Saturday saw the move into the back half of the league campaign so the 1st XI were back against the team where it all began this season, facing OMT again after that unforgettable record-breaking season opener, but this time away from home and on their lightning-fast outfield. The toss was lost, the sun was out, and the bowlers were in for a shift. OMT flew out the blocks, racing to 70/1 after 10 and looking to return the favour. But Richie P, as ever, had other ideas, removing their opener on 48 and swinging the momentum our way. From then on, it was all about control. The bowlers kept things tight, the fielders worked overtime on the baked outfield, and we did brilliantly to restrict a dangerous batting side to 259/6 from their 45 overs. With the bat, AGM returned with intent, smashing a rapid 85 to light up the chase. Alex M added another quality knock to his growing season tally, before Stef B, cool, calm and collected, finished the job with a brilliant unbeaten 65 at a run-a-ball. A professional performance all round and a statement win that keeps us second in the league and charging forward.

The 2nd XI welcomed the league leaders Gerrard Cross 3rx XI to Chenies on a sweltering day. It was clear from the outset the GX team had a few less years in their legs than the home team but experience should never be scoffed at, so the adage goes. Despite some technical difficulties (Luke will be fined), we won the toss and chose to bat. After losing an early wicket, Ian Gilmour and Ayan Patel settled into their work dominating the next 10 overs and at the 15 over drinks break Chenies was in a strong position, 90 for 1 with GX struggling to get their lengths right. However, both Ian (40) and Ayan (40) fell to catches at deep gully shortly after the restart. With their tails up, GX started to bowl full at the stumps picking up wickets at regular intervals as we found scoring more difficult. Only Kiran (16) Jon (18) and Anand (16) managed to get to double figures before Chenies were bowled out in the 37th over for 176. Their 3rd change bowler picking up a very respectable 5 for 21 off his 7 overs. Knowing this was 60+ runs below par for a Chenies deck, we had to take wickets early and restrict scoring where we could. Unfortunately, wickets proved harder to come by than runs and the teenage opening pair got off to a flyer and at drinks were 0 for 90 after 15, very similar position to our own score at the same stage. That however is where the similarities ended as they continued to score freely after the break with Ayan being the only bowler to pick up a wicket before they reached our total with 15 overs to go.

The 3rd XI recorded a win without a ball being bowled as the match was forfeited by the opposition.

On Sunday the Women were back at the CCG to take on Stony Stratford. The hosts had first go with the bat and the opening partnership of Emma Braddock and Emily Brown set a wonderful platform reaching 71 before Emma fell for 28. Keira Treadwell joined Emily and together they added another 55 before Emily fell for 60. So after 22 overs we were 126-2 and aiming for 200. Unfortunately, wickets began to fall regularly and the flow of runs slowed down such that at the end of the innings we had made 179-7, a really good score although not quite meeting our lofty ambitions resulting from the first 2 partnerships. And it was more than enough – the visitors were bowled out for 118, with Isabella Mattar-Peake returning excellent bowling figures of 3-4 and Emma and Gill Braddock each claiming 2 wickets.

Editor’s apologies, but as is becoming usual, it’s over to Luke for his weekly Sunday cricket ramblings. This Sunday our XI intrepid Chenies Chunderers went up against Batchworth CC in our second game against them of the season, an evening T20 taking place following the Women’s game. This time around Batchworth got the best of us with 3 balls remaining in the game - setting up a big last game of the series for all the marbles! After 3 Beer Luke’s rubber arm was twisted, the Hundred format was discarded in place of a T20. It goes without saying that the skipper won the toss, so on this sunny July evening we had a bat looking to pile some runs on top of BCC. Alex Martin finally decided to be a good bloke and play a Sunday game, so naturally we opened up the batting together. Mr Martin fired a quick 36, supported by an unquick 30 from Mr Marsden. Pete N-S & Mark provided some more for us; so we ended up on 133. Batchworth’s chase boiled down to needing 5 runs from their final over. Limited by some excellent bowling from Aaryan, Kaneel and Sheron, and tidy keeping from Mark. Halfway through our bowling innings, the crowd beckoned for some bowling from the skipper. Much like last week, expectations were remarkably low! However, what followed was nothing short of miraculous. The first of Mr M’s overs was a maiden!! Do not scratch your eyes! This was followed by 3 wickets in the next 3. The smug face was engaged! Next week we’re back to the classic C&L ground, Chesham Bois, for what hopes to be an equally classic game.

Next week the 1st XI host Great Kingshill and the 2nd XI travel to Beaconsfield. The 3rd XI, after a 2 week break, resume action against Ickenham 5s at home. The Women have a long journey to Olney Town and the Sunday XI visit Chesham Bois.

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

As we near the school holidays the colts leagues are wrapping up. The silverware continues to pile up. The U11 Lightning, U11 Thunder and U12 Lions have all secured league titles. Apologies to any teams I’ve missed, but a full summary of our colts teams performances will be published soon.

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.