It was a familiar tale of frustration for the 1st XI away at Hayes I’m afraid, but I’m not going to go on about it – it’s just getting boring!!! Batting first on a tricky wicket, Chenies could only muster 143 with Sulieman Ahmed top scoring with 36. Waqas Kiani on his return to the side looked good for his 20 but no one else could master the pitch. However, the pitch was the same for both sides so we were optimistic that we could bowl our way to victory. And we nearly did – 4 wickets for Steve Hallam, 2 for Dave Brown and 1 each for Toqeer Butt and Bilal Nisar pegged back the Hayes line up, but they squeaked over the line with only the 2 wickets to spare. The 1st XI now have a 23 point cushion at the top of the table with just the 3 matches to play.

The 2s hosted NPL and recorded a fine win by 97 runs, due to a fantastic bowing (and fielding) performance. Having elected to bat, just before a rain shower slowed the outfield down, our 162-8 did look to be 20 or 30 runs short. However an opening 13 overs partnership from Alex Walker (3-17) and Emily Brown (2-20) reduced NPL to 39-5, followed by a 14 over partnership from Ron Eltringham (2-7) and Brian Shipley (1-8) leaving Emily to return for the final wicket without conceding any further runs dismissing NPL for just 65.

The Sunday XI took on a bunch of Outlaws this week who despite their name are always a friendly bunch but usually have strong players in their side and so it proved. The Outlaws won the toss and put Chenies in to bat. We made a solid start with Mattie Brown (18) and Brian Shipley (21) who put on 41 for the first wicket. After that we lost a string of wickets against some good quality bowling. Ian Gilmour top scored with 27 and Alex Walker made 16 in a late rally. We finished on 130 all out which was always going to be difficult to defend. In reply Outlaws reached the target after 31 overs for the loss of 3 wickets. We did make them work for their win with some good bowling from Alex Walker 6 overs 1 for 18, Emily Brown 6 overs for 21 and Mattie Brown 4 overs 1 for 13.
Next week the 1st XI host Harefield and the 2s travel to Cookham Dean. There is no Sunday match but on Friday we are hosting a touring side (Northdown CC) starting at 1.30pm.

Colts News:
Watch out for information regarding Colts Day. This takes place on Sept 8th and the Colts Managers are meeting tonight to iron out all the details so keep an eye out for a communication in the coming days

In other news:
Subscriptions – if you have not yet paid your annual subscription then please pay now

Prosecco Cricket continues with tonight being the penultimate session of the season. Come along on Tuesdays from 8pm. It’s a fun way for women to get involved in cricket. It’s soft ball and a great keep fit session with a glass of Prosecco to finish. Roll up to play and £5 per session. Please spread the word! Julie Pickard looks forward to welcoming you all and any queries please get back to her (01494 762707, mgmpickard@icloud.com)

Many of you will have noticed that our electronic scoreboard has been somewhat defunct this season. Having been in use for 20+ years the cables, which run under the bonfire site, finally succumbed to the heat! But thanks to the outstanding skill and effort from Viv Bartlett, all has now been fixed and the scoreboard is fully functional again. Thanks Viv, we are eternally grateful.