Finchampstead 3 v 1s

The 1s were on the road to the only other team unbeaten in Division 3A – Finchampstead 3. Ascot won the toss and elected to bat first on a hot spring day. Molly Bulteel removed the openers with a good spell of 2 for 35, but after that is was one-way traffic. Rahul Singh (68) put on a stand on 130 for the second wicket with Steve Naylor.

But that only brought Billy Baker to the crease to increase the run rare as they put on an unbeaten stand 111 for the fourth wicket with Steve finishing on 144 not out and Billy on 43 not out, as Ascot reached a strong 299 for 3.

Finchampstead started steadily and good intent was shown by Joe Simmons (50) and Freddie Bishop 75 but the required run-rate was increasing and with the rest of the batting line-up needing to score runs quickly, wickets kept falling at regular intervals. The bowling and fielding from Ascot remained tight and Finchampstead finished on 210 all out to hand Ascot an 89 run victory.

Will Powell was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 41.

2s v Holyport 1

Holyport were the visitors to the Racecourse and elected to bat first in glorious sunshine. An early run out from a missed catch saw captain Saifullah Khalid go early but after that is was one-way traffic as Holyport moved up the gears. Sunilkumar Selvaraj (78) and Muhammad Mujahid Raza (54) laid the foundations for a final onslaught by Muhammad Ghazanfar Raza (58 not out) and Mahmood Ul Hassan (62 not out) to get Holyport to 290 for 5.

Ascot started well with an opening stand of 63 between James Docker (28) and Thomas Brooke (44), and Thomas with Toby Dodwell-Bennett (55) had Ascot looking in a good position at 145 for 2. But when both went, Ascot subsided to 187 for 8. A late knock by Tom Clarke (39 not out) restored some respectability as Ascot finished on 233 for 8. But another defeat for the 2s leaves them at the wrong end of the table.

3s v Warfield 1

Warfield made the short trip to Lock’s Ride and counter to most captains, Ascot elected to field first on winning the toss. Warfield started solidly with Dan Torry (29) and Mohamed Salman (47) getting Warfield to 78 for 3. But when they slipped to 100 for 6, Ascot would have hoped to get Warfield all out for under 150, but with Mohideen Mubarak (28 not out) and Azmath Atham (24), those tail end runs helped them reach a more than useful 192 all out.

Ascot lost Abdul Raja early but a great innings by Kamran Zaki (74), put Ascot in prime position at 150 for 3. But Riyas Rajab tore through the middle and late order to take 6 for 44 and Ascot finished frustratingly short on 183 all out with over than 10 overs remaining. Elvis probably said it best with his song “A Little Less Conversion and a Little More Application please”.

Sonning 4 v 4s

Ascot made the trip to Yateley Manor School and were put into bat by the opposition. Unfortunately, one of the openers forgot their trainers so Raf Bocchio volunteered to open again with skipper Ishaan Banerjee. An inspired move as the put on an 88 opening stand before Raf was bowled for 28.

But the stand-out innings was a maiden century for captain Ishaan who made 126. The rest of the batters made contributions including a quickfire 29 not out by Aizaz Hussain to see the 4s to a great 310 for 7 off 40 overs.

Sonning were in the game as the second wicket put on 81 between Dhiren Panchal (34) and Kyle Dellar-Law (48) but 95 for 1 soon became 113 for 5, and with the required run rate increasing and wickets falling, Sonning eventually fell to 192 all out with over 7 overs remaining. Harry Winning took 3 for 56 for Ascot. A good win and now everyone is saying “Elliot who?”.