Women v Maidenhead & Bray – Plate Quarter-Final

After a significant wait, Ascot’s opponents in the Plate Quarter-FInal, Maidenhead & Bray made a trip to the Racecourse Ground. Ascot won the toss and elected to field first.

Sana & Alyzeh got Maidenhead off to a great start and despite losing a wicket put on 16 for the first partnership. Debbie & Alexandra were in next, but found the Ascot bowling and fielding were on point and despite scoring 13 runs, lost three wickets, which left Maidenhead & Bray on 214 for 4 off 8 overs.

The next pair, Ayesha & Simrat, didn’t lose any wickets but could only put on 14 runs as Ascot continued to apply the pressure.

The final pair of Jiffriya & Rahemma, again kept Ascot from taking any wickets and put on 18 for the final four overs to help Maidenhead & Bray reach 246 for 4 off 16 overs.

Anna with 3 overs, 2 for 6 and Sophie with 3 overs 1 for 4 were the pick of a very strong Ascot bowling attack.

Gemma & Hemi got Ascot off to a solid start putting on 12 with the loss of a wicket. Anna & Zara then put on 11 for the second partnership to leave Ascot on 223 for 1 off 8 overs, exactly half of Maidenhead’s net score.

Despite losing a wicket in the first over, Laura & Sarah finished strong with a net 19 run partnership with only 1 wicket lost. This left Ascot only 4 runs behind with the final partnership of Sophie & Christie to come.

They calmly accumulated runs with a 27 run partnership with no wickets loss to see Ascot win by 23 runs and a semi-final spot against Wargrave.

Ayesha with 3 overs, 1 for 13 and Debbie with 3 overs, 1 for 14 were the pick of the Maidenhead & Bray attack.

1s v Hillingdon Manor

The forecast was poor, but the match started only 30 minutes late. Ascot won the toss and elected to field first. Several early wickets had Ascot looking strong but a 4th wicket partnership of 82 between George Webb (73) and Hamza Sanik (36) put Hillingdon Manor back on track but 139 for 3 became 139 for 7 and the Manor were probably relieved that a rain break stopped the collapse. However, with time and now overs lost, Hillingdon only had several overs left after the break and despite 18 not out from Amar Lal, Hillingdon Manor were bowled out for 170.

Razwan Hanif with 3 for 29 and Tamoor Hussain with 3 for 31 were the pick of the Ascot bowlers. Ascot needed a DLS target of 168 off 38 overs.

Ascot started well with Billy Baker and Kamran Hanif putting on 50 for the first wicket. Billy Baker went on to make 52 and with Rahul Singh making 58, they broke the back of the run chase with Nick Wiggett (17 not out) seeing Ascot home by 6 wickets and more than 10 overs remaining.

Binfield 3 v 2s

Ascot were the visitors at Waltham St Lawrence. With the weather forecast to be poor, Ascot elected to field first. Conditions were difficult and Binfield had Darren Slaughter (44) and Chris White (18) to thank for to get them to 102 all out in just under 31 overs.

Larry Hobson was the pick of the Ascot bowlers with 4 for 22.

However, Ascot found conditions hard going. But at 74 for 3, would have expected to find a win to the winning line but Ollie Brasier 3 for 16 and Peter Henly 3 for 20 had other ideas as Ascot limped to 89 all out as the lower order could not support Matt Lambert, who top scored with 24.

3s v Hayes 4

Bottom of the table, Hayes made the trip to Locks Ride. As expected, Ascot won the toss and elected to field first. Perhaps some of the Ascot players expected demons with the weather, but despite the overcast conditions, Hayes put Ascot on the back foot and made 250 for 7 off their 38 overs. There were several contributions as Dilpreet Shoker (54), Runjot Singh (44) and Muhammadu Kalam (42) got them to a strong total.

In the end, the weather won as the match was abandoned with Ascot 14 for 0 off 1.2 overs.

Twyford & Ruscombe 2 v 4s

The 4s were on the road and hoping to put their losing streak behind them. They won the toss and elected to field first. A great bowling and fielding performance was just what the captain, Elliot Mills ordered and Twyford & Ruscomber were bowled out for 107 all out in 31.3 overs.

Manan Narula top scored with 24, with youngsters Shivam Sinha 3 for 9 and Harry Winning 3 for 39 starring with the ball – and 6 catches taken.

Ascot then looked to make quick work of the total and managed to win by 6 wickets with just under 20 overs remaining. Deep Mohain (28) and Murray Barter (24) helping them on their way, for a much deserved and needed win.