MARK Beale became the first centurion of the season when he hit 118 for Royal Mail in Division Two as they opened their campaign with a real bang against Civil Service 2nds.

Beale struck a magnificent 118 in 114 minutes, featuring a third-wicket stand of 151 with Simon Andrews (48). Their massive stand took only 80 minutes, although Chris Foster remained calm among the carnage taking 3-57. Civil Service did well in reply thanks to opener Nigel Blackwell who scored a painstaking 71 in 131 minutes. Alex Fisher (4-35) and that man Beale (3-45) cut them off at 174 all out.

There are now just five teams with perfect 20-point averages in the league after the second round of matches.

Premier Division champions Littledown Park grabbed another 20 points against newly-promoted Civil Service. The Park scored an impressive 171-7 led by opener Neil Harrison-Smith who scored 57 in a 101-minute stay. He was well supported by Terry Collins with 45 in 93 minutes. Civil Service made a disastrous start, slipping to 4-2 against the accurate bowling of Peter Dickinson (4-46) and Barry Ings (3-23). Graham Conway with a quickfire 41 in 37 minutes and Lawrence Down (31), provided some resistance but they finished well short at 130.

The other team with a perfect record is promoted Lytchett Minster who skittled Kingston Lacy for just 59 in 33 overs. Just one of their batsmen managed double figures as Leon Polden (4-23), Jim Stonier (3-12) and Richard Price (3-13) cleaned up. Lytchett Minster reached the winning score of 60-0 in 12.4 overs with Nick Dennett scoring 46 in 40 minutes.

Branksome are also unbeaten and they scored 152 against CBBEA. Openers Ian Tubbs (49) and Ian Daly (39) gave them a great start before Steve Light (5-40) and Pete Young (4-46) sparked a collapse as the last seven wickets added only 25 runs. CBBEA made a bad start against Keith Bridle (5-12) and Ian Tubbs (3-17) and were reduced to 36-5. They recovered somewhat but could only manage 105.

Corfe Mullen also have two wins and featured in a run feast at Winton Oval where they amassed 194-4. They batted steadily throughout with the centrepiece a fifth-wicket stand of 67 between Sam Chapman (67 not out in 58 minutes) and Phil Lewis.

Pavilion kept up with the run rate as Andy Caseley (54 in 99 minutes) anchored their innings. Mike Edwards scored 30 but Colin Lewis of Corfe came on to bowl and changed the game with 4-41. A thrilling finish saw Corfe restrict Pavilion to 186-9 as they fell eight runs short.

Mudeford's wicket at Grange Road produced a battle of the spinners with West Howe's Pete Phillips taking 5-35 in Mudeford's total of 132 but he was trumped by veteran opposite number Russ Stans-field, who took 7-28 as West Howe were shot out for 132.

In Division One, Winton Sports kept up their perfect start to the season.

Their total of 231-7 made the Bransgore fielders toil at Meyrick Park. Opener Howie Shearing top scored with 66 in 75 minutes and some late hitting from Steve Miles (36 not out) and Chris Moore (34 in 32 minutes) boosted the score. Bransgore had their opener Mark Hooper (45) to thank for reaching 94.

Only one other batsman reached double figures as they had little answer to Darren Walker (3-29).

Carters have also won both their games. Pavilion Sports managed only 114-9 with hard-hitting number eight Wayne Nye (39 not out) the only batsman to make headway against John Redfern (5-23). Carters needed only 23 overs to reach 118-3 thanks to Nathan Olding (55 not out) and Chay Fox (32).

Lytchett Manor posted their second win after bowling out BAE for just 69 in 31 overs. Ken Hayward offered the only real resistance with 34 not out. Lytchett made hard work of their reply and lost six wickets in reaching their target (Stuart Owen 3-18).

Mark House (4-19) and Dave Priddle (3-23) were the stars for Kingston Lacy 2nds who shot out British Gas for 85 in 30 overs. Steve Maine worked hard in making 39.

Lacy were made to struggle before reaching their target for the loss of six wickets in the 30th over (James Park 30). Veteran Gas bowler Keith Shonfield caused a few jitters with 3-10, but Lacy made it two straight wins.