WITH Division One leaders Corsham 2nd not in action at the weekend, having been due to play Urchfont, who have dropped out of the league, Bear Flat closed the gap.

Sat in fourth heading into the weekend, they jumped above Swindon 2nd and Winsley with a seven-run victory over the latter.

Jay Morris’ unbeaten 35 was supported by Josh Sutton’s knock of 26 as the hosts set a target of 137 from their 45 overs.

However, Winsley fell just short as they were bowled out inside 44 overs, with Shreyas Malhotra finishing with figures of 3-19.

Swindon saw their trip to second-from-bottom Malmesbury abandoned, allowing Avebury to pull clear of the bottom two with a 126-run victory over Box, courtesy of Wes Hartslief’s 150.

DIVISION TWO

POTTERNE 2nd extended their lead at the top with a convincing 180-run win over Warminster 2nd.

Sam Gaiger top scored for the visitors with 84 and Harry Latham and Milan Pereira, 64 and 54 respectively, both chipped in with useful contributions to set a target of 293.

It took little work from Potterne’s bowlers to wrap up the victory as they dispatched Warminster for 112 within 36 overs.

However, Biddestone 2nd remain on Potterne’s coat-tails with a 32-run success over Hinton Charterhouse.

Rhys Merriman’s 43 helped the visitors to 193 for the loss of six wickets, with James Jacobs finishing with figures of 3-62 for the hosts.

Tom Baker’s score of 60 in reply was in vain as Hinton were all out for 161 courtesy of Kieran Gash’s five-fer.

DIVISION THREE

COLLINGBOURNE were able to lift themselves off the foot of the table after having their home tie with Wroughton Wranglers forfeited by the visitors.

With Seagry only able to pick up nine points in their 151-run defeat at Goatacre 2nd, Matt Wilkins scoring 107 of the hosts’ total of 333, they slipped to the foot of the table.

Chippenham 2nd remain the division pacesetters courtesy of their two-wicket win in a low-scoring affair at Heytesbury & Sutton Veny.

Having knocked off their hosts for just 61 runs, Matt Cole securing a five-fer at the expense of just 10 runs, Ryan Mayweather’s unbeaten 20 was just about enough for the league leaders to reach their target with two wickets in hand inside 23 overs.

Swindon United Churches closed the gap to the top to just five points though as their early start against White Horse ended in a 10-wicket success.

The visitors could only muster 111 runs in their innings, with Bilal Hussain the pick of the bowlers, picking up three wickets for just 21 runs and the hosts made light work of the chase as Chris Gilchrist (53 off 29 deliveries), and Jimmy Mann (13 not out) saw them reach their reduced target of 70 in just 41 balls.

DIVISION FOUR

CHIPPENHAM 3rd increased their lead at the top to 40 points at the weekend with a 13-run win over bottom-placed Wanborough.

Jake Pettit set the benchmark with his innings of 70 as Chippenham made 157 and despite the best efforts of I Morton, Wanborough fell short of their revised target of 151 off 43 overs as they were dismissed for 137 with seven balls to spare.

Second-placed Spye Park suffered a shock defeat to second-from-bottom Corsham 3rd, going down by six wickets.

The hosts were only able to set a target of 140, Wayne Ellam the pick of the visitors’ bowlers taking 3-14.

Corsham were helped by the unbeaten knocks of Liam Sumsion (51 not out), and Jack Humphreys (35 not out), as they reached the total with more than five overs to spare.

DIVISION FIVE

IT WAS a top of the table clash at the weekend which Burbage & Easton Royal 2nd came out on top of against Trowbridge 2nd to extend their lead from two points to 21.

The hosts had Haydn Amor to thank as they set a sizeable target of 218, with Tanner finishing on figures of 2-31 from his nine overs.

However, Trowbridge struggled with the bat in their reply and were dismissed for just 119, with Ryan Salter (36) top scoring, as Burbage secured the 98-run victory.

Biddestone 3rd fell from third to fifth following their five-wicket defeat to Melksham.

The visitors batted first and slumped to 62 all out as Martin Hewitt (28) and Nathan Cadell (11) were the only batsman to score double figures, the remaining nine batsmen mustering just 14 runs between them.

Despite Alden Meunch’s best efforts, taking three wickets for just 13 runs, Matt Hunt’s unbeaten 40 saw the hosts home inside 18 overs to lift Melksham to third, with Royal Wootton Bassett 3rd moving fourth with a 69-run success over Blunsdon.

DIVISION SIX

A THIRD win of the campaign for Bradford on Avon 2nd at the weekend was not enough to lift them off the foot of the table, despite second-from-bottom Potterne, who fell to a six-wicket defeat to Marshfield 2nd, having only picked up one victory all season.

The hosts batted first and set a reasonable target of 157 as they saw out the full 45 overs, with Kit Chapman (45) and Craig Brennan (41) pairing up well.

In Burbage’s reply, Brennan picked up where he left off with the bat as he claimed a five-fer at the expense of just 24 runs as the visitors were dismissed for 66 runs off 28 overs.

Devizes 2nd are keeping Marshfield honest at the top after a 111-run win over Heytesbury & Sutton Veny 2nd.

Having set a target of 199, courtesy of George Dunford’s 52, Devizes dispatched their visitors with relative ease, Stephen Plannikumparambil (3-6) and Dunford (4-21) doing the damage.

DIVISION SEVEN

THINGS remain the same at the top as Westbury 2nd and Lacock 2nd recorded comfortable wins over Great Bedwyn 2nd and Warminster 3rd respectively.

Tom Lucas and James Dark took three wickets apiece for just 11 runs between them for leaders Westbury as third-placed Great Bedwyn were skittled out 51, a target that was reached in just 13 overs.

While Lacock set Warminster a target of 187, Cliff Thompsett scoring 71 and Tim Culling 62, a total the visitors fell 52 runs shy of, with James Harding taking figures of 4-19.

DIVISION EIGHT

TROWBRIDGE 3rd moved four points clear at the top last weekend with a 108-run win over Avebury 2nd.

Vishal Oswal hit 36 as the hosts set a target of 197 but Avebury fell well short as Sahil Basandrai, 3-11, and Praveen Sawant, 3-10, restricted the visitors to 89 all out.

Meanwhile, Swindon NALGO 2nd had Raghu Chakrabani’s 124 to thank as they posted a huge 274-4 against Bathford 2nd.

Despite Darren Sutton scoring 58 and Jujhar Garcha’s unbeaten 47 for Bathford, they were only able to reach 140 from their 45 overs.

Swindon NALGO’s win secured them 20 points but having gone into the weekend level with Trowbridge, the leaders prevailed with 24 points from their victory.

DIVISION NINE

WITH leaders Westbury 3rd not in action, Marlborough 3rd took full advantage as they leap frogged into first place with a 52-run victory over Winsley.

Nick Crabbe (59) and Ed Puddick’s unbeaten 42 aided the hosts to a total of 178-5.

In reply, D Harris’ unbeaten 51 was not enough to guide Winsley to the victory as they amassed 126 runs from their 45 overs.

Biddestone 4th completed a six-wicket success over Devizes 3rds as Heath Turck took three wickets for 21 runs to restrict the visitors to just 92 all out.

In reply, Cormac Pritchett (35) and Ashley Boswell (20) helped to see Biddestone home.