Simon Massey (illustrated) starred with both bat and ball in the 1st XI's win against Pinkneys Green. The opposition were bowled out for 169 by Barrett (2-34), Lipo (1-49) and Massey (6-32) on a cold, cloudy day at Chandlers Lane. Yateley never really looked in trouble after Kevin Denston surprisingly went cheaply. Stuart Lipo got the innings off to a solid start with a fine 47 before Simon Massey laid the foundation for the victory. Simon was bowled the next ball after reaching his 50 but this brought James Mace to the wicket who put the result beyond doubt with a very confident 35. Richard Heywood hit the winning run for Yateley to secure the 2 wicket win.

Click here for photographs of the 1st XI.

The 2nd XI were comfortable winners at Stratfield Turgis. Stratfield batted first but could not come to terms with the bowling of Mant (2-10), Davies (2-17), Owton (2-29) and veteran Colin Justice (4-21), and were bowled out for just 86 on a placid wicket. Having lost Colin for one in the first over, Selwyn Grimsley (shown forcing a 4 below) and Tony King urgently set about the Stratfield bowlers in the expectation that the rain might have the deciding say. Selwyn (38 no) and King (25) got us within a whisker of the score when Tony was out attempting to force one too many. In steps Saj, promoted from the 3rd XI on merit at last, to hit the winning runs and give Yateley the victory with 8 wickets and 20 overs to spare.

Click here for photographs of the 2nd XI.

The 3rd XI beat West Drayton but no report was available due to air traffic control problems in the Heathrow area.

The 4th XI entertained Slough at Yateley Green. Batting first Yateley amassed 143 thanks to Zed (34), Day (17), Asim (17) and young James Shillingford (13). Slough had no answer to the bowling of Andy Briggs (5-36) and George Wakely (3-35). Young James Shillingford capped a good personal day with 1 for 2 at the end.

Brian Roberts (below) was the toast of the 3rd XI after he hit the winning run off the last ball of the match against Peppard.

Yateley's bowlers were on top but slack fielding allowed Peppard to reach 168, at least 30 runs more than they should have got. After Andy Davies (2-29), Brian Roberts (1-50) and Dave Goddard (2-58) had ripped the heart out of the opposition batting, Rawat (the star of the 4th XI last week) mopped up the last three for just 13 runs. Yateley got off to a solid start with openers Ian Taylor (10) and Paul Johnson (16). As is often the case, Saj provided the acceleration with a fine 35. Paul Shillingford (24), Stuart Lawrence (21) and that man Rawat again with 28 got us within striking distance of the score. Last man Andy Davies joined John Roberts with 12 still needed. Andy looked the more confident but it was Brian who finally hit that winning run. Click here for photographs.

The 1st XI got the worse of the notorious Sonning wicket losing by 5 wickets. Having lost, what proved to be, a crucial toss Yateley found conditions very difficult and were dismissed for 122. Only Tom Lawrence reached double figures as he batted through the innings for a very dogged 46. Second top scorer was extras with 41 (even the Sonning wicket-keeper couldn't cope with the deviation of this pitch!). As is often the case the sun came out after tea and the wicket played completely differently. Sonning reached their target for the loss of 5 wickets, falling to Barrett (3), Eva (1) and Thatcher (1).

The 4th XI did well to dismiss Theale & Tilehurst 3rd XI for 128. The bowlers doing the damage were James Shillingford (2-25), Shrni (4-46), Rashish (2-45) and White (1-3). Bernie Grossmith failed with the bat for the first time this season just when the team needed him. Only Simon Shirley (26) showed any resistance as Yateley were toppled for just 67. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable game and we were playing a 3rd XI.

Ashford chose to bat against the firsts on Sunday and ran up a rather healthy 249. Seven bowlers were tried with varying degrees of lack of success but James Mace at least took 2 for 35 before withdrawing from the attack.

James Mace (25) and Stuart Lipo (17) got us off to a good start but from then on only Tom Ouldridge batted with any assurance. A fine knock it was as he single handedly held the innings together with an excellent 72 before we were all out for 175.

As far as the seconds are concerned skipper Stuart Lawrence has temporarily disappeared. Are you out there Stuart? Rumour has it that the game ended in a tie off the last ball!! Perhaps the excitement has overcome him.  Can anyone else help us piece this story together?"

Yateley 4th XI were too strong for Penn Street on Saturday 11 May. The game is best summarised by skipper Colin Ive's quote: "They were a mixed side with a VERY strong opening bat who carried his bat to 89 not out, though was caught behind on 49 and stumped on 69, umpire did not appear to be looking either time!! Nice ground, nice bunch, crap changing facilities, but all thoroughly enjoyed the game ."

Bernie Grossmith made 68, Rawat 54 and Rajesh 33 not out in Yateley's 197 for 2 dec. Our fielding was very good with George impressing all with a splendid diving catch in the slips. Rawat took 3-33 in 11 overs, Rajesh 2-50 in 8 overs and George Wakely 2-25 in 7.

The fixture card said the seconds were playing "Bearwood" following the first print-out from the league. The League handbook revealed they had merged with Emmbrook to become Emmbrook-Bearwood playing home games at Emmbrook. Feeling relieved that they had not made a fruitless journey to Bearwood, the seconds assembled only to be told that the league handbook had us playing "West Drayton". (Where?) A quick (well fairly slow) swop of players with the thirds was required due to the likely late arrival back from wherever West Drayton is.

Finding their way there with the aid of a Global Positioning System, the seconds opted to field first and thoroughly enjoyed bowling on a wicket that could best be described as "not actually a wicket". Andy Davis and Simon Mant rapidly took wickets as the West Drayton batsman walked out to bat with a certain resigned air. At 68 for 9 the game looked a formality but the last wicket pair put on a vital stand of 29 as they ended all out on 97. Andy took 5 for 40 and Simon 3 for 24 and Colin Justice managed to wrestle the ball off them long enough to take 1 for 5.

As skipper Grimsley announced "Right the batting order is ......." the batsman disappeared to various corners of the pavilion. Sadly, our innings had a marked similarity to that of our hosts. Not even the Trooping of the Colour has two processions in one day and in spite of Paul Shillingford (24) and Wes Day (16), we slumped to 72 for 9.  Andy Davis joined his skipper and lo and behold another last wicket partnership began. This was now getting spooky and it was clear to everyone that a tie was the only logical end to this bazarre match. However at 94 for 9, with the boundary beckoning- a final twist!! Selwyn is stumped to give our opponents a 3 run win. As he walked off, not even Andy's advice on how he should have played it could console the skipper.

The game was played in excellent spirit and the teams shook hands and congratulated each other on both getting so near to 100. As the teams assembled in the bar to reminiss on the afternoon's events, West Drayton announced that they couldn't serve beer because there was no gas. Funnily it seemed somehow fitting.

Over 400 runs were scored in the 1st XI game against Englefield at home. Yateley batted first with openers Simon Massey (55) and Tom Lawrence (12) putting on 80 runs for the first wicket. Des Hutton (24) and James Mace kept the scoring going. The acceleration was provided by Stuart Lipo who came in at no 7 and powered his way to a quick fire 50 not out. Rob Barrett chipped in with a useful 12 at the end to help Yateley reach 218 for 8. On such a good wicket it was never going to be easy to bowl out the opposition. And so it proved. Englefield rattled up 119 for their first wicket, which was only broken with a run out by some sharp Yateley fielding. Three dropped catches, however, proved to be very expensive with wickets hard to come by. Even the father and son combination (shown below) of  bowler James Mace with umpire Dave couldn't produce a wicket.

Rob Barrett (2-60) and Stuart Lipo (2-49) were our only wicket takers as Englefield gained victory reaching 218 for 6 off the final ball of a tense last over.  

The 2nd XI narrowly lost their game away to Bearwood. Full details will be provided when available. [Now available see separate report]

With no League fixture the 3rd XI played Morden in a friendly at the Green. Yateley had Morden reeling at 50 for 5 when skipper Dave decided to 'feed' them a few runs to make a game of it. Needless to say he regretted that decision later on!! Morden recovered to finish on 144, which proved too much for Yateley who were all out for 97. Brian Roberts was the pick of our bowlers with 4-40. Dave Goddard and Jay took 2 wickets a piece and John Branson gave nothing away for his 1-16. Under 15 Tom White performed well for the seniors getting 1-21 off 8 overs. The only batsmen worthy of mention are Ian Taylor with a patient 40 and Paul Johnson with 20.

The 4th XI beat Penn Street. Details awaited.

The 1st XI got their League season off to a great start with a convincing win away to Nettlebed & Swyncombe. Batting first Yateley rattled up 178 for 8 thanks to a fine innings of 67 from Stuart Lipo. He was backed up by solid batting from Tom Lawrence (24), James Mace (22) and David Thatcher (19). Nettlebed's batsmen had no answer to Nick Eva's opening spell of 3 wkts for 5 runs off 8 overs. Simon Massey (6-29) polished off the rest as Nettlebed were dismissed for just 80 to earn Yateley maximum bonus points.

Playing at home to Warfield, the 2nd XI made hard work of batting on a slow, soft wicket and could only muster 119 for 9 in their alloted 45 overs. Uncharacteristically, Simon Mant batted for 20 overs for his 25 n.o. Pete Wilson had less trouble with a mighty 6 included in his innings of 22. Yateley's bowlers made Warfield struggle and the match could have gone either way until the final over when Yateley's score was just pipped for the loss of 8 of Warfield's wickets. Andy Davies (below) was the pick of our bowlers taking 3-35.

A close encounter at Englefield saw the 3rd XI go down by just 13 runs. Englefield reached 84 before losing their first wicket after 21 overs. Dave Goddard bowled tightly for his 2-18 off 10 overs. Danny Long took 3 wickets but gave away 51 runs in 13 overs. Nick Viner continued to show promise with 1-19. Englefield finished on 159 for 6. In reply, Yateley were all out for 144. Paul Johnson batted very well for a solid 29. Ian Taylor (24), Stuart Lawrence (22) and Saj (32) were the other main contributors. Saj could well have sealed the win for Yateley if a third umpire had been present on the day! 

The 4th XI fielded a mixed team of the young and the (very) old at Basingstoke. Supporting the young lads were skipper Pete Avery with Bernie Grossmith (50 runs), Colin Ive (20) and George Wakely (2 wkts). Basingstoke overtook Yateley's 132 for 8 with the loss of 4 wickets.