What. A. Game. The 1st XI arrived at Chalfont St Giles and were instantly greeted by a “pitch” that looked like more like a country lane than the road at Silverstone. Naturally, Stef Saleem claimed it was “the worst pitch he’d ever seen”. After losing the toss though, we were sent in to bat, knowing no side had scored or chased more than 180 on this surface all season. Despite the challenging conditions, we accumulated smartly. Contributions from Alex M, the skipper, Donnel and Stef S laid the groundwork, but once again Stef Bartlett was the glue: gritty and glorious in equal parts, he ground out 73 from 127 balls, his third 50+ score on the bounce. We finished on 187/9 from our 45 overs, a few light perhaps, but proud of a controlled, composed innings on the minefield. With the ball, it was a tale of near-misses early on. CSG were 29/2 after 10 with Donnel and Richie striking, but it could’ve easily been 5 or 6 down if luck had favoured us. Their fourth-wicket partnership of 73 turned the game in their favour and at 121/3 after 26 overs, needing just 66 with 7 wickets in hand and 19 overs left, it looked bleak for us. But cometh the hour… the skipper removed their set batter, followed it up with another, and then Donnel produced a double-wicket over to flip the match on its head. Enter Luke Hargreaves on debut, who delivered a perfectly imperfect leg-side drag down that somehow kissed the glove and found Niketh’s spectacular grab. Luke wasn’t done there, taking another to leave the last pair needing 25. One nervy penultimate over went for 12 before Donnel calmly held on at deep square to seal the win, complete Luke’s 3-for on debut, and clinch a massive 12-run victory. A huge result that takes us into the top 3 and a promotion spot at the halfway mark of the season. A truly chuffed day to be a Cheniesian!

On Saturday the 2nd XI played an interesting cricket match against Uxbridge. After winning the toss, the we chose to bowl first. This decision was made because the pitch seemed like a typical Chenies wicket. Max and Kiran started the bowling. Max quickly took the first wicket with a skillful inswinger. For the first 20 overs, the team kept the opposition's scoring rate down and created pressure. However, the game changed after the 22nd over. The sun's heat affected the pitch, making it harder for the bowlers. Uxbridge's number 2 and 3 batsmen took advantage of these conditions, each scoring a century. Their partnership helped Uxbridge set a target of 299 runs for the 2nd XI. Tushar and Gaurav opened the batting for our team. Sadly, Gaurav was quickly out, also to a beautiful inswinger. After this, wickets fell regularly, making the chase even harder. Despite this, Dharmendra and Brian showed resilience, adding 87 runs for the 9th wicket. The team finished with 218 runs, losing the match by 81 runs.

The 3rd XI match was forfeited by us due to a lack of available players.

On Sunday the Women took to the road for the first time this season, albeit just a short trip up the A413 to junction 2 of the M40. The warm ups were curtailed by rain and this led to a frustrating delay to proceedings. Eventually we were able to get going with the hosts opting to bat first. A spectacular catch from Aemelia Hargreaves saw Amelia Peck claim the first wicket but then the players were forced from the pitch again due to thunder and lightning. When play resumed Beaconsfield took a cautious and risk free approach, preventing the loss of further wickets, but accumulating runs at a glacial pace. After 14 overs they were 36-1, but Chenies needed wickets to end the innings quickly so that the win could be achieved before further rain could ruin the day. Enter the skipper, Emily Brown, who brought herself on to bowl – the first 2 balls were wide, but then her radar corrected and 3 balls later she had a hat-trick. She couldn’t make it 4 in 4, but balls 5 and 6 both produced wickets. FIVE wickets in an over! Beaconsfield were now 38-6. Emily took one more wicket in her next over and finished her 4 over spell with figures of 6-8; the first 5 wicket haul ever in Chenies Women’s cricket. Keira Treadwell (2) and Gaia Dias claimed the remaining wickets and the hosts had been bowled out for 69. Chenies made short shrift of the chase, completing it inside 13 overs with Keira Treadwell making 23, Sophie Daurka 11 and Amelia Peck 22*.

Back at the CCG, the Sunday XI took on the Outlaws. Over to the Sheriff of Nottingham (Luke Marsden) for his unique take on events: For the first time this season, my hallowed 1981 Half dolla let me down; as JFK (not for the first time) landed face down. This meant that the Outlaws stuck us in to bowl. Kartik and Ro were given the new pill, and bowled impressively with it taking a wicket apiece. Next came Sunday frontline spinner Mr Banks, who gave the oppo batters more flight than British Airways to see off his brilliant 6 overs unscathed. Dan put in a really good performance with the gloves this week, taking 2 catches behind the stumps in convincing fashion. Great fantasy pick he is! The pick of the bowlers for me was between Aaryan and Brian, whose bowling probably could not juxtapose each other more. Mr T threw down some scorchers, taking 2 very deserved wickets, and Mr S showed his customary control - bowling 7 very cheap overs indeed. My personal highlight of our innings was Pete flicking the ball up like prime Yannick Bolasie, catching it and throwing it in (tiramisu arm though). In classic fashion, the skipper took the responsibility and burden of bowling the last over of our bowling innings. All involved held their breath, preparing for me to be tapped about. However, after 2 wickets for 6 runs, taking the first by bowling’im with some serious flight. Umps had to wipe the snow from it! Our batting knock started as it tends to do with Pete and Dan opening up. Mr Layzell fell victim to his own ambition early on, as he played a particularly exuberant shot (which in his head must’ve been sending the ball into my pool) leading to him being bowled out for a duck. In came the skip who was looking great, on for 50 at least - before Pete decided to drive down to the butchers, pick me up from the counter, come back, and stick me right on top of the braai. Properly BBQd :( I should have just said NOOOOOOO!). Supun, Akshit & Brian (who struck at 100) got 20odd each, taking our score up to 141 all out. 50 runs short of the target we needed unfortunately, I wonder what would’ve happened if our #3 could’ve stuck around @Pete @Pete @Pete. My head is still lost. Onwards we go to next week, where I have a little surprise in the works. Stay tuned! Put your availability on please dossers, it’s gunna be a great one #THEHUNDRED

Next week the 1st XI travel to Old Merchant Taylors and the 2nd XI host Gerrards Cross 3s at the CCG. Unfortunately, our 3rd XI opponents, Bushy Park cannot raise a side and have forfeited the game. The Women entertain Stony Stratford at the CCG with the Sunday XI playing a Hundred format game against Batchworth once the Women have finished.

Colts:
The colts season is up and running with the usual vibrancy at Chenies on Sunday mornings alongside the sunshine.

Summer Camps - see the news article regarding the summer camps running at the club this year.

Colts managers – please do send in your match reports for inclusion in the bulletin

Teas / coffees and cakes will be on sale every Sunday morning in the pavilion. All cakes are home-made by Zaynab Haq and all proceeds will go directly to the club. We have a card payment machine so please do avail yourself of the fayre on sale, and save yourself the trip to the coffee shop on the way to the club.

In other news:
2025 Subscriptions are now due and available on the website. Thanks to those that have already paid. Full details at this link https://www.chenies-cricket.org/a/subscriptions-46652.html Please pay promptly and early, many of the club running costs are loaded to this time of the year so we do need funds to be coming in so that we can maintain a healthy cash flow. Also remember that you are not insured via the club if you have not paid your subscription.
Overseas Player - We are delighted that we will have the services of a fast bowler from Grenada this year. We have sorted accommodation for him but just need a job. He is looking for manual work – if you can help out please reach out to Stef Saleem on 07780 530300
Personal Coaching – if you want to find that next level in your game from personalised 1:1 coaching then reach out to Roshan Dias on 07427 926943 or visit his website here

An appeal for further help to run the club
Our wonderful club has seen unprecedented growth over the past few years. Credit goes to everyone at the club for facilitating this, but special credit goes to the management committee for working so hard to develop and grow the club.
The downside to this is that the workload upon the committee has also grown such that it is no longer possible for our officials to cope and run the club efficiently or effectively.
We are therefore appealing for members to come forward to help.
The first appeal is for someone to take up the position of Sponsorship Manager: Sponsorship is a significant yet untapped opportunity for funding at our club. We are looking for someone to manage and nurture our existing sponsors, and to proactively work to develop new sponsorship partnerships. The role could easily be shared among 2 or 3 people. If you are interested please speak to Dave Brown or Simon Hargreaves.
Our mantra is ‘many hands make light work’ and we are looking for 2, 3 or 4 people in each of the following areas to form a small team working with the committee member responsible for that area. None of these are committee positions so you don’t have to worry about coming along to meetings; all we’re asking is to get involved and help out in a way that suits you:

Area	Committee Member	No. People required
Website / Membership	Dave Brown	2-3
BFN & Events, plus planning for the club’s 150th Anniversary	Rohin Modasia	3-4
Funding / Grants	Nick Walker	2-3

Our bar is going from strength to strength under the stewardship of Mick French. But he can’t be there all the time and if we are going to open more frequently with publicised hours then we’ll need volunteers to take on shifts behind the bar. If you’re interested in joining a group of volunteers who could take on shifts occasionally then please contact Mick (mickbeernut@gmail.com / 07771 866370)
An intra club Fantasy Cricket game has been set up by Alex Walker. These are great fun – you just pick a team of 6 from the club’s players and see how their points rack up for your team based upon performances. Entry is just £3. Go to http://chenies-latimer.fantasyclubcricket.co.uk/. Player prices will change each week based on form and anyone not in the database yet will be added automatically once they play a league game.
Instagram – some great work behind the scenes has revived our Instagram account and we’ll be posting regularly and aften throughout the season. Please follow us @chenieslatimercc and @chenieswomenscricket

Also make sure you have downloaded the club app and have your Pitchero account profile set up to receive communications from the club. More details here

For all club kit and clothing requirements, please visit https://www.chenies-cricket.org/a/club-kit-58457.html and contact Dave Brown to order.

Our kit supplier, Chiltern Sports, are also open if you need to acquire any playing equipment. They are well stocked with Shoes, bats, helmets, pads and gloves plus all other playing accessories that you might need. Call the shop on 01296 613399 or Richard Young on 07831 662874.