4th XI vs Royal Ascot

Blakey's Five-Wicket Haul Not Enough as Sonning 4th XI Fall Short

Sonning 4th XI suffered a defeat against Royal Ascot despite Isaac Blakey's impressive five-wicket haul at Berkshire County Sports Club on Saturday. After winning the toss and electing to field, Sonning's bowlers put in a disciplined performance but ultimately could not prevent Royal Ascot from posting a challenging total of 169 all out.

Blakey was the standout performer with the ball for Sonning, claiming 5-35 from his eight overs. His haul included the crucial wickets of Ahmer Mughal, Samar Mughal, and William Powell, all trapped leg before wicket, while also catching Raf Bocchio off his own bowling. Toby Fitton provided good support with 2-41, while captain Kabir Dave, Sunit Bansode, and Max Murphy each chipped in with a wicket.

Glen Winning led Royal Ascot's batting effort with a well-crafted 67 from 75 deliveries, including 12 boundaries, before eventually falling to Dave, caught by Kavya Panchal. Richard Baker provided late impetus with an unbeaten 40 from just 34 balls, featuring seven fours, helping Royal Ascot recover from a precarious 118-8 to post a competitive total.

Sonning's reply got off to a shaky start as they lost Paul Towner for 7, before Vashisht Papineni showed promise with 22. However, a disastrous collapse followed with three wickets falling for no runs, reducing Sonning to 41-5. Captain Dave was dismissed for a nine-ball duck, leaving his side in serious trouble.

A spirited 68-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Max Murphy (34) and Sunit Bansode (27) briefly revived Sonning's hopes. Murphy's knock included three fours and a six, providing some much-needed momentum. However, when Murphy was caught by Glen Winning off his own bowling with the score at 117, Sonning's resistance began to fade.

Raf Bocchio was the chief destroyer for Royal Ascot, returning exceptional figures of 5-19 from his eight overs, including dismissing the entire Sonning top order. His outstanding spell, which included nine wides but crucially five wickets, proved decisive as Sonning were eventually dismissed for 128 in the 31st over, falling 41 runs short of their target.

The result leaves Sonning still searching for consistency in Division 10A, while Royal Ascot will be pleased with their all-round performance, particularly the destructive bowling of Bocchio and the batting contributions of Winning and Baker.