Binfield Cricket Club's 1st XI drew away at Peppard Stoke Row CC on Saturday 8 August 2026, half-centuries from James Muir (53) and Sam Kennett (52) lifting them to 254 for 9 in a Thames Valley Cricket League (TVCL) Division 2A fixture before Peppard Stoke Row batted out the day at 202 for 4, Jack Collett taking 3 for 48.

A draw is not always a dull thing, and this was a proper tug of war on a breezy, dry day at Peppard Common - Binfield making a competitive 254 for 9 from their 52 overs, and Peppard Stoke Row then deciding, quite sensibly once wickets began to matter, to shut up shop and settle for the honourable share of the spoils.

Binfield's innings very nearly stalled before it began. Nick Murdoch and Farzan Moin found a good length early, and after a brisk first over the score simply stopped: three consecutive maidens, the total becalmed on 14, and Michael Carson gone for 8. It took James Muir to unstick it. He and Chris Morgan added 87 for the second wicket, the backbone of the innings, Muir batting deep into the 22nd over for a watchful 53 from 74 balls with seven fours before Ollie Williams removed him.

The middle order kept the thing ticking without ever cutting entirely loose. Morgan made 35, Harry D'Amaro-Field a careful 23, and then Sam Kennett gave the innings its finest flourish - 52 from 53 balls, seven fours and a six, elegantly struck. Around him the lower order threw the bat to real effect: Elliot Coggins's 31 came from just 20 deliveries at a strike rate of 155, faster than anyone managed all day, and Binfield closed on a thoroughly useful 254 for 9. Williams was the pick of the Peppard attack with 3 for 56 from a marathon fifteen overs.

Two hundred and fifty-five to win was a stiff ask, and for a while Binfield sniffed something better than a draw. Jack Collett was the chief tormentor with the ball, his 3 for 48 removing the top of the Peppard order and keeping the required rate always a shade out of reach. But Rudi Derbyshire dug in for a fine unbeaten 67, and once Peppard had lost their fourth wicket they were content to bat out time rather than chase, finishing on 202 for 4 with the draw safely pocketed.

Honours, in the end, roughly even - a point apiece that keeps Binfield handily placed, second in Division 2A on 262 points and snapping at the heels of leaders Theale and Tilehurst. A word too for the officials, umpires Richard Atkin and Dinesh Sivalingham and scorers Wendy Reeves and Paul Windsor, who saw a long, honest day's cricket through to its close.