Bank House Glos CCL Div Four

Cirencester II 227-5; Churchdown 200-8

TONY 'TIGER' WOOD scored 120 not out on Saturday to lead Cirencester seconds to their first league win of the 2015 season.

Visitors Churchdown arrived as top of Division Four, won the toss and decided to bowl first so the pressure was on Cirencester to post a big score.

Opening pair Rob Wilson and Jim Woodcock shared a a stand of 29 runs before Wilson was caught off a slower ball from captain Joe Griffiths.

Andy Reynolds was caught behind and Griffiths followed up with his third wicket in two overs when he had Jim Woodcock caught. With the score on 31-3 off 11 overs pressure was on incoming batsman Wood and Dominic 'Dompers' Jeffcott to steady the ship.

A 57-run partnership developed with both batsmen playing cautiously to avoid any further loss of wickets.

Dompers was out in the 26th over with the score on 88. Wood, increasingly growing in confidence, started to unleash some great shots pushing on to his 50 by the 33rd over.

Andy Cooper and Wood added 38 runs but it was the final partnership of Wood and Andy Cox that proved decisive. In nine overs they added 103 runs with both players taking advantage of a deep-set field and tired bowling.

Wood smashed his way to a hundred with a six and then dispatched bowling to all parts for 43 runs off three overs to end up on 120* as the home side concluded on 227-5.

Churchdown, in reply, started brightly with the assistance of some dropped catches but were unable to make any early headway against the tight opening bowling of Cox and Sam Frost.

The top five batsmen all contributed runs in the twenties with Worgan reaching 42 but it was the bowling of four Cirencester U16 players that kept the visitors at bay.

Sam Frost (9-1-35-2), Andy Hunt (6-0-39-0), Mike Howell (6-0-34-1) and Tom Rutter (7-1-28-2) between them snapped up the majority of the visitors’ wickets with very tight bowling and good catching. Wood took two wickets at the end to complete his splendid day as Churchdown ended on 200.