Earley v Women

On Wednesday, the Women played their fourth league match away at Earley. Ascot won the toss and elected to field first.

The first pair, Rajilaxami & Simran put on a strong partnership of 32, losing just one wicket in their partnership to Maddy. The second pair, Ritu & Manasa then continued the momentum with a partnership of 29, leading Earley to 261 for 1 after 8 overs, with a 300+ score on the cards.

However, Ascot bowled and fielded well to restrict the third pair of Reena & Asmita to 11 runs as they lost two wickets as Maddy now took 3 wickets in the match. The final pair of Deepti & Monika finished the innings with a partnership of 25, as they lost one final wicket to Gemma, leaving Early on 297 for 4.

Earley started well as they restricted Ascot’s first pair, Sarah & Gemma to 15 with Reena taking the wicket. However, Maddy & Hemi swayed the momentum back to Ascot with a 37 run partnership, leaving Ascot on 252 for 1 off 8 overs at the half way point.

Ascot’s third pair, Clare & Joy, then build a strong partnership of 23, losing only one wicket to Manasa leaving Ascot on 275 for 2 after 12 overs, needing 21 to win.

The final pair of Sian & Laura started well. 16 was scored off the first over, but a good over by Rajilaxami including a wicket saw Ascot on 288 for 3 off 14 overs. The third over of the partnership saw Ascot take 10 runs to take the lead by two runs on 299 for 3 off 15 overs. All nerves disappeared though as the Laura hit a boundary of the final ball, and a wide followed by a couple of wides, as Ascot scored 19 off the final over to finish on 318 for 3, with Sian & Laura putting on 43 in the final over, to give Ascot their third win of the campaign.

Ascot finish the league season this week, with league leaders Wokingham at the Racecourse on Sunday and Littlewick Green away in their final match on Monday. After that the next match will a Quarter-Final match against Maidenhead & Bray in the Plate.

1s v Wraysbury 2

Wraysbury were the visitors to the Racecourse, and Ascot elected to field on winning the toss. Wraysbury lost a couple of wickets early but rebuilt through Hardik Choudhary who scored freely compared to the rest of the batting line-up. Wickets fell at the other end and at 151 for 5, Wraysbury’s innings was in the balance.

However, thanks to some attacking batting by Choudhary and a charmed life including Ascot dropping him six times, Choudhary was able to put on a partnership of 194 for the sixth wicket with Faizan Mohammad (58 not out) to take Wraysbury to a substantial 346 for 6 off 52 overs. Choudhary was eventually run out for 235 off 151 balls, with 21 fours and 18 sixes.

In response, Ascot lost James Docker early for 14, but then Dan Mallett and Rahul Singh set about the Wraysbury attack. After just 15 overs, Wraysbury went on the defensive with fielders on the boundary, However with boundaries now more difficult to get so early on in the innings, Mallett and Singh put on 198 for the second wicket until Rahul Singh was out for a magnificent 121.

Ascot continued to chase the victory but fell 31 runs short with 4 wickets in hand as Dan Mallett finished on 136 resulting in the match finishing in a high scoring draw.

Holyport 1 v 2s

Ascot made the trip to league leaders at Holyport. Holyport won the toss and elected to bat first. Holyport lost wickets at regular intervals early on, and found themselves at 94 for 5, with Tim Howson taking 3 for 44, but opener, Sunilkumar Selvaraj remained steadfast. He found support from Mahmood Ul Hassan who hit a rapid 50 before becoming the first of Rahul Mohindru’s three victims. However, Selvaraj went on to make 95 to help Holyport to 248 all out.

Ascot were soon in trouble at 44 for 3, but Jack Barley (34) and Ben Atkin (33) got the innings back on track but then both fell quickly to leave Ascot on 112 for 5. Rajiv Docker and Joe Warren then got Ascot back on track with Docker falling for 49 leaving Ascot on 215 for 7. But Warren continued to reach a quick 71 not out to see Ascot home with 9 deliveries and 2 wickets remaining for a great win.

3s v Eastcote 4

Eastcote won the toss at Locks Ride and elected to bat first. Early wickets fell but opener Krish Hirani with 52 kept Eastcote in the game until he fell leaving them on 122 for 5. But the middle and lower order including 53 off 33 balls from skipper, Thomas Butcher helped Eastcote to 234 for 7 off 40 overs.

In reponse Ascot started quickly with openers Toby Dodwell-Bennett (53) and Jeremy Wing (23). The middle order continued the momentum and Gowtham Yermanasetti (55 not out) and Hassan Sohail saw Ascot home with more than 14 overs and 6 wickets remaining.

Knowl Hill 1 v 4s

Ascot made the trip to league leaders Knowl Hill. Knowl Hill won the toss and elected to bat first. Strong contrbutions from the top order by Chris Wroot (63), Joe Bloomfield (39) and Jordy Duffy (30) saw Knowl Hill to 210 for 4 off 40 overs.

In response, Ascot started will with Elliot Mills making 27 but that was the highest contribution from the top 6 batters and Knowl Hill had the upper hand at 91 for 6. Despite a big hitting innings off 66 not out by Anirudh Hotla, no one else with the exception of Raf Bocchio (17) was able to see the innings through and Ascot fell 14 runs short on 196 all out in 34.4 overs. Chris Wroot took the honours with the ball as well as the bat with 4 for 33. A missed opportunity for the 4s to get into the top 4.