A fine day for a friendly fixture that is always played in a good spirits, literally at times. Chearsley sported a very youthful team, comprising six U15s, and one each in the U16, U19, U23, U37 and U62 age groups.

Chearsley 'won' a negotiated toss and elected to bat. Vinnie Connolly and Sam Deyes opened up, the former scoring an effortless 50 (retired not out) to set the innings up, and the latter playing a very patient innings for 11. The visitors left the field after 14 overs for refreshments of varying strength with the score 67-1. Back on the field, Jimmy Burnham hit an excellent 45 before being run out by his batting partner, a shame as he looked sure to get 50 in a few more balls. Freddie Witcher joined promising Indian visitor Mikhil Srinivas and the pair added a few handy late runs, to take our score to 143-4 off 35 overs. A speedy recovery is wished to the unfortunate opposition player who broke an arm while in the field; these friendlies are proving rather dangerous this season!

Tea and further refreshments were taken before Chearsley took to the field, with Himank Tripathy and Greg Fairhurst opening the bowling. Each bowled very nicely, both swinging the ball a long way to put the rookie wicket keeper's technique to the test. Himank picked up two wickets and Greg was unlucky to only pick up one (a very sharp grab at first slip by club stalwart Neal Waters), his 6 tidy overs going for just 10 runs. Finn Waters replaced Greg up the hill, largely bowling well, and picking up 2 wickets thanks to good catches from Vinnie and Fred. The latter also bowled four tidy overs down the hill, going for just 6 runs. Despite the concession of a mere four byes, the stand-in Sunday captain bowed to pressure and a keeping change ensued; hereafter the bye count soon trebled and five penalty runs were awarded when the ball cannoned into the fielding helmet after another piece of Keystone Cops keeping. Guest invitee Joe Campbell bowled 4 excellent overs of left arm spin, picking up 2 wickets and looking very sharp in the field, Jimmy Burnham picked up a wicket, and Sam Deyes took just 4 balls to finish the job in the 28th over, Waddesdon all out for 117.

Full scorecard: https://www.play-cricket.com/website/results/6337057

An enjoyable day that gave many of the promising youngsters at the club a chance to shine, completing an excellent weekend for the club. [TM]