CRICKET
Sat 1st XI drew against Beaconsfield II
Sat 2nd XI lost by 6 wickets against Windsor II
Sun 1st XI lost by 1 run against North Maidenhead
Sun 2nd XI drew against Marquess

SOFTBALL
Won 22-9 away at Thames Valley Rangers

CRICKET
Sat 1st XI, Hampton Hill, away, 1.30pm start
Sat 2nd XI, Slough III, home, 1.30pm start
Sun 1st XI, Londoners, home, 1.30pm start
Sun 2nd XI, Uxbridge Casuals, away, 2pm start

SOFTBALL
Tuesday 15th, Thames Valley Marlins (Cup), home, 7pm start

THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE

The local derby against Beaconsfield II produced a decent game of cricket at Chalfont Park. Chalfont went into the match hoping to consolidate their position at the top of the league. A good all-round performance almost produced a victory with Beaconsfield finishing 20 runs short with 1 wicket remaining.

Beaconsfield won the toss and put the home side into bat on an unusually green Chalfont track. The extra grass being left on the wicket certainly seems to be helping produce more consistent bounce though, not that you would know it if you checked the scoreboard after 8 overs - 23 for 3 - including 2 run outs ! But no fear, this brought the 2 wise old heads together at the crease in the shape of captain Zeddy Khan (73) and Shahid Din (56). An excellent partnership of 121 provided the foundation for the innings with Chalfont reaching 223 for 9 declared. Satish Sharma (21) and Salman Khan (23) providing sound middle/lower order support. We now have the unenviable position of both opening bowlers, Salman and King Dong (Saqib), believing they can bat and should be higher up the order - and not being too shy about it either.

Wicked tea - Salmon and cream cheese amongst others.

Beaconsfield went out to bat sporting a batting line with an average age possibly slightly higher than ours. There wasn't much joy for the seam/swing bowlers this week, Salman being particularly unlucky not to get anything from his 16 overs. It was left to the excellent spin bowling of Zeddy (10 overs, 5 for 35) and Shahid (11 overs, 2 for 42) to put pressure on the opposition batsman. Positive captaincy kept the game alive when it appeared to drifting to a boring draw, together with some 'verbal encouragement' from behind the wicket for the Beaconsfield tail end to keep playing shots. There was just 3 deliveries bowled at the last pair, but maximum batting and bowling points ensured a decent return of 15 points.

Here are the best performances of the season so far:

BATTING
Javaid Ali, 115*, Sat 2XI -v- Amersham II (29/5)
Neal Collins, 78, Sun 2XI -v- Dunstable II (25/4)
Zamir Kahn, 73, Sat 1XI -v- Beaconsfield II (05/6)
Neal Collins, 69, Sun 2XI -v- Woodley (30/5)
Dave Peters, 64*, Sat 2XI -v- Amersham II (29/5)

HELP NEEDED
Chris Blamey is organising a chance for everyone to help out with a little maintenance in and around the clubhouse.

There are a few areas of the clubhouse that need a spot of paint, a bit of tidying, or general maintenance. Anyone can help, and it would be great if you could sign up to come down to help out for one or both of the nights so that he can organise who does what.

The dates are for the evenings of 22nd and 23rd June (Tue/Wed) - please put your name on the forum, or speak to Chris or myself directly if you will help out.

Thanks, your help with this will be much appreciated and will make the club a nicer place to be for everyone.

MIXED 5-A-SIDE FOOTBALL
The Village Hall pub are running a 5-a-side football competition on Sunday 13th June on the common above Chalfont-St-Peter. The competition is mixed and costs £35 to enter per team (as many substitutes as required are allowed). Teams must have at least 2 women. If you would like to enter a team or two please contact the pub directly. There will be good prizes and food at a reasonable cost during the day. When you enter the team please let them know you are from the club!

The Saturday 2's lost by 6 wickets to Windsor. Having been asked to bat first on a hard track, some poor cricket saw Chalfont at 19 for 2 early on. However, a solid knock by Simon Gooch (37) in partnership with firstly Tony Hewston (24) and then Martin Cartledge (32) seemed to set a good platform. The drinks interval was taken at 102 for 3 but, upon the resumption, the next 6 wickets fell for just 33 runs. Some good shots and lusty blows by Sohail Ijaz and Asif Raza for the last wicket helped the score up to 164 in the 50th over.

Windsor's reply started very steadily against some accurate bowling from Ijaz and Javaid Ali (2-53). Although they fell behind the required run rate early on, Windsor had wickets in hand. This meant that they were always looking good for the win despite the loss of a couple of late wickets to Hewston (2-25).

With the leaving of the all important scorebook at the clubhouse, it is down to only the very hazy memories of those there to compile this report.

This was a beer match. In the proper sense of the word. The opponents were Marquess, a travelling pub team from London, who enjoy a drink almost as much as their Chalfont opponents.

With guest captain Dave 'Short-arm jab' Nolder winning the toss and electing to bat (!), Chalfont started well enough with debutant Alexis Paniyotou scoring a classy 19 and looking like there is better to come. Nolder also chipped in with a season's best of 19, as did another debutant Daniel Thomas, who looked most assured at the crease.

With Marquess slowing the over rate to that of Test level cricket, trying to up the scoring resulted in Geoff losing a cricket ball on the golf course (that'll be eight quid please Geoff) - his first ever six. The can-carrying image of Dan Webb soon triggered him for LBW when he played all the way round a full length delivery. Dean Page was out in similar fashion, given by Umpire trainee Nick Davenport - after the ball had hit his bat. The opposition called for Page to return, much to the red faced Davenport's shame, but the call of the beer from the sideline was too great and he humbly departed.

Neal Collins turned up halfway through the innings, batted instead of Malcolm at number 8, and his average is now under 50 after Dan Webb ran him out.

Unsurprisingly, as is nearly always the case, the top scorer was our ever reliable Jonny Extras, with 49 from a total of 199-9 from 34 overs.

Tea passed in a haze of food and beer, and Marquess took forever to get their batsmen to the crease. As it was, with 20 overs remaining from half past six, Marquess were on 34-2 after 13 overs. Dean Page claimed two wickets in an incredibly quick spell, where he tried to punish Nick Davenport behind the stumps for triggering him earlier (take a look at the poor buggers hands!). Lindsay also took one wicket later, but Thomas and Panyiotou were not so lucky.

Amazingly, it was the boring combination of Upton and Webb (which sounds like a mens department store, but isn't) who took two wickets apiece, admittedly for lots of runs, who nearly stole a victory for Chalfont. However, Marquess held on at 114-7 at the close to claim the draw.

More beer was consumed on the balcony, and Geoff bought a jug to celebrate his first six, but had to leave before he could drink it. Don't worry though, it didn't go to waste.

So guest captains have yet to win a match for the 2XI, who will take up the gauntlet next week against an impressive Uxbridge side? Keep it tuned to 102.9 BM* to find out.

*(Beer Modulation)