Binfield Cricket Club's Women's 2nd XI beat Emmbrook and Bearwood CC Womens 1st XI by eight wickets at home on Sunday 7 June, restricting the visitors to 90 for 9 in a Home Counties Women's Cricket League Division 3 A fixture before captain Jessica Jackson's unbeaten 42 saw them home.

My dear old things, what a thoroughly agreeable way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Saturday had been a wet and blustery affair, but the rain cleared away in good time and Binfield woke to a mild, breezy June day - eighteen degrees or so, a freshening wind to keep the bowlers honest, and the home square at the Goates Memorial Ground looking an absolute picture. Captain Jessica Jackson won the toss and had not a moment's hesitation in asking Emmbrook and Bearwood to bat. How well that decision aged. The vice-captain Lisa Jones took the new ball and was, quite simply, miserly - four overs, a single wicket, and a mere six runs conceded, the sort of Shaun Pollock-like control that squeezes the very breath out of an innings. She had Nic Blunden caught by Elizabeth Ullstein, and when Hollie Gamble struck twice in quick succession - the second of them an lbw that brought the finger of umpire Andy Smy smartly aloft - the visitors were pegged back to 17 for 3.

Only a watchful stand between the Emmbrook captain Nicci De Bromhead and Deepa Ravi steadied the ship, and it flickered up towards 70 before - well, then the roof rather fell in. From 70 for 4 the visitors lost five wickets for fifteen runs, with Katy Slaughter the chief mischief-maker, knocking over three of them on her way to a most satisfying 3-27. De Bromhead's 32 was the innings of the day for Emmbrook and Bearwood, but it ended in the cruellest fashion: a dart of a throw from Ullstein, and umpire Talivaldis Atvars, perfectly placed at square leg, had the simplest of run-out decisions to give. The visitors closed their 25 overs on 90 for 9, Gamble finishing with 2-15 and Manisha Naik and Juliette Andrews each chipping in. The freshening breeze told in a generous heap of wides from both sides, but Binfield's discipline with the ball - led by that Jones spell - was the thing.

And then, my goodness, didn't Jackson make the reply look a stroll in the early-evening sunshine. She took guard, refused to be hurried, and gathered her runs with the unflustered calm of a captain who had decided long ago how the afternoon would end. There were one or two alarms - Monika Nicholls bowled for 3, Alison Wade caught for 4 - but no more than that. Jackson eased to an unbeaten 42, Ullstein kept her admirable company with 20 not out, and the pair carried Binfield to 91 for 2. Over on the Statistics tab, the worm graph tells the whole tale in two curves: Emmbrook's red line climbing in fits and starts before flattening as the wickets tumbled, and Binfield's blue line tracking patiently alongside before surging clear to overhaul it inside seventeen overs - the very picture of a chase in control.

Eight wickets in hand, twenty league points in the bank, and a scoreboard that told a happy tale from first ball to last. It lifts Binfield to second in Division 3 A of the Home Counties Women's Cricket League, separated from leaders Sonning - who beat Wokingham this same weekend - by the finest sliver of run rate, with Cookham Dean, eight-wicket winners over Maidenhead and Bray, for company at the top. Emmbrook and Bearwood, alas, must dust themselves down at the foot of the table, but they will have enjoyed the cricket and the welcome - as, I am sure, did the dependable scorers Steve Jeffery and Anna Alborough, who between them did not have to write down too many Binfield wickets. A lovely team performance: wickets shared around, a captain leading from the very front, and a vice-captain bowling as if runs were rationed. Best of all, my dear old things, the whole afternoon was caught on camera by the club's stream, and you may sit back and enjoy every ball of it below. What a joy!