DIVISION One leaders Royal Wootton Bassett were stunned by Box on Saturday as they slipped to a 10-run defeat.

A dominant second-wicket partnership between Richard Foley (81) and Chris Bultitude (60) set the tone for home side Box as they recovered from 17-1 for 124-2.

Stephen Hall (38*) and Gerald Hayward (25) then added late impetus as the hosts closed on 219-5.

Bassett were in disarray when they kicked off their reply and inspired bowling from Jordan Welsby (2-40) and Dave Crawford (3-18) decimated the top order to leave them 5-4.

Pete Ellis (73) and Robbie Pamphilon (31) tried to lead a revival but at 149-9, the writing looked on the wall for Bassett.

However, tail-enders Neilon Joseph and Daniel Ellis then came together and an inspired final-wicket stand got them on the brink of an unlikely victory.

With Bassett just 10 runs shy of their target, Joseph was finally the last man to go for a valiant 51 as Box clinched a fine haul of 21 points.

Bassett’s defeat, coupled with an emphatic nine-wicket win for Urchfont at home to Lacock, has now cut their gap at the top to just seven points.

Morlon Simon (5-21) helped skittle Lacock for a meagre 91 all out, with the efforts of Ed Munro (37), David Bromley (24*), J Moloney (23*) getting Urchfont over the winning line after just 14 overs.

Bradford on Avon were back in the winners’ enclosure as they triumphed by five wickets away at Beanacre & Melksham.

The home side were asked to bat first and wayward early bowling meant they got off to a flying start before David Carter and Matt Knight put Bradford in control thereafter.

The innings was built around the second wicket partnership of 63 between Steve Rendell (30) and Ben Brown (29) but only Courtney Earl (52) was able to push on and the last 10 overs only produced 18 runs as Beanacre were dismissed for 167.

Carter captured 3-30 runs, Knight returned impressive figures of 3-26 and James Edwards mopped up the tail with 3-12.

In reply, the Bradford innings faltered with openers Ian Pinchen (10) and James Edwards (8) falling early on. Paul Vooght started rebuilding with Simon Richards before the former fell for 19.

Matthew Harrington joined Richards and the pair put on 106 for the fourth wicket. Although Harrington (26) fell near the end, Richards was there to seal Bradford over the line, making an excellent 78 not out, his maiden club half-century.

Brown was the pick of the home attack with 3-43.

Nationwide House were seven-wicket winners when they played host to Hinton Charterhouse.

The visitors were hit by absences of key players, especially in the bowling department, and by some forthright aggressive batting by the Swindon side.

Unable to find replacement players, Hinton could only field a nine-man team which resulted in a curtailed innings as well as huge gaps in the field.

Chris Antrobus stroked a cultured 87 and Matt Parfitt a powerful 33 but a total of 188 was always going to be difficult to defend in the circumstances. Joe Perkins impressed with the ball for Nationwide, taking 4-21.

John Newport produced a tight spell of 1-31 when Hinton got their hands on the ball and although the young side fielded valiantly, with Scott Woolley taking two brilliant catches, 79 from Jon Clarke and Matthew Hyde’s unbeaten 62 powered Nationwide home with eight overs to spare.

It was another disappointing day for bottom side Swindon Civil Service as they lost by 33 runs at Beckington.

Chris Weare (77) and Stewart Swift (48) helped Beckington post 234-8 off their 45 overs and Joe Weare (6-56) then saw the Civil Service reply restricted to 201-9, despite a valiant 50 from Jamie Baden 50.

THE Division 2 clash between Swindon NALGO and Swindon United Churches was postponed and will be played on Sunday, August 16.