SWINDON have been crowned Wiltshire Indoor Cricket champions after edging out Burbage and Easton Royal at Croft Sports Centre.

Having won the Swindon League, the County Ground side booked their place in the Wiltshire final by defeating SADICA representatives South Wilts in their semi-final.

Swindon, who appointed former England star Phillip DeFreitas as their new head coach last week, won the toss against South Wilts and opted to take the field.

Liam Tucker led the Swindon charge with the ball as he picked up three wickets as South Wilts were restricted to 90-5, while Tom Pearce top-scored with 23.

In reply, skipper Alex Kill steered Swindon home with an unbeaten 36, having retired early in the innings, while Pearce picked up two wickets as Swindon finished on 92-4 from 11 overs.

In the other semi-final, Savernake Forest Indoor League winners Burbage faced Chippenham League winners Biddestone.

Burbage won the toss and elected to bowl first and restricted Biddestone to 81-1 with Chris Baker top scoring with an unbeaten 27.

In reply, the Savernake Forest champions were always up with the run-rate, however, they were losing wickets at regular intervals.

Burbage managed to bag the winning runs in the 12th over after losing four wickets, while Biddestone’s Liam Boulton picked up three wickets.

In the final, Swindon opted to bat first after winning the toss and with three batsmen failing, they still managed to post 122 with Kill hitting 37, while Dan Harris (46 not out) and James Parkinson (25*) guided them to the end of the innings. Tom Wallbridge claimed two wickets for Burbage.

Burbage’s reply fell three short despite the best efforts of Wallbridge.

After scoring 40, Wallbridge was dismissed in the final over, while James Lavis also struck 29.

That final over was bowled by Swindon wicketkeeper Harris with Burbage requiring seven runs, however, Harris finished with figure of one wicket for three runs.

Swindon now move on to face Hampshire winners Sarisbury in the first round of the ECB National Indoor Competition on Sunday, February 19 at the Croft Sports Centre.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Cricket said: “We must thanks to the Swindon Indoor League and in particular Shaz Khan and the Croft for providing a wonderful facility for the County finals - the matting is a feature to be proud of.

“Thanks must also go to the organisers of the Indoor Leagues who provide the finalists on the day and the scorers and the umpires for the competition Ivor Rowell and Peter Mathias for all their hard work.”