WOOTTON Bassett captain Darren Beasant admitted his side only hit their minimum target by finishing third in Wiltshire League Division One.

Bassett went into their winner-takes-all final day clash with Urchfont in second place but couldn’t complete the job as they slipped to third following a 35-run defeat to their rivals.

The Rylands Way side started the season slowly with three defeats in their first four matches, and although Beasant was pleased with the way they battled back the captain admitted he was slightly disappointed with their final positon.

“I think overall third place was the minimum we would have expected of ourselves, but you have to take into context the fact we lost three of our first four games,” he said.

“To end up going into the last game in second place and with a shot of finishing as runners-up was a great effort and was largely thanks to a spell in the middle of the summer where we only lost once in 13 weeks.

“That was a more representative account of ourselves and we are maybe a little disappointed with third place but we played some very good stuff at times.

“We thought we were good enough for second but we played Urchfont twice and lost to them twice so they have to deserve it because we had chances to win both games but didn’t.

“They are a good outfit and you don’t mind losing to good teams so much as some of the other matches we lost at the start.”

Beasant was also full of praise for champions Purton, who finished top by 55 points as they sealed promotion to the WEPL with a week to spare.

“They thoroughly deserve it because they are a bunch of guys who have really dedicated themselves to what they are trying to achieve and have had a good core of eight or nine players who have played every week,” he said.

“They have played outstanding cricket and are very organised and disciplined and will equip themselves very well next year I’m sure.

“We played them twice and they beat us twice so it’s fair play to them and if we want to be getting promoted they are the perfect example to follow.”

Beasant was also quick to highlight the performances of Sam Lawro, Jack Twine and Ian Lancaster who have been consistent for Bassett all summer.

He said: “Sam has scored a lot of runs including a few hundreds to make him one of the best in the league, young Jack is only 16 but kept wicket beautifully all summer and Ian discovered he can bowl some slow left arm stuff, which has seen him take the best part of 40 wickets and helped turn our season around.”

Champions Purton ended their season with a six-wicket win over Swindon Civil Service while Swindon Nalgo beat Spye Park by the same margin.