The league began on Saturday. The 1st XI started with a home match against OMT. On a scorcher of a day, the skipper lost the toss (probably for the best) and the team were sent in to bat. After a sharp warm-up and on a perfect batting pitch, AGM and Alex M delivered an absolute masterclass, putting on a monstrous 312-run stand in just 33 overs. AGM fell heartbreakingly short of a double ton on 196, while Alex M brought up a classy first ton of the season with 134. Niketh and Donnel finished the job in style, lifting the side to a club-record 427 off 45 overs. The bowlers then stepped up to complete the demolition job. Alex W and Donnel got stuck in early with two wickets each, before Richie P turned up the heat and torched the rest of the batting order with a sizzling five-for. Tom H grabbed a couple of shar plucks in the field, and the result was sealed as the club’s biggest ever league win. With a buzzing crowd, some top-tier fines dished out, brilliant food, and a cracking atmosphere, it was one of those days to remember.

The 2nd XI began their league campaign with an away fixture against Gerrards Cross 3s, but played at Chesham Bois. The home side batted first and Chenies got an early wicket courtesy of Ian Gilmour, but the 2nd wicket proved elusive as a partnership of 153 put GX in control. One wicket brought a few more as Chenies rallied at the end of the innings to restrict GX to 246-6. Harsh Patel and Ted Kelly picked up a brace of wickets apiece. Jean-Sebastien Saleem (47) and Rahul Gahlot (51) got the chase off to a great start with an opening partnership of 90, but the GX bowlers then exerted control, as Chenies tried to up the run rate, wickets fell and the chase ultimately concluded 38 runs short of the target.

The 3rd XI began their league campaign with a home fixture against Bushey Park. Losing the toss, they were asked to take to the field first. The opening ten overs saw Bushey Park make a steady but cautious start, keeping wickets intact and building a platform. However, the momentum shifted dramatically when Brian, Chenies’ trump card, was introduced into the attack. He struck with his very first delivery, setting the tone for a superb spell. Brian continued to wreak havoc through the middle order, claiming regular wickets with sharp support from the other seamers. By the 30th over, Bushey Park were reeling at 120 for 7. Unfortunately, a determined ninth-wicket partnership and a slight dip in bowling discipline allowed the hosts to recover and post a competitive total of 195. In response, Chenies’ chase began cautiously. While the top order showed resilience, the innings never quite reached the required tempo. As the run rate climbed, pressure mounted, leading to the regular loss of wickets. Eventually, the side was bowled out short of the target, marking a defeat in the season’s first outing. Though the batting showed signs of rust and lacked urgency, there were plenty of positives to take – particularly in the bowling department. With the team shaking off early-season lethargy, spirits remain high, and there’s every confidence that the 3s will bounce back strongly in the matches to come.

Following the cricket on Saturday, the season launch party got into full swing – a fantastic event with many members from all sections of the club coming along, great food and great weather, not to mention the wonderful fayre served across the bar. Excellently put together by Rohin Modasia and we look forward to many more social events.

On Sunday, the Sunday XI, many nursing sore heads from the revelry the night before, took on the Rising Globetrotters in their first game of the season. The match was a wonderful opportunity for returning players, and young players building up their experience in adult cricket. The best example of which, was Reyan Patel, who batted excellently for his highest score in men’s cricket batting at 3 (including 3 serious shots for four) coming in after his Captain gave up his wicket early on. Mattie Brown also cruised to 45, before taking well over half an hour, and many balls, to get to a well deserved 55! Matt was looking tidy, nailing 9 fours over the course of his innings. Jerome Harrison was the pick of the bowlers, opening the bowling after having not played for a fair period. His sharp bowling was rewarded by wickets, and some lovely moments as his family watched from the pavilion. Overall, the team gave a good account of themselves and battled hard throughout the innings, with a brilliant team atmosphere. We finished 148/8, which rising Globetrotters managed to best just after drinks - winning by 3 wickets.

Also on Sunday our Women’s Super 8 side travelled to Slough to play the hosts and Chalfont St Peter. A 2nd win of the season against CSP was followed by a loss against the hosts.

Next week the 1st XI travel to Great Kingshill, the 2nd XI host Beaconsfield 4s and the 3rd XI visit Ickenham 5s. On Sunday the Women Super 8s side are at home with Beaconsfield and Slough visiting the CCG. The Sunday XI have an away game against West Wycombe.

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

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

U14 Destroyers vs Wendover - Having lost the toss and been asked to bat on an extremely unfriendly pitch, our openers Mayank and Reyan set about the task really well and dug in. As we would later find out, both their innings were superb in the conditions. We then lost a flurry of wickets due to some excellent bowling but a late batting masterclass from Jesal allowed us to post 86. At the interval, we all felt this was a winning score provided we kept our line and length A great opening spell by Tommy and some cute bowling by Rafe not to mention good aggression from Aryan gave us the early impetus which was further supplemented by Eashan. However Harry Goddens threatened to take the game away from us with Wendover needing 4.5 runs an over going in to the last eight. Superb bowling from Dhiren, controlled bowling by Mayank who also took 3 fantastic catches dragged us back from which Reyan, Rafe and Tommy finished their innings leaving us with a great win by 5 Runs. Really proud of the team the way they fought, backed each other up and bowled as a unit, none more so epitomised by Aron. Special mention for the U12s Kiyaan, Hassan, Eashan and Dhiren. They really are valuable members of our team. Kudos to Ali-Jawad for his wicket keeping debut with 7 byes and a catch. Well done everyone. Well deserved.

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. And for senior playing members, remember that there is a discount for paying early.

If you've been up to the club in the past couple of weeks, you will have seen our lovely new fence. Please do admire it, but please refrain from climbing over it or leaning on it.

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:

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.