FREDDIE Martin hit a brilliant unbeaten century as Lechlade roared to a landslide 147-run victory over Goatacre.

Martin (116*) shared a punishing 210-run stand with the equally impressive Paul Godding for the fifth wicket, who came up just short of a ton of his own after being trapped lbw for 94.

Saturday’s clash was the first meeting between the two sides in several years and when Lechlade won the toss skipper Joe Breet had no hesitation in batting first for the fourth time this season.

Miles Hammond raced to 15 off 11 balls but then holed out aiming to hit a second six over mid-wicket. Breet himself followed shortly after but Brad Dial (28) and Benny Ellis kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely.

However with 95 on the board in the 20th over both were back in the pavilion and Martin and Godding set about stabilising the innings.

Godding epitomised Lechlade’s capacity to dig in and consolidate, knowing they have the ability and depth of batting to accelerate when required.

By the 36th over, they had taken the score to 164, scoring at about four an over.

While Goatacre is one of the smallest grounds in the league, what followed was remarkable. The next nine overs saw the pair take their partnership to 210 and the score to 303 at a remarkable 15 an over, with 11 sixes.

Godding went from 20 to his final score of 94 in 32 balls and Martin raced to his century off 103 balls as Lechlade eventually finished on 332-6.

Goatacre indicated their intention to attack from the start, racing away at the required rate of seven an over.

However, the pattern was set in Hammond’s first over when Luke Sellers took an excellent diving catch at square leg. Sellers himself then had the dangerous Jack Haines caught behind.

Ed Wilkins came to the crease and maintained the momentum but could not find anyone to stay with him as Hammond (3-57) and Sellers (3-75) left Goatacre on 85-5.

David Novais induced Wilkins (54) to hole out in the deep and in the next over took a very smart caught and bowled to leave Goatacre on 118-7.

Although all but over as a game, Rob Murphy hit a fluent undefeated 39 but Goatacre were finally bowled out for 185, giving Lechlade a convincing victory, with the 20 points leaving them just five behind leaders Potterne in the table.