In spite of yesterday's unfortunate batting collapse, it's hard to argue with the fact that the club is looking as good as it ever has thanks to some new items around the place. As well as the new scoreboard and club banner, we also have a new gazebo and sponsorship banners.

Unfortunately, there are some cricketers in the way, so they're not all perfectly shown off in this photo!

After the heat of the week and the prediction of a blisteringly hot day following morning showers, we arrived at the ground and put up the gazebo, affixing the club and sponsor logos, to provide shelter for players during the match. After all, the cloud would clear.....

Russell Jones tripped to the middle with the Bodicote captain, Lawrence, who won the toss and decided that the visitors would bat first. After some pre-match fielding drills, the team took to the pitch with Dileep Narayanasa making his debut for the club. Adesh Pal opened the bowling in increasingly blustery conditions from the Football Pitch end and began with a maiden. Garry Singh Maan opened from the Thrupp Close end. His first ball went for two wides but his fourth delivery bowled Bodicote's opener Lightfoot for a duck. With the last ball of the over, Garry also bowled Bodicote's other opener Luke, for another duck.  Adesh bowled another maiden beforeGarry struck again, bowling Wyatt for a third duck. It was only twenty balls into the game and Bodicote were three for three. In Adesh's next over, he had Lawrence adjudged lbw for two, which brought one Allen out to join another. They brought a period of dogged consolidation, staying together for a partnership of forty runs and seeing off both opening bowlers. They were replaced by Mark Currell and Atif Mushtaq, who broke the partnership in the seventeenth over by bowling R. Allen for thirteen. The next wicket to fall was D. Allen in the seven overs later when Mark trapped him LBW for 26.  67 for six.  Three balls later Mark bowled Baker for eight. Bodicote achieved another good partnership of thirty between Tester and Hawkins, lasting until the 35th over when Adesh had Tester caught behind by Stuart Walding for thirteen.  98 for eight. Garry had also returned to the attack but was himself replaced by captain Russell in the 38th over who struck with his first delivery when Buckingham was given out lbw for a duck. Adesh took the final wicket next over when he bowled Hawkins for twenty-one, leaving Barlow not out on two. Castlethorpe's excellent fielding performance had restricted Bodicote to 106 from 38.2 overs. A very good effort all round.

After Basher's tea was consumed, he and Atif made their way to the middle to chase down the total set. Things did not start well. Atif was bowled in the first over for a duck by Lightfoot, Mark made his way to the crease, but was a spectator when Basher was also bowled after scoring three runs.  7-2. Garry, due for a big score to revive his 2016 form, was given out LBW in the ninth over for seven, but which time Mark had been clean bowled and Russell caught behind. 22-5. Adesh couldn't recapture his previous innings of 105, and was given out LBW for a duck. The last four wickets fell similarly quickly: Dileep was bowled for one, Matt Lewis bowled for six and Stuart Crow bowled for a duck to bring in the last pair: Aaron Day and Ian Easton. Aaron proved to be the last man out, LBW for two, as Castlethorpe crumbled to a measly 32 all out.

To say that the team was disappointed would be an understatement.  After such a good fielding performance, to be bowled out so cheaply was a bitter blow but the team should take heart from the fact that they bowled and fielded so well, much improved on their match two weeks previously. It means things are moving in the right direction. Let's hope that the next league match, home to Radway on June 3rd, sees the bowling, fielding and batting all click.

​Match report by Sharron Jones.

There's very little to report this weekend: our league match against Croughton was cancelled due to some highly inclement weather, while our Sunday friendly against Abington unfortunately also failed to go ahead.

Nets still continue to occur on Thursday evenings; the best details for this can be found in our Facebook group.

We are very pleased to announce that the six teams who will contest the Castlethorpe Six-A-Side on Sunday 25th June have been confirmed. They are:

• Ashby Raiders (a group of Abington players with links to what used to be Ashby Timken CC)
• Brioche Pasquier (representing our sponsors, and led by Castlethorpe player Atif Mushtaq)
  
• Castlethorpe (ourselves; we will be looking to put in a better performance than last year)
  
• Hanslope (our traditional local rivals)
• MK Afro-Caribbean (the reigning champions after an excellent performance last year)
  
• MK Air (who will be looking to go one better than last year, where they reached the final)
  

Be sure to clear that date from your diary, because it should be an excellent day for the club.

In the sunshine, Jack Johnson lost the toss and New Bradwell put Castlethorpe in to bat. Garry Singh Maan opened the batting with Jack, scoring steadily against New Bradwell's opening bowlers, moving quickly to 53 off the first six overs before their partnership was broken by Jack's run out on 15. Germane Ebanks joined Garry, but they were only together for thirteen runs before Garry bowled by the first change bowler who two balls later also bowled new batsman Will Marsh, reducing Castlethorpe to 66-3. Germane was joined by Adesh Pal and together Castlethorpe's batsmen scored rapidly, seeing off both change bowlers. At drinks, the score was a huge 194-3. In the 23rd over, Adesh retired out after scoring an impressive 105, including twelve fours and six sixes, bringing to an end his and Germane's partnership of 159. Germane achieved his 50 (six fours and two sixes) in the 24th over and also retired. Their replacements were Matt Lewis and Aaron Day. Matt scored just four before getting out caught, bringing new man - both to the innings and to CCC - Jamie King in to join Aaron. Between them they put on 39 runs in six overs, taking the total to 276 before Aaron was caught for 31.  Ian Easton and Jamie put on thirteen, with Ian scoring his highest score so far for Castlethorpe before he was caught out in the 34th over. Ollie Hughes, another Castlethorpe debutant, made his way to the crease and saw off the remaining four deliveries of the over. Once Jamie got out bowled, last man Stuart Crow scored boundaries off each of his first two deliveries, finishing not out on his highest score for Castlethorpe as the team posted a large final total of 297.

After tea, New Bradwell openers Hargreaves and Wootton faced Stuart and Will for eleven overs, accumulating 32 runs before Wootton was run out and replaced by Bridgman. Two overs later, Hargreaves was adjudged LBW and replaced by opposition captain James McMillan. Bridgman became the third early Castlethorpe wicket, caught for a duck off the bowling of Stuart Crow, bringing Boddy to the crease. He and McMillan put on 112 runs before Boddy was bowled for 22 by Jack Johnson in the 32nd over with the score on 146. McMillan then fell for 75 to the bowling of Garry Singh Mann. The two new batsmen were a new McMillan (James's son) and Wells, who stayed together for two overs before McMillan Jr was caught out off Germane. The 38th over was good for Jack as he had Gillions caught out for one and then Timmins bowled out for nought, bringing a third McMillan (Kayleigh) out to bat with the score on 158.  One more run was added to the score before she was caught out off Germane, leaving Wells not out on nine as the eleventh New Bradwell player was unable to take to the field. (He had been taken unwell at the fall of Hargreaves wicket in the fourteenth over and was taken to hospital to check there was no serious issue.)

In spite of the match being pretty one sided in terms of scoring, it was played in good spirit, mostly in sunshine, with a number of Castlethorpe players having their best performances for the club. As an aside, thank you to Ben who came along to watch and ended up umpiring the Castlethorpe batting performance. Also supporting and spectating were Vicky (Matt's wife), Atif and Marisa (Atif's wife). Thanks to you too for coming along to watch.

Match report by Sharron Jones.

Under high cloud, captain Russell Jones lost the toss, and Castlethorpe were asked to bowl first.

Greens Norton's openers Bodily and Baker faced Syed Naqvi and Garry Singh Maan together until Syed had Bodily out lbw for two with the score on six.  Baker was joined at the crease by Yuill who hit the first ball he faced for four. At one point, the batsmen kept the score moving and the fielders busy by running three threes in six deliveries. Syed and Garry bowled seven and six overs respectively before Mark Currell and Ben Nightingale were brought into the attack, but the Greens Norton's batsmen continued to score well. At the halfway point, Greens Norton were 104 for one with Yuill having achieved his 50 and Baker in the 30s.

In the 25th over, Russell changed the bowling attack, replacing Ben with Nev Maravala who struck in his second over when Baker, having just reached 52, was caught out by Garry with the score on 150. Nev struck again in his next over when new batsman Kightley was out LBW for three. Taylor joined Yuill at the middle and was able to congratulate him on reaching his ton in the 32nd over. Yuill was the next wicket to fall when Syed, who rejoined the attack in place of Nev, bowled him out for 118 three overs later. 199 for four. Garry, who had been brought back on to bowl on completion of Mark's ten overs, took Taylor's wicket with the first ball of the next over with the batsman well-caught by Russell. New batsman Jenkin took his position at the non-striker's end and could only watch as two deliveries later, Millard was out caught and bowled for one. 202 for six. The last wicket to fall was Robinson, who was run out by Mark for six. Wallis and Bowmer were not out for eleven and nought respectively with, seeing Greens Norton through to 224.

After a lovely tea (well done Mark!), Castlethorpe set out in their quest for 225 to win.  Stuart Walding opened with Mark but their partnership lasted only until the second over when Bowmer bowled Mark for five. Russell lasted three balls before the same bowler had him out caught. Garry could only watch as Basher was caught out off the last ball of the next over for eight - a poor start at 20 for three. Keith Finson took his position at the non-striker's end and saw Garry get out LBW in the next over with the score still on 20. 225 was beginning to look a long way away. Syed strode to the middle and tried to steady things,helping to build a partnership of 27 which was broken in the fifteenth over when Keith was bowled for fourteen.  Ben joined Syed and together they put on a quick fifteen before Syed was bowled out for sixteen.  Ben and new batsman Nev were still together at drinks with the score on 65 for six. They were not separated until the 24th over, when Ben was out LBW for 18. In the 25th, Nev was caught out on three and Aaron Day was bowled for nought.  In the 27th over, Ian Easton was bowled for one, leaving Stuart Crow not out on nought. Castlethorpe were all out for 80.  

It was a lacklustre performance from the home side. Where at Byfield the team had been quiet but busy, at home they were quiet and appeared lethargic, so much so that the league umpire had no option but to deduct two points due to the slow over rate, meaning we only took two points from the match.  It was disappointing for everyone but, according to legend, what does not kill you makes you stronger.  Here's hoping that that was our league low point for the season and that the pep returns to our league performance next week.

Match report by Sharron Jones

After a torrid week of selection issues (absences due to work, holidays and other events) a Castlethorpe team that included three debutants arrived in Byfield under cloudy skies. Russell lost the toss and Byfield elected to bat.

Syed Naqvi and Ben Nightingale to open the bowling against Byfield's Newby and Adkins. Byfield raced to 32-0 from the first five overs before progress slowed as Ben and Syed bowled six overs for just five runs, with the latter claiming Castlethorpe's first wicket. Full credit has to go to the Castlethorpe fieldsmen as well as the bowlers, with an excellent show of commitment and backing up, all of which persisted throughout the innings.  

In the fourteenth over, Adesh Pal replace Ben and struck immediately with Adkins caught behind by keeper Matt Lewis for 20 to make the score 47 for two. At the other end, Atif Mushtaq replaced Syed and took the next wicket in the nineteenth over, bowling Driscoll for eleven. Adesh and Atif kept at their task of bowling accurately and, with continued tight fielding, made sure the score did not race away. Unfortunately each was denied a wicket by the umpire's call of "no-ball," but this should not in any way reflect on their bowling efforts. Atif bowled Cooper in the 27th over for a slow four, making the score 92 for four. The excellent fielding continued to have a big impact as Atif threw down the stumps to claim the fifth Byfield wicket with eight overs to go. Next over, bowler and fielder were reversed as Adesh claimed a run-out of his own. Byfield were down to 125 for six, but their number three, Cook, was still at the crease on 40.  Russell made a double change in the bowling, bringing Syed and Ben back into the attack: Adesh had completed his ten overs, Atif had one over remaining. First of the two to strike was Ben, having Emery given out LBW - the only successful appeal of the day for our bowlers. In the next over, Syed first took the wicket of Cook, bowling him for 42 and with the next ball bowled the new batsman Pratley. It was not his day for a hat-trick though as batsman McIlroy fended away the hat-trick ball. Ben claimed the final wicket, leaving Smith the not out batsman on five with Byfield having reached a total of 143 all out.

After tea at the pub, Castlethorpe set about their run-chase. Two Joneses opened the batting: Russell and Alun Jones in his first league match for us. Alun's role was to anchor the innings whilst Russell took on the role of aggressor. The score ticked on steadily with a mix of cracking shots and stalwart defence. They had targeted seeing off the first ten overs and that is when the first wicket fell with Newby catching Russell off the bowling of Cooper for 29 runs with the score on 41. This saw Syed make his way to the crease in a new role at number three, focusing on the target of four an over and keeping the ball on the ground.  Unfortunately his partnership with Alun was short-lived when Byfield successfully appealed for Alun to be out LBW in the fourteenth over. Atif joined Syed for just one ball as he was bowled by the first delivery faced for a duck. That brought Ben to the crease. Ben and Syed put on a partnership of 49 runs in twelve overs before Syed was adjudged lbw for 26 with the score on 97. Adesh could only watch from the non-striker's end as in the next over Ben was also given out LBW for 21. Matt joined Adesh but again the partnership was broken next over, this time with Adesh caught out for one. The score was 103, meaning that 41 more runs were needed from the remaining twelve overs. Debutant Aaron Day made his way to the middle to join Matt facing just four balls in their two over partnership before he too was given out LBW. 113 for seven. Ian Easton strode to the middle and hit a couple of lusty blows without scoring before being caught out in the 31st over.  Our third debutant, and last man, Luke Jeffery-Hammond, made his way to the non-striker's end as Ian and Matt had crossed whilst the catch was taken.  He was left not out on nought off no balls as Matt was clean bowled next delivery, bringing the Castlethorpe innings to a close on 114.  Byfield won by 29 runs.

It was disappointing to get so close to what would have been a stunning victory for our ten men, but the performance of the team was outstanding, with every man playing an important part in a well contested match. Getting to within 30 of the target was impressive. By taking the ten Byfield wickets and scoring over 100, we secured six points, bringing our league tally to 26.  Thanks for a great match and keep up the good work!

​Match report by Sharron Jones