Sunday 14th May saw us begin our campaign in the Berkshire Sunday Blast League, hosting Hurst CC on the ELG. The league is aimed at developing young players, and it was the youth in our side that took the reins. Losing the toss and having to bat, a 54 from Rowan Hathaway set us in good stead and we continued to build on it, on a pitch that was far from easy to bat on, posting what we considered a par score of 188-9, including a hard fought 41* from Mubiru Gerald. Mubiru shone with the ball as well, taking an impressive 2-17 from his 8 overs, supported by skipper Aaron ‘The Nighthawk’ Graham, with 2-21, but the pick of the bowlers was Elliot Seddon, taking 3-15-8, with 4 maidens. Hurst were all out with 155, and our campaign was off to a dream start.

Meanwhile, our Sunday 2nd XI were having an equally good day, visiting Ashford Hill CC. Also having been put in to bat, FCC skipper Justin Smith opened their account, and carried his bat through the innings, finishing on 102* from 101 balls, with Falkland posting a total of 187/6 from their 40 overs. In reply, Ashford Hill fell short with just 86 on the board. The pick of the bowlers was Oscar Fry, taking 3 wickets from his 5 overs, and conceding no runs at all!

Fast forward to Wednesday night, when both our Downs League teams were in action. Our 1st XI travelled to Thatcham and set their hosts a target of 155 from their 20 overs, with 50’s for both skipper James Bird, and WK Connor Wardlaw. Thatcham’s inning saw Elliot Seddon and Mubiru Gerald back in the wickets, with 3-22 for Elliot, and 2-30 for Mubiru, and Thatcham were all out for 121. Our 2nd XI meanwhile, hosted Bradfield on our Enborne Lodge Ground, where the visitors chose to bat. Our bowling attack restricted Bradfield well, with 2-17-4 for Ollie Smith, and Bradfield set us a target of 123 from their 20 overs. Falkland chased the total down with just 3 balls to spare, with fantastic contributions from stand in skipper Aaron Graham (26) and Leo Clark, with 34*.

So, that was 4 senior games played, and 4 wins in the bag.

We all woke up to the long-awaited sight of sunshine on Saturday morning: the constant deluge of rain now (hopefully) a thing of the past, and all 4 senior Saturday teams matches were on, for the first time in 2023!

Our 1st XI, on the road to face Wokingham 2nd XI in Thames Valley League Division 1, lost the toss and were put in to bat. Another 50 for skipper James Bird, 57 for Brandon Gilmour, and Richard Morris, fresh from his unbeaten century from the previous week, making 93, saw Falkland make a more than respectable total of 271. But not to be outdone by their willow wielding teammates, our bowlers made short work of their hosts batters, bowling them out in just 35.2 overs, with 118 on the board. 4-17 from 7.2 overs, saw Daminda Kolugala crowned the pick of the bowlers, but there were valuable contributions too from Callum Johnson (2-36-10) and Brandon Gilmour. (2-23-6) That was 23 points for the 1st XI, and the first win of the day in the bag.

Back home, on our Wilson Carlisle Ground, our Development XI welcomed Outlaws 2.0 CC 2nd XI who won the toss and elected to bat. Our Development XI bowlers made quick work of despatching the visitors, who were all out for 92 in just 25.4 overs. Wickets were spread through the attack, with 3-1-2 for Jan Kriel, 2 a piece for Lottie Aird and Kevin Smith, with Prakrit Bhagat, Ollie Smith and Tom Seaward picking up a wicket each. Falkland’s innings didn’t go quite a smoothly as they hoped though, with them falling to 20/5, but skipper and club Chairman Neil Rider stepped up, and steadied the ship with 33*, and the Dev’s got over the line in 27.4 overs. Victory for the dev’s, and another win secured for Falkland.

Just down the road, our 3rd XI finally got to play their first league game of the season, as they travelled to Newbury CC to take on their 2nd XI in Thames Valley League division 7A. Another lost toss meant that our 3’s had to bowl first. A slow wicket that offered little to the batters made things tricky for Newbury, and they posted a target for our 3’s to chase of 142, all out after 42 overs. Some superb bowling from our young players had helped to restrict the hosts, with Soorya Anbumurasoli impressing with 3-21-9, and 2-28 from George Hawkins. On his return to cricket following an unexpected hiatus from the game, and much to the delight of the entire club, Nigel Trumper proved that bowling is very much like riding a bike, as he stepped up, bowled his 9 overs for 27, and took two wickets in the process. Skipper James Bloodworth knew that conditions still favoured the bowlers, so our response wouldn’t be an easy ride. Bloodworth took control, making a solid foundation of 52, and backed up by Rob Marson (19) and John Woodbridge (19) we got close to the target. An injury to our number 11 Razon Dash (get well soon Raz), meant we were a batter short, so with 30 runs to go, we would have to tread very carefully. Making a crucial 8 runs a piece, Nigel Trumper and George Hawkins edged us closer to victory, but the loss of both, with just 8 runs required brought keeper Poppy Camplin and Soorya Anbumurasoli to the crease. Despite the immense pressure, both handled the situation calmly and, to the delight of the tense FCC team, brought home the win! So, that was 3 from 3 for the day, 7 from 7 for the week, with only our 2nd XI yet to reach a result.

Now, for those of you reading this who don’t play cricket, we will let you into how Saturdays at Falkland work. Through the wonders of technology, we keep in touch throughout the day, countless WhatsApp messages are exchanged, updating each other on our progress, all wanting to know how the other teams are getting on, watching live feeds of the other matches, and checking their progress from those games that are being live scored, on Play Cricket at every opportunity. So on Saturday, 33 Falkland players, weary but happy with their victories, the scorers, umpires, families and other supporters all knew that back home, on our Enborne Lodge Ground, our 2’s were still doing battle against Fleet CC in Thames Valley League Division 3A. The match was being live streamed, and we had all been keeping up to speed with their progress, and we knew it was close. We were all headed for the club.

The 2’s were chasing 201, but they were below the required run rate, with some 45 runs still required, as a substantial Falkland crowd formed to cheer them on. In the first innings, Aaron Graham (3-24) and Chairman of Cricket Graham Beal (3-42) had been masterful, but our batters were facing a harder time. Skipper Duncan Johnson played a determined and considered innings, making 62, but falling a painfully close 13 runs away from pushing his team over the line. Johnson left the field to huge applause from his club mates and the wider crowd, and the set batter Aaryan Shariff had to dig in, and take the lead. Young Shariff never lost his nerve, having never doubted that a win was always on, and he smashed a massive 6 to bring up his 50 and to put the home side just one short of levelling the scores, to rapturous cheers from the crowd. Incidentally, the 6 was hit towards Aaryan’s dad, who was watching his son nervously from beyond the boundary… he went for the catch but dropped it! Two wide deliveries later, the scores were tied, 2 balls remained of the innings, and every person in the ELG was silent, holding their breath. One last strike was all it took to seal the thrilling win, and Falkland had completed 8 straight senior wins from 8 matches all in one week!

Celebrations continued well into the evening; that’s how we do things at Falkland!

Now on to next week, and all the many funny, exciting, proud, happy, amazing moments that it will undoubtedly bring.

Go well all!