THE weekend weather forecast will do little to raise the spirits of Steph Tyrie’s Wootton Bassett team ahead of Marlborough’s scheduled visit tomorrow.

Rain has already left the Bassett boys kicking their heels for much of the past fortnight and the chances of action at Rylands Way this weekend look slim.

The recent clash with Devizes was postponed and their last outing against Marshfield was abandoned with Tyrie’s team on course for victory.

“It (the weather) can be quite frustrating at times but then again it can work both ways,’’ said Tyrie.

“For example against Marshfield in our last game we restricted them to a very chaseable 180, and then after lunch it absolutely hammered it down, causing the match to be abandoned.

“It does mean that our batsmen haven’t batted for three weeks now, which isn’t ideal.”

Bassett currently sit in seventh place in the Wiltshire Division, one place above rivals Marlborough in eighth, and the captain is hoping for a much-needed win should the rain relent.

“In some ways Marlborough are a bit like us,” added Tyrie.

“They’re a bit inexperienced, and have a lot of youth players playing for them. But it should be a good game and a good test for us.

“You could say the game this weekend is a bit of a ‘six-pointer’ so to speak, but then again the weather doesn’t look all too great.

“But hopefully if it (the weather) stays good we can get a win.

“We haven’t started our season very well, so our next few games are going to be very important for us. “Hopefully we can grab a few results in our next four or five games and kick-start our season.”

Bassett will welcome back Anis Ali to the crease but another player could make a swift exit to attend to his heavily-pregnant other half.

Tyrie said: “Ali is a good addition to the line up as he’s back from Europe, where he went travelling for three or four weeks. Hopefully he can come back in and solidify the mid-order for us.

“I know that he can’t wait to come back and have a bat, and it’s great to have him back.

“We’ve got Harvey (Cummings) whose wife is pregnant so there’s a chance that he’ll be dashing off at some time during the game.”