Congratulations are in order for all those who won awards at the awards evening last night at the Kingfisher Country Club. First of all, the most prestigious awards:

Clubman of the Year: Ian Easton
Captains' Player Award: Stuart Walding
Players' Player Award: Jamie Crawford

Next came the playing awards:

Saturday Batting Award: Atif Mushtaq (250 runs @ 22.73)
Saturday Bowling Award: Atif Mushtaq (19 wickets @ 10.05)
Sunday Batting Award: Jack Johnson (301 runs @ 37.63)
Sunday Bowling Award: James Chantry (14 wickets @ 17.29)
Fielding Award: Stuart Walding​ (13 catches, 2 stumpings, 3 run-outs)

And finally, the Fantasy League medals:

Fantasy League Winner's Medal: Sharron Jones (Sharron's 1st XI: 7,512 points)
Fantasy League Wooden Spoon: Sharron Jones (Woodentops: 907 points)
Most Valuable Player Medal: Atif Mushtaq (1,401 points)

​Congratulations to all the winners.

Castlethorpe won the toss and elected to field first, hoping that the rain forecast from 12pm would not arrive before the conclusion of the match.

Croughton's first wicket fell with the score on eight but the batsmen held firm for 41 runs before the fall of the next wicket, seeing off the opening bowlers, Ali and Syed. Once the second wicket fell, to Russell in his first over, he and Garry saw off the remainder of nine man Croughton for the addition of just 28 more runs with the innings lasting just 15.3 overs.

Castlethorpe went out to bat immediately under increasingly darkening skies. In the first over, both Garry and Russell lost their wickets.  In the fourth over, Syed lost his wicket and as Adesh joined Ali in the middle the steady drizzle gained momentum and at the end of the fourth over, the players left the pitch with tea declared early.

After almost two hours of waiting for the rain to stop and the pitch to dry, the rain eased to spitting, the pitch was inspected and a start time of 17:35 was agreed. Castlethorpe were on 30-3 and keen for a chance to get the remaining 48 runs for victory. Unfortunately the forecast weather arrived as players took to the pitch and the match had to be abandoned with both sides taking 10 points plus their bonus points.

Match report by Sharron Jones

A slightly depleted Sunday XI made the trip to Bugbrooke's exotically-named Doc White Cricket Ground to find an eleventh player waiting for them in the form of Tony Malone, the home side's twelfth man.

Batting first, Castlethorpe's total of 188 was largely driven by a captain's innings of 68 from Jack Johnson, who had support from Ben Nightingale and late addition Russell Jones. However, the Castlethorpe total would have been far less were it not for a spirited last-wicket partnership from James Chantry and Ian Easton, who hit a career-best 22.

With runs on the board to defend, Castlethorpe would have fancied their chances had they not run into an in-form James Letts, who thrashed seven sixes on his way to a very fast 103. By that point, the game was already as good as over.

Match report by Martin Jones

Thanks to all those who played in and supported our charity match in aid of The Walnuts School. In total, £219 was raised for the School.

Particular thanks must go to Ian, who was the driving force behind the event. Not only did he suggest it, plan it and captain one of the teams, but he also did all the shopping for event, all the advertising and covered the costs in order that more money should go to charity.

In the cricket, Ben Nightingale's 59 was the main contribution to a Castlethorpe innings that made steady progress to 152 for three at the end of their twenty overs. In reply, Ian's Team MK put up an excellent fight, with Jack Johnson (31) and Russell Jones (65) getting them to within touching distance. However, Jamie Crawford's late wickets of Russell Jones and Will Marsh ensured a Castlethorpe victory by eight runs.

Match report by Martin Jones

Given that Castlethorpe could only find ten players for Sunday's match, the situation was never going to be improved by the non-arrival of ten per cent of our team.

After losing the toss and being told to field first, captain Martin Jones made his debut as a wicket-keeper while Stuart Crow and Keith Finson opened the bowling. There was then a bizarre period of sustained luck for both opening batsmen as aerial shots landed close to Will Marsh at mid-wicket in almost every direction, but none landed in his hands until 41 runs had already been scored. Stuart was particularly unfortunate, eventually finishing his eight overs with none for 31.

First change bowler Will Marsh took some time to find his length, with one shorter ball in the twelfth over both breaking and dislocating Martin's right ring finger. By drinks, Argles and Harrison had built a large partnership, so Keith took the gloves while Martin tried to halt their progress by having a bowl. He bowled six overs, two for seventeen and Castlethorpe managed to keep Buckingham down to 222, far less than looked likely at one point.

Unfortunately, 222 was a long way out of reach: despite twenty at the top of the order from Martin and an aggressive 32 from Keith at number four, Castlethorpe were still bowled out for 80, losing by 142 runs; a chastening day at the office for the home side.

There were positives, though: Ollie Thompson took a wicket and made double figures on his club debut, and Aaron Day took three excellent catches.

Match report by Martin Jones

With both teams struggling for numbers, it was agreed that the game would go ahead as an eight-a-side fixture rather than be cancelled when the Afros had a feast waiting for both teams at the tea interval.

Batting first, the Afros played in their usual irrepressible fashion, romping to 249 from their thirty overs. Given the punishment meted out to most of the bowlers, praise must be reserved for Atif Mushtaq, who restricted the batsmen to a run a ball (no mean feat with only six fielders) and Ben Nightingale, who conceded only one run from the solitary over his body would allow him to bowl.

In reply, Castlethorpe lost three early wickets before Jack Johnson gave Atif the support he needed to rebuild the innings. Atif muscled his way to an entertaining 87 before falling to the bowling of sometime Castlethorpe player Germane Ebanks. Two more quick wickets followed before last man James Chantry played nicely for thirteen, putting on a partnership of 37 with Jack before the latter was left stranded on an unbeaten 40.

Despite the slightly odd fixture, it's always great to play the Afros, especially when they're cooking. We wish them all the best for the rest of their season.

​Match report by Martin Jones (who wasn't actually there)

Jack Johnson captained the side and lost the toss under overcast skies. Open University elected to bat having agreed with Jack to retire batsmen on reaching 50, with them able to return to bat once all batsmen were out.

​Will Marsh and Stuart Crow opened the bowling and the Open University openers took to them, racing the score on to 65 in just nine overs. Five balls later, opener Umer was retired after reaching his fifty. Next over, Stuart had the new batsman Hilari bowled out for two with the score on 68. The Open University batsmen continued to press on with their scoring, adding nineteen runs until Stuart had Masood out lbw for five in the 14th over with the score on 87. Will and Stuart bowled their allocation of eight overs through and were replaced by Dileep Narayanasa and James Chantry respectively. Both were playing their first Sunday matches in 2017, and James made an instant impact by having opener Raja caught out by Russell Jones for 23 with his fourth delivery. Dileep took the next wicket in the 23rd over, having Ahmed caught by John Chilton for 20. Next over, James had Pandey caught out on 21 with his first ball, again by John who took an excellent low diving catch. He then had Hanif caught out by Russell for nought with his fifth ball - a double wicket maiden. In the 26th, James had Akhtar caught out by Ben Nightingale for one. 136-7. James's sixth over was a maiden and his seventh saw him take his fifth wicket, dismissing Imdad for one by taking a return catch. 145-8 after 29.1. OU's tenth and eleventh batsmen took to the bowling of Russell and John who replaced Dileep and James, moving the score on at just over seven an over for six overs, moving from 150 to 194 by the 36th over. At this point, Russell was replaced by Dileep to complete his bowling allocation. With his last delivery, Hanif, batting at eleven, completed his half century and retired with the OU total on 228. Umer returned to the crease and with Wahga took the OU to their final total of 236. James's debut bowling performance for Castlethorpe ended with figures of 8-2-26-5. A grand effort.

After tea, Castlethorpe set about their run chase under brooding cloud. John and Jack opened but were off the pitch at the end of the fifth over with the score on 25 as the heavens opened. The match resumed after a 35 minute rain delay. The break did nothing for Jack who called John through for a run that just was not there. He was, of course run out and left the field unable to work out what made him call for a run. Russell joined John but lasted just five balls as he was bowled in the seventh over for four. At the end of the eighth over, the drizzle turned to heavy rain and play was again suspended, this time for 32 minutes. As per the weather forecast, the skies cleared and the sun came out so the match resumed at 18:48 - absolutely no chance of an early finish - with Castlethorpe on 36-2. Ben and John added 21 to the score before Ben was caught out for 17 off the last ball of the thirteenth over. Aaron Day joined John but recorded his second golden duck of the weekend when he was caught out in the next over. Jamie King made his way to the middle and scored three before being caught out in the fifteenth over. He and John crossed before the catch was taken so Stuart Walding made his way to the non-striker's end. John was then caught out two deliveries later on 21.

Will and Basher put on a partnership of 20 before Will was caught for twelve, bringing James to the crease. He faced just two balls before having to watch as Basher was caught and bowled for ten. 84-8. The win was out of reach but frankly even a century was looking a long way off. Stuart Crow made his way to the middle and took a run off his third ball. In the next over, the 24th, Stuart took one off the third delivery and James took three from the fifth. After a wide, James took a single from the first legal delivery of the 25th returning strike to Stuart, who took a four then a two from the next two deliveries. From the last ball of the 26th over, Stuart took a single moving Castlethorpe's total to 100 (the first century score since the friendly at New Bradwell on May 14th) and retaining the strike. Stuart took four from the first delivery of the 27th over and then a single again from the last delivery, stealing the strike again! He scored two from the first delivery, one from the second and finally James was back on strike. It was not lucky for him though as the third delivery saw him bowled for six. Dileep made his way to the middle for the final Castlethorpe partnership of the weekend. The 29th over saw a change in the OU bowling and having struck a two and a four, Stuart was bowled out with the new bowler's fifth delivery. Castlethorpe were bowled out for 117 with Stuart Crow top scoring with 23.

It was a frustrating match, especially with the weather interruptions, with some memorable moments, particularly for James and Stuart, that ended just after 8pm in sunshine.

​Match report by Sharron Jones

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.

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.