Although the amount of work that has gone into the ground in the early season has been brilliant, inevitably it was always going to be a tough wicket to bat on.

This showed, as Cirencester got off to a dogged start, not losing wickets but also not scoring heavily.

Tight opening spells from Cameron Baden (8-27-0) and Scott McNeill (8-8-2) set the tone for the day.

The first wicket fell to McNeill, with debutant Alex Bowles taking a sharp stumping. The next ball saw a typical early season dismissal, with a ball that held in the pitch being popped up to the man on the drive.

A quick blast from Conor Taylor (4-12-0) came next, followed by a trio of spin of Connor O’Shea (6-23-0) Adam Tucker (5-9-1) and Alex Kill (6-26-1).

All showed positive signs for the season ahead and kept the score tight. At 82-6 with the overs ticking away it was apparent it was going to be a low scoring game.

Stand in captain Chris Aubrey (3-20-0) got the opportunity to roll his arm over at the death as well. Some late innings hitting saw the score push on to 127-6 off the allotted 40 overs.

In reply, the Bowles and Aubrey got off to a steady but solid start. Both enjoyed a good stint at the crease, assessing the conditions well and picking up 30 and 24 respectively.

Aubrey fell to a good, sharp turning delivery to bring Taylor to the crease. His usual positive approach brought a couple of boundaries before he to fell to spin being stumped for 12.

Kill joined Bowles for a Shrivenham reunion, hoping to push the score along. Unfortunately Bowles fell shortly after with the score now 77-3.

Tucker came to the crease and along with Kill began to settle and pick up the scoring pace. Both managed to work the ball around and picked up the odd boundary each, reaching the total not out with Kill on 31 and Tucker on 18.

The game was the perfect practice for the early season pitches to come and a good reminder of how to bowl and build innings on them.

Chris Aubrey - “I think the game went well on what was a difficult pitch to bat on.
Our bowlers bowled in very good areas early doors making it hard for them to score.

The spinners bowled very well in the middle overs on a pitch that was turning square so restricting Cirencester to 127 was a very good effort.
We showed great promise with the bat to knock the runs off fairly comfortably with everyone contributing and spending some much needed time in the middle.

The manner we chased the runs down in was a big improvement from last season on a difficult pitch.
Too many time last year we made things hard for ourselves chasing a fairly small target with losing wickets early putting too much pressure on the middle order.
So fingers crossed there’s more of this to come.

I’m feeling very confident about the season ahead with some new faces coming in and all the hard work that’s been done throughout the winter can only be positive.”

Alex Bowles - “I Really enjoyed it, everyone has made me feel really welcome and comfortable. Players know there role and understand the standards required from them individually and as a team to do well. It’s a really good team ethos.

It was really nice to spend time at the crease. You always want the perfect innings regarding timing and shot selection but that was impractical given the conditions yesterday, so was very happy for a first innings. I felt really good with the keeping. So good day all round.

I’m looking forward to some harder quicker decks and the challenge ahead. I love batting and want to take my chance when it comes along, keeping wise I can’t wait to get started as yesterday gave me a taste of what’s to come and I feel I can really get involved from behind the stumps. Looking forward to a good season both on and off the pitch.”

Next weekend sees the team travel away to Chippenham.