PURTON marked the midway point of the WEPL Wiltshire season with a fourth victory to go alongside their four defeats following an 18-run success away at bottom side Great Bedwyn.

Skipper Aaron Lee concedes that consistency has been a big problem for his team as they have only put together back-to-back victories once so far this summer.

However, with Purton now 48 points clears of the relegation place and sitting fourth-from-bottom in the table, Lee is not too dissatisfied with his side’s form.

“At the start of the season, come the halfway point, we probably would have taken this,” said Lee.

“We have had really indifferent availability and I don’t think we have put the same team out two weeks in a row.

“A lot of teams are having the same problem because players can’t commit to playing every weekend. People have lives and I can respect that.

“It was an okay performance on Saturday and it was good to get the win but we are still not 100 per cent happy with how are playing.”

After losing the toss and being put into bat, Purton openers Sam Shelford (29) and Elijah Samuel (32) started nicely and put on 56 for the first wicket.

Sizwe Masondo (38) and Tom Bowler (47) then came together with the score on 85-2 and carried the team into a strong position at 164-2.

However, once they departed, the Purton innings soon subsided and only Elliott Hill (29) made a significant contribution after that as the visitors posted 230-9.

Max Andrews was the pick of the Great Bedwyn attack with figures of 4-57 before opener Richard Bosson (57) led the reply.

He received good support from Sam Tuttle (37) but skipper Lee (3-24) and Bowler (3-29) continued to keep them in check, with the hosts eventually all out for 212.

Lee said: “Saturday was probably one of the best batting line-ups we have had in as long as I can remember. We would have liked a little bit more than 230 but it wasn’t a perfect pitch to bat on.

“We thought we had enough runs on the board but when we went out with the ball, we didn’t bowl well for the most part and we made it a lot closer than it should have been.”

Elsewhere, Swindon suffered a dramatic two-wicket defeat at home to Marlborough, with Alex Kill’s men beaten off the final ball of the match.

Marc Williamson (60) and Jake Goodwin (53) helped Swindon post 226 but Zwelibanzi Homani hit 83 in reply as Marlborough sneaked past the winning post right at the death.

Royal Wootton Bassett missed out on a fourth win on the bounce as they were thumped by 146 runs at home to Marshfield.

Jeremy Bond made 51 as the visitors were restricted to 201 but that was more than enough to beat Bassett as Darren Beasant’s side were skittled for 55 inside 25 overs. Bond took 5-31, while the top score came from the eight extras Marshfield conceded.