AARON Lee admitted Purton’s clash at home to Marlborough was a day to forget after his side were handed a 149-run mauling.

Marlborough opener George Penfold hit an unbeaten 102, the backbone of his side’s 249-5 in the Wiltshire Division clash.

Wickets were hard to come by for the home side, with Imran Ashraf leading the charge with 2-36, although Lee was relatively satisfied with Purton’s display with the ball.

“It was a very flat wicket but I felt we bowled okay,” said Lee. “We did really well at the end and kept it quite tight and to keep them under 250 was a decent effort. We weren’t quite on it in the middle overs and that’s where they got away from us a bit.

“But our fielding wasn’t great. We dropped three or four chances and that could have made a big difference. If we’d held onto them it would have put them in a lot more trouble.”

Purton’s reply was in disarray from the start as none of the top six reached double figures.

They had slumped to 54-7 before Zurain Quershi (30) offered resistance, although once he was dismissed the innings quickly limped to 100 all out.

George Fox shone with the ball for Marlborough, returning 4-27.

Lee added: “I knew 250 would be a tough chase but we just simply didn’t bat well at all.

“We went from the elation of scoring 240 against a very good Westbury side last week to being bowled out for 100 on a flat wicket, that’s just not good enough.

“Marlborough are a very good team and we can’t have any complaints about the result. I’m sure they will be in the top two come the end of the season.”

The victory was Marlborough’s third from four games and they sit second, 10 points behind unbeaten leaders Trowbridge.

Skipper Arran Dickinson said: “This was a big game for us and I have no doubt a lot of teams will now be taking our title challenge very seriously."

“The Georges were outstanding. Penners (Penfold) set us up fantastically and batted very well.

“The rest of the boys batted around him as the anchor and the team batted as a unit which is something we have worked on a lot this season.

“The bowlers did the same with Foxy (Fox) taking the lead but was ably backed up by the others. I’m delighted by the result and our all-round team performance.

“I am sure we can kick on from here with a real challenge on this year’s title.”