ROYAL Wootton Bassett captain Darren Beasant feels ‘blessed’ to have the bowling attack that he has at his disposal after claiming their third win in a row.

The WEPL Wiltshire new boys jumped to third in the table at the weekend as they dispatched local rivals Purton by 96 runs.

While the hosts were indebted to their skipper Aaron Lee’s five-wicket haul to keep Bassett down to 234-8, Beasant heaped praise on his own bowlers as Purton were dismissed for 138 in 28.3 overs.

Having lost the toss and been invited to bat first, Bassett did well to see off the new ball for the loss of only two wickets.

Overseas opener Jared McDonald played a fine anchor role as he struck an 88-ball 54, while opening bowler Neilon Jospeh hit a 47-ball 51.

Jack Twine and Akash Sharma chipped in with 41 and 32 respectively as Purton’s Lee claimed 5-31 from his 10 overs.

“To be honest, you don’t mind losing the toss at Purton as it is usually a high-scoring ground,” Bassett skipper Beasant said.

“In fairness, we were probably 20 or 30 runs short of where we should have been so we have to give credit to Aaron Lee because he got a decent five-fer.”

In reply, Sharma and Joseph made good use of the new ball as they reduced Purton to 6-3 and 24-4 to ensure that the hosts were never in the game.

Sizwe Masondo mounted a rear-guard action for Purton as he struck 74, however, he found little support from the rest as the hosts were bowled out for 138.

Sharma was the pick of the Bassett attack with 3-26, while Joseph picked up 3-37 despite bowling 10 wides, and Asanka Vithanage also chipped in with 2-17.

“I can’t speak highly enough of our five bowlers, they have been fantastic all season. I’m blessed as a captain to have such a good attack,” Beasant added.

Elsewhere, Swindon ended their run of three games without a win following their three-wicket success at Calne.

After winning the toss and opting to field first, it was a decision that paid dividends for captain Alex Kill as Swindon removed openers Stuart Windsor and Tom Clare with only 12 on the board.

The visitors, despite some resistance from the Calne middle order, maintained the pressure with the ball to bowl the hosts out for 140 in the 45th over, with Adam Tucker the pick of the attack with 3-40.

Swindon’s response got off to a shaky start, with openers Chris Aubrey (14) and Tucker (5) removed early on.

Jake Goodwin (35) and Udit Talati (38) batted well to help steer the County Ground to the verge of victory, with Tom Codling and Andrew Staff seeing them over the line in the 40th over.