AUSTRALIAN Shannon Tubb cracked his fourth Shropshire Premier League century of the season and joined a select group who have completed a 1000 runs as he paved the way for Ludlow's away victory over lowly Market Drayton.

Acting skipper Steve Hood lost the toss and hosts Market Drayton invited Ludlow to bat.

This proved to be a good decision as the Ludlow openers Dave Bottoms and Ben Andrews struggled with the uneven bounce and movement off the seam.

They survived for 12 overs and then both departed in quick succession, swiftly followed back to the pavilion by Tom Smith as Ludlow slumped to 17-3.

Tubb also found conditions difficult and was lucky to survive when Drayton downed two difficult chances when he was on 15 and then 30.

However he rode his luck and with support from Willie Moore (17) and Ian Simmonds (11) edged Ludlow past the 100 mark.

Magnificent

Debutant Paddy Curtis then joined Tubb and the pair took the total to 182 before the Australian was bowled for a magnificent 105 off 111 balls in the final over.

Curtis played his part and finished on 27 not out as Ludlow's innings closed on 186-7 after their allotted 50 overs.

Ludlow's opening bowler Michael Peacock made early inroads when Drayton began their reply and he had both openers back in the pavilion inside 10 overs.

Hood claimed the third wicket, courtesy of a superb one-handed diving catch by wicket-keeper Andrews, and then snapped up two more wickets in an excellent spell of 3-16.

The introduction of Tubb with his leg spin caused further trouble for the struggling Market Drayton and he followed up his outstanding performance with the bat to claim 3-32.

Pete Milner had bowled well without any luck but he came back for a second spell and finished off the match with the fifth ball of his second spell as Ludlow claimed 20 points to lift them back up to third spot in the table.