MATCHWINNER Jon Sore hopes Swindon’s crushing defeat of Malmesbury can kick-start their season after they ended a four-week wait for victory.

Swindon had triumphed just once in the WEPL Wiltshire this term – against Devizes on May 14 – but were able to set the record straight on Saturday with an emphatic 119-run success at the County Ground.

Rain saw the match reduced to 35 overs per side and Sore led the onslaught as Swindon batted first, with Andrew Staff’s side racing to 278-5 before declaring with four overs to spare.

Sore scored a brilliant 139 off 87 balls, sharing a stand of 115 with opening partner Sam Page (35) and another of 117 with number three Alex Kill (59) to set Swindon on the way to a daunting total.

“It was a good win and it was much-needed too. We haven’t had the best of starts to the season and we needed to get another win under our belts,” said Sore.

“I haven’t been too happy with my own performances either, so it was good to make a contribution.

“We just approached it like a 25-over game and tried to score quickly but in the end, we had an additional 10 overs and that allowed us to push the score on as high as we did.

“Myself and Sam started off quite well. It’s always good when you are able to build a partnership and we haven’t had a lot of those this season, and I think that really made a difference for us on Saturday.

“When we lost Sam, Alex came in and just played the same way. When you are in that situation, it gives the other batsman a chance to go on the front foot and really build the score.”

Sore also came to the fore when Swindon got their hands on the ball, taking 4-18 as Malmesbury’s reply ended on 159-8.

The visitors had looked in a good position at 93-1 but the introduction of Sore into the attack quickly turned the tide back in Swindon’s favour.

He added: “At the halfway stage, we were pretty happy with our score and we knew we could defend it but the weather didn’t really help as when there is rain about, it takes the game out of your hands a bit.

“When you keep having to go off and on, you just have to be patient, and that’s exactly what we did.

“In that situation with the weather, we could have allowed them back into the game but we kept putting pressure on the batsman, kept the runs down to a minimum and luckily for me, the conditions favoured my style of bowling.”