SKIPPER Andy Staff lamented a costly final 10 overs as his side Swindon remain stuck on one win this season after going down by 44 runs away at Trowbridge on Saturday.

A solid bowling display from the whole Swindon attack helped restrict the home side early on in west Wiltshire, with overseas man Brendan Louw (69) the only member of the Trowbridge top order to offer any lengthy resistance.

However, Trowbridge wicketkeeper John Carroll came to the crease at 131-5 and proceeded to take the game away from Swindon.

Carroll blasted a quickfire 59 as Trowbridge racked up almost 90 runs off the final 10 overs to finish on a more than respectable 240-9 – a score that had looked well out of reach less than an hour previously.

Swindon skipper Staff said: “We actually bowled really well. They are the best batting side we have faced this year and we had them at 155-5 after 40 overs but then their keeper came in and really started to hit it around and scored quickly.

“He took the game away from us a little bit in those last 10 overs. Their overseas player adapted his game a bit too and batted time and that allowed the keeper to come in and do what he did.

“They only had one or two options left but unfortunately for us, those options came off.

“If we’d kept them to 220, we would have been far happier with that, although it was a good wicket and a nice sunny day so we knew that 240 was still within us.”

When it was Swindon’s turn to bat, they were made to pay for several batsmen getting in and then out again.

Seven of the line-up reached the high teens but were unable to kick on and post the big score that could have swung the match in the visitors’ favour.

Alex Kill top scored for Swindon with 35, while the Trowbridge attack was led by Louw (3-29) and Scott Mitchell (3-41).

Skipper Staff added: “Every time we looked like we were well set, we lost a wicket.

“We had seven guys score around 20 or so, so it shows that we are good enough to get in and make starts, but we just didn’t have that one guy who hung around and made a really big score to build the innings around.

“We were always a wicket behind where we wanted to be, so it meant if we lost another one, we’d start to worry a little bit.

“We are disappointed to lose the game but there were good elements in there that we can take forward and hope to build on for next weekend.”