PURTON captain Aaron Lee is used to seeing his side topple wickets with ease but was shocked to see the villagers’ prowess with the ball fall apart last weekend.

Lee’s men fell to their third defeat of the season on Saturday as they were bested by five wickets at mid-table Devizes.

Purton batted first after winning the toss and posted 187 but they were unable to draw on their usual bowling flair as they struggled with the ball, dropping a host of catches and failing to halt the hosts’ charge to victory.

“We batted quite well and 187 wasn’t a bad score on a surface that was quite difficult, especially with the way that they bowled,” said Lee.

“But we didn’t bowl well at all. We dropped three catches and we didn’t put them under any pressure.

“We were quite erratic and didn’t have any control.

“Patrick Whittaker is only 17 and he was called into the squad on Friday night. He did well and took 2-23 in seven overs but by then, it was too late.

“Historically, our bowling has always been our strongest suit and I wasn’t expecting that, especially after we batted so dreadfully the week before (against Marlborough).

“We’re not happy with how we’re playing but we’ve still won two games and lost three.

“We are still confident that we can finish in the top half of the table.”

Zurain Quershi top-scored for Purton with a knock of 42 whilst Tom Bowler (24), Deepak Ramani and Daniel Booth-Hower (21) all did their best to contribute.

The hosts’ John Dunford was chief antagonist as he ended the afternoon with figures of 3-24 and the visitors were eventually skittled for 187 in the final over of their innings.

For Devizes, opener Tom Grant anchored the innings and he made it to 68 before he was finally dismissed by youngster Patrick Whittaker whilst Tom Pike plundered a knock of 40 to help the home side reach 189-5 midway through the 45th over.

Elsewhere, Marlborough thrashed Calne by 183 runs, captain Arran Dickinson (88) and Will Thomas (50) helping the hosts to 261-8 before Ben Head starred with five wickets for 17 runs, with Calne dismissed for a lowly 78 in just 23 overs.