WILTSHIRE’S Unicorns Twenty20 campaign got off to a disappointing start over the Bank Holiday weekend after they suffered a pair of defeats away at Dorset.

The home side’s triumph in the toss paid dividends on each occasion, as after asking Wiltshire to bat first twice, they successfully chased down the target that Ed Young’s team had posted.

However, coach Tom Morton refused to use that as an excuse, admitting his team were simply well below their best.

“Batting second can be an advantage in one-day cricket, and its something Dorset do like to do. They like to field first and know what they have to chase,” said Morton.

“If we’d have won the toss, we would have batted first anyway so we are not going to use that as an excuse. We just didn’t play well enough, it’s as simple as that.

“Although we are disappointed to have lost both games, there were elements of our game I was pleased with.

“There are a few positives to take and I actually thought we bowled and fielded pretty well, we just didn’t score enough runs.”

In the first match at Bashley, Wiltshire struggled with the bat and only Neil Clark (57) was able to make a significant contribution as they posted 118-8.

Dorset faced few problems in chasing that down as Scott Currie’s unbeaten 32 saw them over the winning line with an over to spare, finishing on 119-4.

The second match was a more competitive affair as a strong opening stand between captain Young (33) and coach Morton (32) saw Wiltshire post 136-7 off their 20 overs.

Young then did the primary damage with the ball when his side took to the field as he returned figures of 3-26.

However, Dorset again mounted as successful run chase, with Edward Ellis (53) and Luke Webb (46) leading them home as they reached 138-6 with three balls to spare.

Wiltshire still have six Twenty20 fixtures remaining of their Group Four programme, although their next match is a 50-over contest in the Unicorns Knockout Trophy when they travel to Devon on May 20.

Morton added “There are still six Twenty20 games left to play, so we are certainly not out of it by any stretch of the imagination.

“However, we know we are going to have to play a lot better than we did last weekend if we are going to progress in this competition.”