As Sunday captain Martin Jones is at university until mid-June, vice captain Jack Johnson took his first Sunday toss of 2017 and lost to Abington, who elected to bat. Jack was not disappointed as he had been planning to bowl first in the breezy and overcast conditions.

Stuart Crow and Ben Nightingale opened the bowling for Castlethorpe against Abington's openers, Riseley and Edlington. They put on an opening stand of 20, broken when Riseley was given out lbw for eleven off Ben in the eighth over. Edlington was caught by Jack off Stuart in the eleventh over for ten, with the score still on only 24, leaving Hill on zero waiting to be joined by Pettitt. Stuart in particular was excellent - his eight overs ended up going for only nine runs. Ben was replaced in the bowling attack by Tom Law in the twelfth over until a change at both ends in the sixteenth and seventeenth to Atif Mushtaq and Nev Maravala as Castlethorpe tried to bring things back under control, with Abington goiong from 26-2 to 58-2 by in four overs. It had some effect as Hill and Pettitt were slowed for seven overs before Hill was caught by Tom off Atif for 20 with the score on 77. Kumar joined Pettitt and they stayed together until Atif was replaced by Germane Ebanks in the 26th over, who claimed Pettitt's wicket straight away. New batman Pinnaka and Kumar built the score for eleven overs until Mick Lee, who had replaced Nev in the 35th over, claimed Pinnaka's wicket, stumped by Stuart Walding. Kasinath joined Kumar and blocked out the two remaining balls of the over. Ben returned to the attack in the 38th and took the wicket of Kumar with his first ball as he was caught behind by Basher for 33. Poulose joined Kasinath but their partnership lasted just four balls as they went for a run that was not there off the fifth delivery, resulting in Basher running out Kasinath. Bhatt made his way to the middle and survived the last ball of the over. Ben took the last wicket of the innings in the final over, when Mick caught Poulose out for 10 with the batsmen crossing, meaning that Fairbairn was at the crease for one ball which he did not face. Abington finished on 152-8.

After tea, Castlethorpe set about their run chase with captain Jack opening the batting with Basher. Together they put on 23 before Basher was run out in the tenth over by keeper Kasinath - a tit for tat with each keeper running out the other keeper. Tom joined Jack and in a partnership of 67 off 99 balls, they moved the score along to 90 in 26 overs at which point Tom was bowled by Pinnaka. Castlethorpe needed 63 to win with fourteen overs to go. Germane joined Jack and scored one run from the penultimate delivery of the over and faced a change of attack in the 27th which did for him as he was bowled out. Atif made his way to the middle and with Jack kept the score ticking over well, progressing to 118 in the 32nd over when Jack was bowled out. Ben was next in and continued with Atif to progress the score. Unfortunately in the 35th over, Atif struck the final delivery and Ben set off rapidly for the run, easily making his ground with Atif stranded mid wicket and being run out for 22. Eighteen runs required from five overs with four wickets remaining (as we only had ten players).  Stuart Crow made his way to the crease and watched from the non-stiker's end for an over as eight runs were taken from it. Ten to win. Ben took a run off the first ball of the 37th over. Nine required. Stuart was bowled by an absolute jaffa (Ben's assessment from the non-striker's end), dismissing him for a duck and reducing Castlethorpe to 144-6. Hope remained but it was tinged with nervousness. Mick replaced Stuart but only one more run was scored from the over. Eight to win. The next over again only yielded one run. Seven to win. The 39th over was awful for Castlethorpe. Having scored a run off the first ball, we then lost two wickets on the third and fourth balls: first Ben was bowled out for 9 then his replacement Nev was caught out first ball he faced. Matt, our last man, hit the wide delivery he received and with Mick ran one. That plus another wide in the over moved the score on to 150-8 with one over remaining. Abington bowled tightly in the final over, presenting no scoring opportunities, and on the fifth delivery Matt was caught out for nought, leaving Mick not out on three.

The result was that Castlethorpe lost by two runs. Whilst the team was disappointed to have lost, it was a great achievement when you consider that the ten men of Castlethorpe took on the eleven men of Abington's first team and came within a hair's breadth of winning. It was a tremendous effort by everyone and bodes well for the season ahead.

Under overcast skies, Russell lost his first toss of 2017 and Castlethorpe were put in to bat against Division One newcomers Silverstone. Stuart Walding went in to open with Mark Currell and they faced a fearsome opening pair. Williams and Stokes bowled their allocation straight through with Castlethorpe only getting eighteen runs from the first twelve overs.  In the thirteenth, Basher was bowled after a great defence against the opening attack, meaning that Russell Jones joined Mark. Together they saw off the opening pair, putting on 36 runs before Mark was bowled out by another Williams for 33, the joint-top score for the day. Keith Finson had a brief partnership with Russell before the latter was caught out by the wicketkeeper having also scored 33. Atif Mushtaq made his way to the middle to join Keith and could only watch as Keith was caught out with the score on 79. Atif and Ben Nightingale put on the largest partnership of the Castlethorpe innings of 47 runs in just nine overs until Ben was bowled out on 27. Atif was bowled for 23 in the 35th over with the score on 138. A strong finish from the visitors saw Syed Naqvi, Jamie Crawford, Adesh Pal and Nev Maravala dismissed in quick succession as they tried to raise the run-rate, but Castlethorpe had made a respectable 155.

After tea, Silverstone's Hayward and Payne faced Castlethorpe's openers Syed Naqvi and Adesh Pal for five overs before Payne was caught out by Stuart Walding off Syed with the score on nine. Key made his way to the middle and had a three-over partnership before Hayward was run out by Atif Mushtaq for nought. Cooper joined Key but in the very next over Key was also run out by Atif. Stokes joined Cooper and they added a rapid 23 before Syed clean-bowled Cooper. Although Silverstone were scoring faster than Castlethorpe, they were losing wickets in the process. The fifth-wicket partnership between Stokes and Williams lasted 11 overs before being ended by another impressive piece of fielding by Atif - this time a catch off Mark Currell's bowling. Here, the Silverstone challenge stalled. In the same over, new batsman Devonshire was caught by Keith Finson for nought, giving Mark a double-wicket-maiden. Atif then bowled a wicket-maiden of his own, bowling Moran out for nought. Mark added yet another wicket-maiden with Stokes adjudged lbw on 15.  78 for four had become 78 for eight in just three overs. The ninth wicket partnership lasted for six scratchy overs before Mackay was caught behind by Basher to become Mark's fourth victim. This left father and daughter Hugh and Jenny Williams to put on a final wicket stand of twelve runs, ended when Atif caught Jenny out off Ben Nightingale's bowling for two, leaving her father not out on 15 and giving Silverstone a final score of exactly 100.

A cracking start to the league campaign, netting 20 points for us and only allowing the opposition to accumulate six. Everyone played a part in this victory by staying committed in the field and focused on securing a result. An excellent job, well, done!

Match report by Sharron Jones

As this was a friendly and Hanslope only had ten players, Ian Easton agreed to play for them so that both sides had eleven. Russell went out for the toss with Matt Chilton and won, electing to bat.
 
Russell opened with Keith Finson, taking a four from the second ball he faced. Keith was less fortunate, with the second ball he faced holing him out on nought. He was replaced at the crease by Germane Ebanks who is again joining us for Sunday cricket this season. Well, Russell and Germane gave Hanslope a torrid time, hitting scoring shots and rotating the strike with apparent ease.  Together they had a partnership of 100 off 66 deliveries in 46 minutes and a total partnership of 111 runs. Russell was caught out on the first ball of the fourteenth over with the Castlethorpe score on 115.  Russell had scored 75 runs off 54 balls (10x4s, 1x6). Garry joined Germane and the scoring continued with them making a 92-run partnership which was ended when Germane retired out on 79 off 49 balls (11x4s, 1x6) and the score on 207 in 21st over. Stuart Crow took to the crease scoring a single before being run out on the last ball of the 22ndover. Jamie Crawford went in to partner Garry and could only watch as on the first ball of the 23rdover, Garry was caught out on 42 with the score on 210. Atif Mushtaq replaced Garry and between them, Jamie and Atif kept the scoreboard ticking over, putting on 31 runs before Jamie was bowled by Jack Johnson, who had kept wicket for the first 20 overs, having scored fourteen runs. Ben joined Atif briefly, scoring three runs before being adjudged lbw in the 31st over with the score on 260. Nev took to the crease and hit his first ball crisply for four.  He scored another four runs before being caught and bowled on the last ball of the 34th over with the score on 273. Adesh Pal made his way to the non-striker’s end and watched on as Atif was bowled by the first ball of the 35th over, ending his innings on 37 runs. Syed Naqvi and Adesh put on a final wicket stand of 41 runs, keeping the strike rotated, which ended with Syed being caught out on the last ball of the final over for 24, leaving Adesh not out on seventeen and the Castlethorpe total on an amazing 314. Tea was taken with no doubt with Castlethorpe fizzing and Hanslope determining how to mount their challenge.
 
Del Iserton opened with Matt Chilton and they put on nineteen runs before Iserton crisply struck Stuart Crow’s delivery straight back at him. It surely would have gone chasing towards the long boundary had Stuart not stuck out his hand, deflecting the ball onto the stumps and running out Chilton for thirteen.  Ben Ritchie joined Iserton, adding nine to the score before Adesh Pal bowled Iserton for ten in the ninth over. Jack Johnson went in to bat, lasting until the eighteenth over when he was bowled by Nev Maravala for 20 with the score on 69.  Ian Easton went in and struck his third delivery for four. Next over though, Ritchie was bowled out for 20 by Syed Naqvi with the score on 79. Trevor Marshall took to the middle but the 20th over saw another wicket for Nev as he bowled Ian out with the score still on 79. Scott Hinshelwood made his way to the crease but that partnership was broken in the 22nd over when Nev took his third wicket, bowling Marshall out for nought. 82-6.  Steve Ritchie lasted until the 26th over when Russell had him adjudged lbw on three. Young Jake Iserton made his way to the middle and, with some appropriately friendly bowling from Castlethorpe, faced 46 deliveries before being caught out by Russell off Ben’s bowling having scored two in a partnership of 17 in the 38th over. Charles Walmsley, playing rather than umpiring, struck his first delivery but rather than scoring, Germane threw down the stumps, running out Hinshelwood for eleven with the score on 108.  Will Giffin saw out the remainder of the innings with Walmsley, with the final total finishing on 111-9, a win of 203 runs for Castlethorpe.
 
Well done Castlethorpe! Let’s look to keep up the momentum as we start our league matches on Saturday, the first being home to Silverstone. Good luck!

Match report by Sharron Jones

Today's match was scheduled to start at 12:30 but actually got going at 12:45 with a player from each side still to arrive. It was sunny with a strong breeze blowing as Russell went to the middle with for the first toss of the 2017 season, which Castlethorpe won and elected to bat.

It was an inauspicious start as Russell was run out for a duck in the second over with the score on four. Basher welcomed Mark to the crease and the two of them settled in against the bowling attack of Cedric Miller and Germane Ebanks. In the ninth over, Mark was bowled out by Cedric for six, with the score on 30. Atif joined Basher for the remaining two balls of the over, taking a run off the last to retain the strike and then hit the first ball he faced from Germane for four. It was, on this occasion, a brief cameo from Atif as he was run out for seven in the 11th over, disagreeing with Basher over whether a fourth run was available. Ali took to the crease with the score at 42 for three and started scoring immediately. He and Basher built a partnership of 33 before Basher was bowled for the top score of 29 in the 15th over. Will Marsh joined Ali but was dismissed for two with the score on 82-5. Castlethorpe debutant Gordon Williams took to the crease, but was caught behind for a duck the following over. Next in was Syed Naqvi who was able to settle in against a string of wide deliveries. When Ali was adjudged LBW for for 28 with the score on 90, Syed stepped up his batting. He was first partnered by Matt Townsend, with whom he put on 26 runs before Matt was bowled by Tony McCourtie, then by Ian Easton, who was unfortunately bowled by the second ball he faced. Stuart Crow took to the crease with the score on 117-9 and saw off the last two balls of the 25th over.  Between them they moved the score on to 128 before Syed was bowled by Tony McCourtie with the first ball of the 28th over having scored 27, while Stuart remained one not out.

After tea, the nine men of MK Afro Caribbean set out for the winning target of 129. Bevan Daniels and Amir Ali opened for them, facing the bowling attack of Syed and Ali. Their opening partnership of 28 was broken in the eighth over when their Ali was caught behind off our Ali for five. Javed Miles joined Bevan at the crease and scored nine of a partnership of 21 before he was run out by Ali as they looked to get a run for Bevan in Mark Currell’s first over. Bevan was then caught by Mark off Atif’s bowling in the next over, departing for 20 with the score on 51. Andrew Foster and Germane were only together for eight balls, adding eleven before Germane was bowled by Mark. Andrew departed in the 18th over for nine, after which Raj Rahod joined Carl Weeks for the remainder of his 32-run innings, ending four overs later when he became Mark;s third wicket on 99. Cedric’s handling of Mark’s bowling presented Bevan, who was now umpiring, with some heart-in-mouth moments. Almost the entire village of Castlethorpe went up in appeal for an LBW which, after considerable consideration and much worry for the Caribbeans on the sidelines, Bevan turned down. Next ball, Mark only narrowly missed the stumps which resulted in Bevan crumpling to the ground in relief. Mark and Atif continued their bowling efforts, resulting in Cedric finally succumbing to Atif when he was caught behind by Basher in the 25th over. Basher then ran out Raj one over later, leaving Tony McCourtie the last man standing on two with the score on 111.

So Castlethorpe won by 17 runs. The performance was not perfect, as you would expect for the first match of the season, but what was firmly in evidence was that everyone put in a lot of effort and there was a terrific team spirit. We even had spectators come along during the match - Jamie's and Matt's families, David and Stewart stopped by and Garry visited with his baby daughter. Great team spirit and support from those connected with the club had a massive contribution to what the club achieved last season, so seeing that that is still there is fantastic. Let’s keep it up and who knows what we can achieve in 2017!

​Match report by Sharron Jones

A big thanks to all who helped out with the preparations at the ground to get it ready for the season. As you can see, the place looks great, and definitely ready for the season.

It is also worth noting that indoor nets at Caroline Chisholm School have now finished. Net practice will now be held at Castlethorpe on Sundays at 15:00 until the season starts. Everyone is welcome to come along and get some practice in.