CENTURION Gavin Spares survived three dropped catches — including one on 99 — to steer Birlingham to a two-wicket success.

The 26-year-old rode his luck en route to an unbeaten 111 against Kidderminster Victoria in his first appearance for the team in Crusader Worcestershire League Division Three.

His efforts saw Birlingham successfully chase down their victory target of 216 with five overs in hand and also secured him our Worcester News player-of-the-week award — a £30 voucher for Fearnley Factory Shop.

He said: “I came in at three and had a couple of catches that they put down, but for a first game it couldn’t have gone much better. It was a really good team performance. Hopefully, I can kick on from here.

“We bowled and fielded quite well and were set a target of 216 to win. Our openers put on a good stand and took the shine off the new ball before a silly run-out.

“I got dropped on 99 as well and it was the same person who dropped all the catches. You don’t really realise what score you’re on but when I skied the ball I thought ‘oh dear’. When he dropped it everybody started cheering for my 100.”

Spares, who also took 1-33 off his eight overs as a seamer in Kidderminster’s total of 215-9, has now set his sights on piling up the runs for his team and aiding a possible push for promotion over the coming months.

“I am definitely aiming to get over 800 runs this year for Birlingham,” he said. “We will give it (promotion) a good go but we just need things to go our way. We had a lot of bad luck last year and hopefully that’s going to change. We want to finish in the top half of the table at least.”

Birlingham captain Alex Harrison also feels the rub of the green is beginning to go his side’s way following a losing draw and an abandonment from their previous two games.

“It was a good team effort all round,” he said. “We had a strong batting line-up and the wicket played very well for the batsmen.

“If the wickets had fallen earlier we might have struggled without Gavin’s contribution but he was dropped three times so it was quite fortunate the luck went our way.

“This time last year when we played them we dropped eight catches against them so the tide has turned.”