ROYAL Wootton Bassett claimed a major scalp this weekend as they picked up a nine-wicket win at local rivals Swindon in WEPL Wiltshire.

This was the second week in succession that skipper Darren Beasant’s troops have face tough opposition after suffering a defeat to Trowbridge seven days earlier.

The Bassett captain, who used to captain Swindon during a 15-year stint at the club, failed to mask his joy over what was a polished display from his players.

“It was a fantastic win, to be honest. I won’t hide my delight at that because it was a fantastic performance from the boys,” said the Bassett skipper.

“We have played some good cricket at times this year and we’ve been a little bit frustrated by our inconsistency.

“It was the first time we managed to put everything together in one game and obviously a nine-wicket win is pretty resounding.”

Bassett won the toss and chose to put Swindon in to bat, a decision which more than paid off for the visitors as they took the initiative early on as Akash Sharma bagged a trio of wickets, complimented by doubles from Mark Thatcher, Ben Batchelor and Asanka Vithanage as the hosts were bowled out for 170.

Despite the weather having some impact on proceedings, as the visitors were forced off the field several times, Beasant says it didn’t disrupt his team too much as they reached their revised target of 132 with ease.

“We had them in trouble early doors and got a couple of wickets. They were at 100-8 but managed to get themselves up to 170, which is credit to them,” added Beasant.

“It was more than we thought they would get but we still thought we could get 170 at Swindon.

“We backed ourselves to get 170 comfortably and we got off to a decent start and were 80-0, then we had a couple of spells where we were on and off the field because of the rain.

“There were times we played through a bit of drizzle and the conditions changed. At one stage, the ball was spinning quite a bit but then it was sliding a bit.

“We were on and off the field two or three times within 70 minutes, which is far from ideal but you just have to have the right mentality.”

Purton made the most of home comforts as they swept Devizes aside in an 113-run win, posting a score of 207-6 compared to visitors' effort of 94-8 before rain hit. Skipper Aaron Lee took 4-22 from his 10 overs.