NEIL Clark believes that the current Wiltshire squad has a bright future after they brought the curtain down on their Unicorns Minor Counties Championship Western Division campaign with a resounding victory.

In what has been a season of transition for Neil Shardlow’s side, the county put high-flying Shropshire to the sword at Devizes and gave a glimpse of what they are capable of.

The visitors to London Road had been in contention for the Western Division title, however, they arrived in Wiltshire having had 24 points deducted for fielding an ineligible player and then discovered that there had been a problem with their hotel booking, forcing them to relocate to Bristol.

Clark, who was making his first appearance of the season for Wiltshire after overcoming a knee injury sustained whilst playing football, and his county colleagues took full of advantage of Shropshire’s troublesome build-up and claimed an innings and 79-run success inside of two days.

The visitors won toss at Devizes, but that was as good as it got for Shropshire as Tahir Afridi and James Arney set about dismantling their batting order.

Afridi (5-29) and Arney (5-25) shared five wickets apiece as Shropshire were skittled for 59 – they were, at one stage, 41-4 inside 30 overs.

Wiltshire then set about posting a brisk 368 all out, with the majority of county batsmen making solid contributions, led by Will Wade’s 71, while opener and wicketkeeper Patrick Greishaber struck 56 and Arney (37), batting at 10, and number 11 Joe King (44) sharing a last-wicket stand of 71.

With a lead of 309, Shardlow’s side were in no mood to let their visitors off the hook and bowled them out for a second time for 230, with King taking 4-67 and Afridi ending the game with another three wickets to finish with match figures of 8-96.

“It was a brilliant performance,” said Potterne skipper Clark, who hit 40 when coming in at seven.

“To bowl them out for 59 was superb. They found ways to get themselves out but Tahir and James put the ball in the right areas.

“They are a side that are made up ex-pros – they have got players who used to play for Worcestershire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

“Before the game, they were looking at the title. Then they had 24 points deducted and they had had to move to Bristol as there was a problem with their hotel booking.

“But what we did was fantastic. The way we bowled and the way we batted shows what a side we have.

“If we can keep this squad together, then it is looking extremely good for us.”