PURTON were left to rue two dropped catches and a missed run-out chance, as Trowbridge’s overseas star Wes Marshall swashbuckled his way to a match-winning 106 in the two sides’ Wiltshire Division opener on Saturday.

Marshall, who spanked 106 from 109 deliveries and shared in a first-wicket partnership of 152 with captain Mike Reynolds as the visitors successfully chased down 230 for victory, was dropped twice and given a huge reprieve when Aaron Lee fluffed a run-out opportunity.

Purton skipper Elliot Hill, who made an unbeaten 64 as his side reached 229-8 from their 50 overs, picked out those mistakes in the field as the critical moments in the match, which Trowbridge ended up winning by a single wicket.

He said: “The wicket was pretty plasterciney for a Purton deck. They were fortunate enough to win the toss, which gave them a significant advantage, and I think we applied ourselves really well with the bat to get to 230.

“Tom Fullalove was a makeshift opener, with three of our openers away, and he did a really good job seeing the new ball off. At half-time we though 230 would be a tough score to chase down but credit to their two openers, they batted really well.

“It was unfortuante we dropped the overseas twice and missed a guilt-edge run-out, which in hindsight was probably the difference between the two sides in the end. Still, to fight back from them being 150-odd for none and to show that sort of character was good. You could argue we were favourites to win it when they needed nine for the last wicket.

“If we can keep that hunger and appetite to keep on fighting right til the end of games it’s going to let us reap the rewards in the future. It does show that if you don’t do your basics at this level then you well get beaten.

“The frustrating part on Saturday was that we did do most of the hard stuff extremely well but didn’t do some of the basics and therefore didn’t get the win.”