Top of the league and flying high! In a clash of the unbeatens against Fulmer, the skipper won the toss on a green seamer under moody skies and didn’t hesitate to bowl. After an early drop at extra cover, he bowled a beauty that clattered the opener’s stumps, and grabbed another wicket in the first over of a match to set the tone. We kept the squeeze on, reducing Fulmer to 38/4 after 15 overs. Rich came on first change and continued his hot streak with another four-wicket haul, storming to the top of the league’s wicket-taking charts. Roshan and Deepesh cleaned up the tail as we bundled out a strong batting side for just 143 in the 35th over. The chase got off to a flyer with Rosh smashing a rapid 50 before Alex Martin was adjudged LBW. A few moments of madness with the running and some sharp catches made things spicier than necessary, but the result never looked in doubt. Yatin and Donnel steadied things before Deepesh and our own finisher-in-chief, Niketh (aka MS Dhoni), calmly saw us home in the 30th over. Another top team performance, another win in the books—and we now sit proudly at the top of the table.

The 2nd XI faced off against the Old Merchant Taylor 4th team in what turned out to be a closely contested match. The team suffered a setback before the game, with captain Ian sidelined by injury and Rahul absent due to a personal commitment. In his absence, vice-captain Kiran stepped up to lead the team. OMT won the toss and elected to bat first, setting the stage for an interesting encounter. The 2nd XI's innings began cautiously, particularly given the somewhat depleted batting lineup. Opening batsman Jean-Sebastien Saleem provided a solid foundation, demonstrating his skill with an impressive score of 33. His contribution was crucial in the early stages of the innings. As the innings progressed, valuable runs were added by Jon Goddard and Brian Shipley towards the end. Their efforts helped reach a total of 167, setting a target for OMT to chase. In the second innings, the bowlers put in a determined performance, adhering to their pre-match strategy and consistently taking wickets to put pressure on the opposition. Despite their best efforts and disciplined bowling, the team narrowly missed out on victory. OMT managed to reach the target in the 37th over with just one wicket remaining, I felt we were short by 10-20 runs. While disappointed with the result, the 2nd XI will undoubtedly use this experience as a valuable learning opportunity. They will now focus their attention on preparing for their next game against Phoenix. The team is determined to bounce back and secure a positive result in their upcoming match.

Chenies 3rd XI got their 2025 campaign off the mark in emphatic fashion with a commanding home victory over Maidenhead & Bray 5th XI at a cloudy Hawridge. On a damp and wet wicket, skipper Ashish surprised the opposition by electing to bat first after winning the toss – a bold decision that proved inspired. Despite the early loss of a wicket, Tushar and Dan applied themselves well, navigating tricky conditions with patience and care. After Dan’s dismissal, Satish joined Tushar and the pair proceeded to construct a partnership of epic proportions, piling on runs with a blend of composure and aggression. Tushar eventually fell for a fine 90, while Satish departed shortly after for a well-crafted 83. Their efforts laid the foundation for a formidable Chenies total of 280 from the allotted 40 overs. With the pitch having dried out by the time Maidenhead & Bray took to the crease, conditions were more favourable for batting – but the Chenies bowling attack had other ideas. The bowlers kept things tight and consistently chipped away at the visitors’ batting order. Bhavesh set the tone with a sensational one-handed catch that sparked the collapse, and Harsh fittingly closed the innings with a sharp diving grab in the slips. It was a complete team performance and a well-deserved, morale-boosting win for the 3s – their first of the season. With momentum now on their side, Chenies will look to build on this strong showing in the weeks ahead

On Sunday, Luke Marsden and the Sunday XI welcomed Thames Valley Ramblers to the CCG. Over to Luke to describe the afternoon: We won a game!!!! By 8 wickets! Superb effort, come on. This week the Sunday XI faced Thames Valley Ramblers, or, as AJ called them: ’No Helmet CC’. Yet again I proved my tossing credentials and saw my 1981 half dollar coin land heads side up, so we had a bowl. Chasing is key! Got to take the Dew Factor into account, you do. #IPL. Sheron Wanniachchi and Luke Hargreaves opened the bowling strongly, followed by a couple of spells for Brian Shipley - the second being much more successful. Bowling at the death is truly his speciality, some call it stat-padding, some will call it tactical, I call it brilliant! Bri’s 3 wickets made a big difference to our game and really limited their runs late on. The pick of the bowlers however was certainly Tommy Bird. His fiery mullet in the wind as he ran into bowl definitely added at least an extra 5mph! He bowled 7 overs, going at 3s (like Mattie in Cameo?) and taking 2 key wickets. We kept them to 234, which we are quickly finding out is a below par score on the Chenies A-Road. Mattie Brown opened up the batting, and hit another impressive total of 46 before taking Milan’s guard of middle stump (thinking he was on leg) and missed a straight one. Happens to the best of us mate!! It only took us 4 batters to chase their total, as Mattie perished in came Milan - who just can’t stop scoring runs on a Sunday. Milan finished on 92* from 68 deliveries, proving that Sundays are not just about bringing through young players, but also getting some runs, and form, for yourself! Ali Jawad yet again tucked into some runs, 72* of them to be precise. Striking at 92, the total is his highest in adult cricket. Before the game, and while we’re bowling he’s a quiet chap, but every week after he nails a 50+ he’s suddenly chirping! I can’t blame him at all, thank god I’m nowhere near as good as he is, I would be insufferable! Mils and AJ batted to the end and won us the game with 5 overs and 8 wickets to spare, rounding up what was an incredibly satisfying and comprehensive win. Our first this year, and hopefully the first of many. People will tell you that the Sunday team isn’t about the winning, but I don’t think that is true at all. The team felt more together than ever before yesterday - everyone was happy for the whole team, instead of maybe just their individual performances. In the end, it’s a team game, and a winning mentality at the club as a whole is something we are striving for. Hope you enjoyed the read, well done if you’ve got this far - if you have then put your availability down for next week!! We’re playing Batchworth at Home, get keen.

Monday saw the return of the fixture versus the village after a hiatus of 10+ years. A disappointingly damp evening did not spoil the fun for this T20 encounter that we hope can be re-established as an annual fixture. The result (the club won by a lot thanks to a century from Alex Martin and 3 wickets from Ali Jawad) doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the club and the village came together for an evening of fun and camaraderie, topped up with fayre from the bar and some pizza and biriyani.

Next week the 1st XI travel to play 2nd place High Wycombe 3s, the 2nd XI entertain Phoenix and the 3rd XI welcome Chesham 5s to Hawridge & Cholesbury. The Sunday XI have a home game against Batchworth. The Women’s Super 8 side visit Beaconsfield where they will play the hosts and High 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
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.

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.