Hales CC travelled to Swardeston Common to play their only warm-up game before the start of the league season.Chris Andersen was the star of the show as he scored his maiden century for the club.

Hales CC travelled to Swardeston Common to play their only warm-up game before the start of the league season.

Chris Andersen was the star of the show as he scored his maiden century for the club. Under 15 county player Chris was a different class as he coasted his way through all 45 overs of the innings to finish unbeaten on 102.

Swardeston batted first on a hot afternoon on a decent track and made a rapid start as both openers sent the ball to all parts. The pair added 61 of the first 10 overs and it took a neat piece of fielding from Chris Bezant to get the breakthrough in the 18th over. A diving stop from Bezant and a pinpoint accurate throw left the batsman way short of his ground and Hales had the breakthrough.

Rowe then introduced the spinners Preemachandra and Mclean who did a fine job. Preemachandra maintained good control whilst Mclean was in good rhythm with his finger spin. Mclean bowled an incredible spell for a youngster as he caused all sorts of problems for the batsman. Returning with excellent figures of 5 for 26, Max was by a long way the pick of the Hales attack.

The Swardeston innings finished on 212 from 45 overs.

Hales made an awful start to the reply as Harmer fell in the second over and was soon followed by Ramsdale and Loines without troubling the scorers. P Squire and C Andersen then rebuilt the innings and played themselves in with some classy shots. Andersen played the senior role as Squire found his feet, and between them they added 105 runs until Squire fell for a very fine 41.

Andersen continued his commanding innings as he constantly hit the gaps with sweetly-timed textbook cricket shots. The youngster showed supreme levels of fitness in his 45 over innings. He never once looked in trouble or out of his depth and hardly even broke into a sweat.

Andersen bought up his brilliant century in the 44th over with a quick single. The home side were quick to appreciate the quality of the youngsters innings as were the Hales team and the spectators.

The game was brilliantly set up by Andersen who almost single-handedly prepared the win by scoring nearly half his side's runs. Some brutal batting by G Squire saw Hales reach the 212 target in the final over. Needing 16 off the last over, Squire launched two enormous sixes way out of the ground to wrap up an unexpected victory for Hales.