WILTSHIRE captain David Bauer hailed the “conveyor belt’’ of county talent after his side won the right to defend their English county title.

Bauer watched his side storm to the South West Counties Amateur Championship team crown on home turf at Bradford on Avon’s Cumberwell Park course on Tuesday to book a return to the national finals.

The county lifted the English prize for the first time in their history at Ganton in Yorkshire last year and will go for back-to-back titles at Beau Desert GC, near Cannock, at the end of September.

Wiltshire blitzed rivals Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset and Devon to stroll to a 25-shot success at Cumberwell, which is hosting South West Championship Week, while Ben Loughrey (Wrag Barn) lifted the individual title by four strokes having finished as runner-up on two previous occasions.

Non-playing skipper Bauer admitted he has an abundance of talent at his disposal as Wiltshire’s own ‘golden generation’ of players continue to put the county on the map.

England squad players Jordan Smith (Bowood), Ben Stow (Rushmore) and Loughrey’s brother Josh (Wrag Barn), plus Cumberwell Park’s Ali James and Tom Burley (Burnham & Berrow) completed the line-up.

“I’m very lucky to have inherited such a great squad from Kevin (Phillips, last year’s captain),’’ said Bauer.

“There is only a certain amount I can say to them – it’s all down to the players.

“They all played extremely well and to win by such a margin is fantastic. You could see a lot of the other teams were thinking ‘how can we compete?’ “It’s very special to be going back to the national finals to try and retain our title.’’ WILTSHIRE slumped to defeat against Gloucestershire at Cumberwell Park Golf Club today, ending their hopes of South West Week matchplay.

The hosts, who booked their return to the national finals by winning the strokeplay crown on Tuesday, saw a morning lead overturned as they surrendered the prize they won last year.

Gloucestershire and Somerset remain in the hunt for the title, with the honours certain to be decided when the two face each other on tomorrow's final day.

Wiltshire held a comfortable 5.5-2.5 lead at te halfway point, but with 1.5 points for each of the foursomes, could only manage one half in the top match.

Ali James (Cumberwell) and Josh Loughrey (Wrag Barn) earned the home side's half.