The hot weather continues as we reached the halfway stage of the Thames Valley Cricket League.

Hurst Rangers 1 v 1s

The 1s met the final team in their division, and the first visit by the club to the newly merged Hurst Rangers club at the main ground in Hurst. Ascot won the toss and elected to field first. Hurst struggled throughout the innings. Hashmi was out early on to Will Powell. Gandhi and Nargund ground out the runs but the run rate was low. At 43 for 2, Hurst were making a battle of it, but that soon became 50 for 6, as Rajiv Docker took 3 for 12,

Ben Stokes held the lower order together for a short while, top scoring with 34, but he was last man out to Will Powell, who took 3 for 37. Hurst Rangers finished on 114 all out off 40.5 overs, and while Ascot would be pleased with the all-round performance in the field, they knew that runs would be difficult on this wicket.

Ascot had a nightmare start as both openers fell while the score was on 0. The captain, Steve Naylor then fell to an awful grubber leaving Ascot at 29 for 3, and Hurst Rangers had their tails up. Rahul Singh and Adam Smith steadied the ship with a 47 run partnership, until Smith fell for 20, and with Joe Summers falling cheaply, hope remained for Hurst at 80 for 5. However, Rahul Singh (68 not out) and Tom Clarke (4 not out) saw Ascot home by 5 wickets with over 38 overs remaining.

2s v Crowthorne & Crown Wood 1

At the Racecourse the 2s were playing Crowthorne & Crown Wood. Ascot won the toss, and that unfortunately was the highlight of the day for Ascot, as they elected to field first. Crowthorne & Crown Wood had a solid start with openers Gerhard Kruger (34) and Avrili (33) getting them going. The innings really took shape with a 137 run stand for the 5th wicket by Outram (92) and David Kruger (94) which set them on the way to a very imposing total of 329 for 7.

In response, Ascot never look like they were going to stretch the opposition and despite Thomas Brooke (20) and Razwan Hanif (38), Ascot reached 148 all out off 32.3 overs. Robert Crook was the pick of the Crowthorne attack with 4 for 29.

3s v Finchampstead 5

At Locks Ride, Finchampstead 5 were the visitors. Ascot won the toss and elected to field first. The top order battled well with opener Neville top scoring with 50 and he was joined by Baldwin (17) and Hutchings (37). But after that only captain Mark Wright (24 not out) was able to provide resistance as Finchanmpstead finished their 40 overs on 177 all out. Yeshas Vijay was the pick of the Ascot attack with 3 for 23.

In response, Ascot kept up with the run rate as nearly all the batters reached double figures but no one batter anchored the innings with a big total. In the end Yeshas Vijay (17 not out) saw Ascot home with 3 wickets and 25 deliveries remaining to keep the 3s on a roll.

Crowthorne & Crown Wood 4 v 4s

The 4s made the trip to Edgbarrow School and were put into the field as Crowthorne won the toss. Wicket keeper Will Taylor anchored the innings at No.4 with a well constructed 64 not out off 84 deliveries with only opener Andrew Amor (21) and captain Jack Gibbins (24) providing good support. Crowthorne reached 170 all out with just over 4 overs remaining. Heston Charlton was Ascot;s best bowler taking 4 for 33.

Ascot had opener Jeremy “Flying Without” Wing as he anchored Ascot with 86 not out including 13 fours and 2 sixes. Martin Kay provided support with 22 but it Louis Peters that help accelerate the score with a quick fire 31 not out off 12 balls to see Ascot home by 5 wickets with more than 6 overs remaining.