1s v Hurst Rangers 1

Promotion was out of their hands and in the end Harpsden completed a swift 10 wicket win over Boyne Hill 2s to earn the second promotion spot. However, the 1s finished the season in style with a comprehensive win over Hurst Rangers.

Hurst won the toss and elected to field first. Steve Naylor and Adam Smith opened for Ascot but both fell quickly leaving Ascot on 25 for 2. Rahul Singh and Kamran Hanif rebuilt the innings, and the partnership saw Rahul pass his 1,000th league run of the season – a great achievement. He feel for 39 to a smart caught and bowled by Suhas Ganjare. But Dan Mallett helped continue the momentum making a near run-a-ball 52 not out, while Kam finished with a superb 112 not out to take Ascot to a strong 250 for 3 in 45 overs. Prem Yadav took 2 for 24 for Hurst.

In response Ascot soon had Hurst in trouble as opening bowlers Raj Docker and Will Powell had them at 10 for 2. Despite four batters reaching 20, the top score was 29 by Pavan Nargund and Suhas Ganjare. With all the bowlers chipping in with a wicket and Harry Meadows taking a league best of 4 for 42, it was left to skipper Steve Naylor to finish the season by taking the final wicket and completing a 93 run win.

The 1s finished in third position, in a close title race and for the third season in a row. They finished 5 points behind Harpsden and while there are many aspects in the season you can point to that could have made the difference, including the two close defeats against Bracknell United, the bonus umpire points difference between Harpsden and Ascot was 8 points in the end.

At the end of the season, the league sent an email about reviewing the long term viability of the TVCL umpire panel of independent neutral umpires. They are concerned that the current trend is that they are losing more umpires than gaining on the panel.

The bonus point was very much an incentive to get more umpires at all levels, but I would suggest that this is a significant part of the issue – as clubs below Division 2 (including 2nd XIs of other clubs) are more likely to try and dissuade their umpires to join the panel as it can give them this sort of advantage.

Ironically we have one umpire that is on the panel but as a club we received no benefit for them being on the panel (and we also have one umpire on the Surrey Championship Panel). If they had come off the panel then we would have received 17 points instead of 7 points and a promotion. It is a difficult dynamic but something the league has to grapple with to try and get the right balance.

However, this should not detract from a very strong season for the 1s. Rahul Singh topped the division run scorers with 1,036 and Steve Naylor just behind in second place with 907 runs. Kamran Hanif (408) and Billy Baker (350) made the top 20. Steve Naylor was fourth in the bowling with 33 wickets, and Will Powell joint ninth with 25 wickets and Tamoor Hussain and Raj Docker just outside the top 20 with 19 wickets and 17 wickets respectively.

Dan Mallett completed a strong season behind the stumps with 17 dismissals, second in the division. There are many positives to take, as several colts made their 1st XI debut and we’ll be looking at strengthening our ranks for the 2027 season.

Crowthorne & Crown Wood 1 v 2s

In contrast the 2s finished their campaign with a 9 wicket defeat at the hands of Crowthorne & Crown Wood who secured promotion to Division 4 with the win.

It was a difficult season for the 2s, with only two wins all season, and James Docker did a valiant job especially as it seemed every week we lost players to injury for a few weeks or the rest of the season making selection and consistency a battle throughout the year.

Thomas Brooke top scored for the 2s with 281 runs and Rahul Mohindru took 18 wickets to finish in the top 20 bowlers for the division but the statistic that is most telling is that 45 players represented the 2s in 2026 with only 5 players making 10 or more appearances.

Finchampstead 5 v 3s

The 3s needed only one point to claim the second promotion spot, but they went on to win a close match against Finchampstead by 5 wickets at Windlesham. Ascot won the toss and elected to field first. Finchampstead made a strong total of 228 for 5 with contributions throughout the order, including 63 and 58 from openers Shubh Rathod and Gary Woodford and 32 not out from Jack Spooner.

In reply, Ascot looked in control with Hassan Sohail (89), Muhammad Saria (50) and Shivam Sinha (25) taking the total to 187 for 3. But Dave Marles and Mark Wright with 3 wickets each got Finchampstead back in the game but Sadiq Khan and Amit Singh with an unbeaten 9th wicket partnership of 18 saw Ascot over the finishing line.

Waqas Ashraf with 366 runs and Hassan Sohail with 331 runs finished in the top 20 run scorers, Naeem Mohammad was joint-top wicket taker with 31 wickets and Amit Singh (21), Muhammad Saria (15) and Omair Sheikh (15) made the top 20 as well. Hassan Sohail finished second with 18 out-field catches and 1 run out.

A strong season for the 3s with 13 wins in all.

4s v Crowthorne & Crown Wood 4

The 4s hosted their final match at Holybourne CC (a big thanks for hosting us twice this season) in the battle for fourth position. Ascot won the toss and elected to bat first. Ascot were in early trouble at 6 for 2, but strong fifties by Arun Chandrasekaran and Cedric Cooray, and a 32 not out by Harry Winning saw Ascot reach a very competitive 195 for 6.

A good bowling and fielding performance kept Crowthorne and Crown Wood behind the run rate and despite Mike Storey top scoring with 35, Irfan Lone’s 3 for 32 and the other bowlers bowled Crowthorne out for 168, to win by 27 runs and take fourth place.

Ishaan Banerjee led from the front, top scoring in the division with 501 runs and Harry Winning made the top 20 with 226. Raf Bocchio made the top 10 with 19 wickets and Harry Winning capped a good all-round season by reaching the top 20 for bowling with 15 wickets. Ishaan Banerjee (12) and Raf Bocchio (8) were also in top 10 for fielding dismissals.

A good season by the 4s with 10 wins overall, and a good season for new captain, Ishaan Banerjee.

A big thank you to everyone that helps the club behind the scenes, with special thanks to Gordon Lupton and Ian Warren for scoring, John Dunnet for umpiring, and Arun Oram for doing an amazing job on the ground in what has probably been one of the most difficult seasons for groundspeople up and down the country. Also a big thanks to Andy Murray for the after match BBQs.

Also thanks to everyone involved in organising and managing the Thames Valley Cricket League. With the expansion over the last several seasons and the folding of a league at the end of the 2025 season, they have had to manage significant change but managed to ensure that any club wanting Saturday league cricket across several counties are accommodated.

Next Saturday, we will finish the season in style with our Annual Awards Dinner and Dance at the club to celebrate another good season for the club.