LYDNEY opener Jonathan Kear made an undefeated 111 as his side continued its strong start to the season.

The bowlers then did their job, bringing their Forest neighbours up 97 runs short in this Gloucestershire County League derby.

Kear’s 111 came off 109 balls and included 16 fours as his side made it three from three to stay top of Division Two.

Lydney made a brisk start with Kear and Tom Legge putting on 43 in seven overs after being put in to bat by the hosts.

The breakthrough came from the pick of Cinderford’s bowlers, Mark Roberts, who had Legge caught for 10 by Edward Ruck with the score on 45 in the eighth over.

Roberts finished the day with figures of 3-18 from his six overs, which included a maiden.

He claimed his second with his next over – the 11th – when Jordan Stone went leg before for two and the visitors were 51-2.

Alex Antoine and Kear put on 57 for the third wicket with the 100 coming in the 19th over.

Antoine hit three boundaries in his 25 before he went lbw to Western Storm’s Chloe Skelton.

Skipper Alex Gooding joined Kear at 108-3 and hit six and a four before he was caught for 11 by Mark House off the bowling of Dan Kibble in the 25th.

Like Roberts earlier, Kibble also claimed another wicket with his next over.

Lydney wicketkeeper Dafydd Nicholas was caught by Jordan Warren and the visitors were now 132-5.

Niall Holford hit two sixes in partnership of 32 with Kear but eventually went for 15, holing out to Ruck on the boundary off the bowling of Skelton.

Bowler Ed Jones did his job with the bat, keeping Kear company for four overs while Lydney’s all-timeleading run scorer kept the scoreboard moving along.

When Jones was caught leg before for five in the 38th over, Lydney had progressed from 164-6 to 205-7.

The last wicket to fall was Jack O’Connell who was run out by Jonathan Bowdler after straying out of his ground.

Callum Miller joined Kear for the final over and the innings closed on 210-8 with congratulations to Kear from both sides on his innings.

Kear had been at the crease for 168 minutes.

Skelton’s final figures were 2-40 off eight overs and Kibble’s were 2-34 from eight.

Ellis Boughton struck an early blow for Lydney, taking two with consecutive balls.

Simon Gwynne was given lbw with the fifth ball of the fourth over.

He then bowled Gwynne’s replacement, Mark House, with the first ball he faced.

Cinderford had made a shaky start at 8-2 but their predicament was about to get worse with the loss of Chloe Skelton.

She went lbw to Alex Gooding to put the home side at 14-3 in the seventh over.

A couple of partnerships steadied things for the home side although they were behind the required run rate.

Opener Edward Ruck and Jack Weaving put on 26 for the fourth wicket before Ruck went for nine to a catch by Ed Jones off the bowling of Jack O’Connell with the score on 40.

Weaving was joined by Jonathan Bowdler and some good strokes and patience saw them add 34 to the Cinderford total.

Weaving became the fifth wicket to fall when he was caught by Niall Holford off the bowling of Callum Miller.

Weaving was Cinderford’s top scorer with 39 from an innings that included six fours but at 74-5, the home side was still 127 off the target with 19 overs gone.

Nine had been added to the score when Chris Jackson was caught by Alex Antoine off the bowling of Jack O’Connell.

The seventh wicket fell on 98 when Jordan Warren was bowled by Ed Jones for 11 which included two fours.

Dan Kibble was the next to go when he was caught by Alex Gooding for Jones’s second wicket.

Jonathan Bowdler had put up some stiff resistance but he was removed for 23, caught leg before by Alex Antoine, leaving Cinderford at 113-9

The innings closed after 28.5 overs when Dafydd Nicholas stumped Jack Cook for a final score of 113 all out.

Each of the Lydney bowlers took at least one wicket with Ed Jones 2-6 off five, Boughton 2-25 off seven, O’Connell 2-22 off five, Antoine 2-23 off 4.5, Alex Gooding 1-13 off five and Callum Miller 1-22 off three.

Cinderford: Simon Gwynne, Edward Ruck, Mark House, Chloe Skelton, Jack Weaving, Jonathan Bowdler, Chris Jackson, Jordan Warren, Daniel Kibble, Mark Roberts, Jack Cook.

Lydney: Tom Legge, Jonathan Kear, Jordan Stone, Alex Antoine, Alex Gooding, Dafydd Nicholas, Niall Holford, Ed Jones, Jack O’Connell, Callum Miller, Ellis Boughton.