YOXFORD Cricket Club captain Damian Cialini proved that lightning can strike twice at the weekend when he bludgeoned an incredible 342 not out in the Club Colours Suffolk Premier League.

YOXFORD Cricket Club captain Damian Cialini proved that lightning can strike twice at the weekend when he bludgeoned an incredible 342 not out in the Club Colours Suffolk Premier League.

The 26 year-old Australian had already smashed 303 not out against Easton in May 2006, but he surpassed that with ease on Saturday against an eight-man Elveden side in a Division One fixture.

Having won the toss, Cialini's decision to bat proved a masterstroke as he went on to club 39 fours and 26 sixes, with Yoxford finishing on 557 for three from their 45 overs.

Yoxford went on to win by an almost unimaginable margin of 359 runs after Elveden replied with 198 for six.

It is now believed that Cialini's score, as well as both Yoxford's total and their winning margin, are all the highest recorded since league cricket started in Suffolk in the early 1970s.

Cialini, a postman by trade, said: “I thought last year was a one time sort of deal and didn't think it would ever happen again.

“I won the toss, and having lost the last three weeks after bowling first, I decided to give batting a crack and it obviously worked.

“We have a reasonably small ground at Yoxford and I am not the sort of player that runs a whole lot of singles so I was just trying to go over the top a lot.

“It's weird because this was actually my first century this season and I haven't been getting a lot of runs. I felt I had been hitting the ball OK but just hadn't been able to get past 50 odd, whether that was just bad luck or me not batting very well I am not sure, but everything just clicked at the weekend.”

It wasn't all plain sailing for Cialini throughout his innings though, the Australian being dropped at point between 50 and 100 before a caught and bowled chance went down around the 200 mark.

Yoxford, who currently have an outside chance of winning the league, currently lie third in the table and play Eye this weekend. However, when asked whether his opponents would be fearing the thought of an in-form Cialini, he said: “I doubt it, the last time we played them they got me out for five!”

Yoxford vice-captain and scorer for the match Jules Emeny said: “The funny thing is that, by his standards, he has had a pretty poor season until now even though he has still got an average of 40.

“On Saturday, though, he was just in the zone and kept putting them away. You could have had 20 players out there in the field and they wouldn't have stopped him.”