Cirencester Cricket Club > News > May 2006 > Weekend bulletin

Weekend bulletin
Monday 1 May 2006

The first Saturday of the County League season brought genuine cricketing weather and the First and Second XIs delivered sparkling results to match.  

The Firsts hosted newly promoted Painswick with a strong batting line-up, but missing several first line bowlers.  However 16 year old James Denyer produced a superb performance that had the visitors reeling on 19 for 3, with figures of 3 wickets for 12 in his 6 over spell.  Although the Painswick middle order steadied the ship the Cirencester bowlers kept up a steady flow of wickets, with veteran Jon Turner delivering 3 successive maidens in his return of 2 for 40 and Olly Whitaker (3-47) bowling the last man with the score on 185. 

The Town openers, former Cheltenham captain John Beard and Rich Hudson, kept the scoreboard ticking over, although Beard had a let off that Painswick would rue when a regulation catch was put down in the covers.  The opening stand produced 94 at 5 an over before Hudson (32) edged a catch to the wicket-keeper.  Ex-Frocester man Ally Bray (33 no) then joined Beard who was 6 short of a century when the winning runs were struck. 

The Second XI travelled to play the first match for 20 years on Cheltenham Saracens’ new ground.  Not surprisingly, runs were hard to come by with a very tight opening spell by skipper Phil Carter (2-18) setting a tone that all his bowlers followed.  Saracens’ only managed 85 for 8 from their 45 overs with Clive Brown (2-14) and Dominic Jeffcott (2 for 6 off 7 overs) having the pick of the other bowling figures.  Cirencester boasted a strong batting line-up and a swashbuckling innings from Andy Cooper (32) led the way to a 6 wicket victory with 16 overs to spare.  

The Sunday XI travelled to Avening and Cherington and enjoyed a very competitive match.  Captain Dan Robbins (52) continued his rich vein of form to lead the way to 146 for 8 in the allotted 40 overs.  Cirencester produced a good all-round bowling performance, with newcomer Shahheen Adam (2-15) notching his first wickets for the Club, but they could not prevent an A & C victory by 3 wickets in the last over.