DAUNTSEY'S School made a winning start to the season as they staged Wiltshire's first-ever floodlit cricket match on Tuesday evening.

The home side, who christened themselves Dauntsey's Ducks for the 20-overs-a-side spectacular, eased to a three-wicket win over Bath visitors Prior Park Panthers.

More than 100 supporters turned up for the clash, which took place underneath the floodlights on Dauntsey's all-weather sports pitches. An indoor cricket strip was used for the wicket.

Dauntsey's head of cricket Andy Palmer hailed the evening as a success and is hoping to stage more floodlit matches at the school.

He said: "I was very pleased. We had a good crowd and as the players came out they were given a blast of their favourite musical tunes over the public address system."

Palmer was delighted after his ambitious plan to host floodlit cricket succeeded without any major hitches.

He said: "I'm pretty sure it was the first floodlit schools match in the country and there has certainly never been a floodlit game of any kind in Wiltshire before.

"It all went very smoothly. The only slight adjustment we made to the laws was that batsmen had to hit the ball over the fence to hit a six. The square boundaries were quite small, but we only had one six all night."

Bowler Saul Cowen took two wickets for 34 runs as Prior Park reached 122 for five in their 20 overs.

Dauntsey's made an excellent start in reply and Simon Blackford and James Thompson shared a stand of 106 for the first wicket to bring victory to within sight.

The hosts reached their target for the loss of only two wickets, Blackford top scoring with 56 and fellow opener Thompson finishing on 34.

Palmer believes his side's performance augurs well for the season ahead.

He said: "We have had quite a lot of pre-season net practice and were in better touch than Prior Park. We were fairly severe on any loose deliveries whereas they didn't capitalise on many of ours."

Tuesday's event helped raise money for the school's forthcoming cricket tour to Malta. Dauntsey's fly out on April 8 for a week and will play two matches against Marsa Sports Club and one against fellow touring side St Paul's School of London.