match against Farley Hill. Ascot won the toss and elected to bat first.

Despite losing Dan Mallett early, Ascot started well with Joseph Summers (28) and Rahul Singh (39) getting Ascot off to a good start. But then wickets fell regularly and Ascot had to thank the tail for a late wag to get them to 142 all out off 20 overs, with Sreejith Kenchath taking 3 for 29.

Ascot started will and blew the top order away, as Farley Hill were 13 for 4 with Will Powell taking 3 for 8. But gradually Farley Hill got back into the contest with Sreejith Kenchath 41 and Dijin Dineshn 32 taking the game deep with Farley Hill needing 27 off the final 3 overs. But a couple of good pieces of fielding saw Farley Hill run out of steam and finish on 124 all out off 19 overs. Ascot now go on into the semi-finals.

Hillingdon Manor 1 v 1s

The 1s continue their roadtrip with a visit to Hillingdon Manor. Ascot won the toss and elected to bat first. Dan Mallett (25) and James Docker (57) showed good ticker to put on 64 for the opening partnership but batting was difficult and Ascot needed Wendel Sebastian (45) and Joseph Summers (16) to help them reach a respectable 193 all out off 46.4 overs. Aditya Bhatt taking 5 for 75 for Hillingdon Manor.

Hillingdon Manor started well in response, with George Webb (45) and Arslan Latif (25). But then Kamran Hanif (4 for 43) and Rahul Singh (5 for 33) bowled well in tandem supported by some good fielding as Hillingdon Manor subsided to 143 all out in 38 overs, leaving No.4 batter Aditya Bhatt on 30 not out. Another good win for Ascot on the road.

Binfield 3 v 2s

Binfield were the visitors to the Racecourse Ground, and they elected to field on winning the toss. Ascot’s innings never got going and despite 46 from skipper Manvir Dhaliwal, the score was looking well under-par. However, a maiden 50 from Rajiv Docker and 36 not out for Aarav Radhakrishnan at least kept Ascot in the contest with 221 for 9 off 45 overs. Bryn Davies took 3 for 32 for Binfield.

The game looked in the balance at 128 for 6, but Jaden Slaugher (52 not out) and Greg Broughton (26 not out) helped Binfield comfortably to the win by 3 wickets and 22 deliveries left.

Hayes 4 v 3s

Ascot made the trip to Hayes new ground – the Navnat Centre. Ascot won the toss and elected to field on an artificial wicket. Ascot started well with Sadiq Khan taking 4 for 27, but the middle order got Hayes back on track with Gurpreet Jhand (55) and Surinder Singh (37). In the end Ascot bowled out Hayes for 182 in 38.2 overs.

Ascot lost a couple of quick wickets but regrouped as the rest of the top order got starts and into double figures but then got out. Ascot were reliant on a superb innings from Sadiq Khan to get them near, and with one wicket remaining needed one run to win. Cedric Cooray settled nerves by seeing the remainder of the 39th over, leaving Sadiq 6 deliveries to get the winning run. He only needed one as he hit a 6 to finish on 56 not out and see Ascot through to a narrow win. This is a very tight division with only 25 points separating 2nd place and 9th place.

4s v Twyford & Ruscombe 2

At Locks Ride, Twyford & Ruscombe were the visitors and on winning the toss, elected to field first. They probably regretted that decision as Ishaan Banerjee (56) and Toby Dodwell-Bennett (148) put on 182 for the opening partnership. Once Toby departed after a magnificent innings including 18 boundaries and 7 sixes, Sathesh Polepaka took 3 for 41, but Ashwin Vasudevan (21 not out) and Shivam Sinha (22 not out) kept the momentum going to see Ascot reach 286 for 5 off 40 overs.

Twyford & Ruscombe made a good response but were always just behind the rate despite Sathesh Polepaka top scoring with 65 not out matching the 65 in extras including 53 wides to finish on 258 for 9, with Shivam Sinha and Dylan Baker taking 3 wickets each.