WEPL Gloucestershire
Cheltenham Civil Service 145 all out
Cirencester 240-7
IT was a fantastic day for the Jamieson-Black household as Cirencester returned from Cheltenham Civil Service with a 95-run win to further cement their second place in the WEPL Gloucestershire league.

The three Jamieson-Black brothers hit 165 runs between them – Jamie top-scoring with a fine 126 – and then took eight wickets for 67 runs.

Gareth Williams won the toss for the 11th time this season and asked to bat first on a pitch that looked like it would offer a bit to the bowlers early on in the contest.

Cheltenham started by bowling good lines and Will Mason was removed for just 1 by John Garrett.

Fellow opener Jamie Jamieson-Black struggled to find any rhythm early on despite the occasional boundary coming his way. This was a much more gritty innings than his usual swashbuckling fireworks.

Jamie was joined by his brother Jono and the two started to tick the scoreboard over slowly with Civil Service fielding tightly.

The score reached 32 before Jono was adjudged lbw to change bowler George Leadbetter for 20. The arrival of Ben Moody at the crease brought about a sustained period of consolidation during which Jamieson-Black was dropped by wicket-keeper Craig Baker on 20.

This seemed to give Jamieson-Black some impetus and he began to open his shoulders. He reached 50 in the 32nd over shortly before Moody was caught for 14 off Michael Teague. At this point Cirencester needed to accelerate the score to post a competitive total.

Oli Thornley was caught in the deep for 9 and Andy Reynolds came in to play back-up as Jamie got stuck into the bowlers to bring up his second hundred of the season before Reynolds was run out for 13.

Jock Jamieson-Black then joined his brother in setting about the Civil Service attack and the boundaries came thick and fast, including Jock switch-hitting for six to the longest boundary. The Cirencester innings closed on 240-7, a total below par according to some of the opposition players, with Jamie eventually dismissed for 126.

The Civil Service reply stuttered early as Billy Breen and Tom Fullalove were beating the outside edge regularly. A change in the bowling brought about the first wicket after 41 runs with captain Robbie Baker stumped for 18 by Matt Carter off the bowling of skipper Williams.

Williams brought in the spin of Jock and Jono Jamieson-Black from each end and the two destroyed any hope that Civil had of reaching the 240 posted by Cirencester with wickets falling regularly, including that of opener Adrian Mayes for 60.

The spin pairing bagged four wickets apiece and Breen swept up the last wicket as Civil Service limped to 145 all out.

Next up for Cirencester is the trip to Stroud, the only side who can deny Cirencester second spot in the table.