THE PERFORMANCE may not have been perfect but Purton captain Aaron Lee was nonetheless pleased to see his side get back to winning ways at the weekend.

After being edged out by three runs against Marlborough on August 6, Lee’s villagers kept their title chances alive with a four-wicket home triumph over Great Bedwyn on Saturday.

Purton are third in the WEPL Wiltshire division table and 12 points behind current leaders Westbury, and although there were some aspects of their display that skipper Lee thought his team could have improved upon, he was still left with plenty to smile about.

“I guess that it was reasonably comfortable in the end,” said Lee.

“We got off to a decent start and took a few wickets, and that’s something that we’ve been striving for a lot in the last few weeks.

“We did them let them back into the game a bit in the middle overs but then Tom Bowler came in and had a bit of a purple patch where he ripped through their lower order.

“Getting Rob Palmer out was key for us because we know that he’s one of the best players in the league. We know all about what he can do because we’ve been on the wrong end of some of his better knocks in the past.

“When we batted, I think that some of the top-six guys will be a little bit disappointed that they couldn’t stick around until the end of the innings.

“But Xander (Pitchers) and Tom Whittaker batted very well and to win by four wickets is great.”

Visitors Bedwyn batted first after winning the toss but the hosts’ Santosh Iyengar piled on some early pressure as he removed openers John Palmer and Casey Crocke for just 24 runs.

Star man Rob Palmer hit 41 but he became one of four visiting batsmen to fall to the impressive Tom Bowler (4-34) as the away side were skittled for 152 midway through the 38th over.

Purton’s innings began with opener Xander Pitchers top-scoring with a knock of 40 whilst Tom Whittaker chipped in with 36.

Nick Davies took 3-40 but Bedwyn failed to sufficiently impede Lee’s men, who reached 153-6 in 32 overs.