ROHAN Wijeratne hammered a magnificent 92 off only 53 balls to help Chipping Sodbury to a thrilling six wicket victory over a Gloucestershire XI in the Chris Dent Testimonial T20 at the Ridings.

The opener cracked 15 fours and three sixes to thrill the large crowd as Sodbury chased down a target of 180, Tom Laver weighing in with 37 before Damien Bouwer reverse swept the winning boundary with three balls to spare.

Earlier, Gloucestershire’s James Bracey top scored on 49 while there was also 35 from county white ball captain Jack Taylor in the county’s total of 179-9.

There were two wickets apiece for spinner Dan Brown, Jamie Wakefield and veteran Jay Penfold while Sodbury were captained by Craig Scully who led the club the last time they hosted a Gloucestershire benefit game, for Graham Wiltshire back in 1995.

Sodbury chair Jim Kendall said: “It’s been a fantastic day, we’re so pleased with the way everything went.

“We wanted to put on a good show for Chris who has been a magnificent and loyal servant to Gloucestershire cricket for so many years, and hope we succeeded.

“We must have had close to 400 people watching the match, and we were non stop all day serving food and drinks so a massive thank you to all our club members who rallied round and helped out, all the way through to junior members walking round the ground collecting empty glasses.

“The coaching clinics before the match were also a big success, creating memories of a lifetime for our junior players.”

Sodbury’s first XI, meanwhile, trumped Rockhampton by 89 runs to remain on course to finish second in WEPL’s Gloucestershire division.

Sodbury stuttered their way to a total of 179 but it proved to be plenty thanks to another superb bowling performance led by Eddie Holden (5-33) and Jiwanjot Singh (3-17).