VETERAN Bidford batsman Don Nicholls was celebrating this week after notching his maiden century ... at the age of 57!

Nicholls had been languishing in the seconds until the start of the season when new skipper Peter Taylor gave him a chance to shine with the Division One side.

And after a string of decent knocks in the middle order, Nicholls was promoted to open the innings against Twyning on Saturday and responded with a majestic 121no as his side climbed into the promotion places.

"Don had been performing well at number four so I decided to let him open," Taylor explained after his side's 24-run victory.

John Rogers pitched in with a half century as Bidford posted a score of 244-2. But some excellent bowling and fielding kept the runs at bay and the home side were eventually left on 220-8 at the close.

"I took over the captaincy this season and decided to change things around a little," Taylor added.

"I have brought in a couple of players but we have a good mix of young players - like Tom Coles and Matt Gardner - and older heads such as Don."

Bidford will be looking for a third straight win when they play host to Wellesbourne on Saturday, the side that crushed free-hitting Alcester & Ragley by 85 runs at the weekend.

Wellesbourne scored a massive 305-6 from their overs and then restricted their visitors to 220-7 in reply to make sure of victory.

It was Ragley's first defeat of the season and although some impressive bowling from Matt Greenway and Marc Woolley limited the scoring early on, Australian batsman Ricky Burton accelerated the run rate and was finally caught off the bowling of Dave Turner for 125. Opener Paul Cooke then reached his century only to be dismissed next ball by Shaun Quirke for exactly 100.

Quirke claimed two more late wickets to finish with 3-49.

The visitors made a disappointing start, losing two wickets in the first four overs to be in real trouble at 17 -2.

Gary Strain and Shaun Quirke (31) then added 105 in good time until Quirke injured his arm whilst batting and was run out by a direct hit from the same ball. Next ball Strain, who had batted very well for his 75, was caught one handed on the long off boundary.

This left Ragley needing 180 to win from 23 overs, a task that was to prove too much for them although they did manage to secure maximum batting points.

Turner batted well at the end to finish 33no.