ROYAL Wootton Bassett captain Sam Lawro insists his side are far from safe despite a significant victory over fellow relegation battlers Calne at the weekend.

Bassett’s Akash Sharma set up victory with a sensational bowling spell of 5-9 as Lawro’s men moved above Calne into seventh place in the WEPL Wiltshire table.

Sharma’s devastating bowling helped Bassett skittle their opposition out for 55 on a testing wicket, but while victory was achieved, it was far from straightforward.

Only three visiting batsmen reached double figures – Lawro top-scored with 16 not out – as Bassett reached their target eight down inside 20 overs.

Lawro championed the match-winning contribution of his two bowlers before expressing his relief over claiming what could be a vital win in terms of their survival hopes.

He said: “AK (Akash Sharma) bowled a mega spell with the new ball and dismissed their top-five batsmen, and then the old fox, Ian Lancaster, he bowled superbly at the other end to keep the pressure on.

“When they’re 55 all out, we knew what the pitch was like, so we knew the game was far from over.

“We just had to get our heads down and chalk the runs off one by one which we only just did, eight down, but we managed to get over the line.”

Bassett’s victory at the weekend moved them on to 153 points, 32 clear of the pair of sides tied at the bottom on 121 – Purton and Hinton Charterhouse – with two games remaining.

Despite the sizable gap to the relegation spot, Lawro does not feel Bassett are safe and said they will continue to fight on until the final ball is delivered.

“Saturday was a massive win for us, a massive win for the club,” said Lawro.

“We made it very clear before the game how big the game was, and I couldn’t have asked for any more from my team.

“Everything I’ve asked from them over the last couple of months, they’ve given and more.

“It was a very big win, so I’m very happy with them, but we’ll still go into the last couple of weeks with the same attitude we have done in the last two months.

“We’re not safe yet, so we need to go into Saturday aiming to win and pick up points with the same application and winning mentality we have done over the last couple of months.

“We know these last two weeks are massive, so nothing changes on our end.”

Elsewhere, Jon Sore’s 89 not out helped Swindon post 271-7 before bowling Purton out for 47 while Ben Higton claimed a five-for as Potterne 2nd edged past Devizes by four wickets.

Alex Adlam’s five-wicket haul was in vain as Warminster fell 125 runs short of Marshfield’s 177 all out.

Westbury bowled Hinton Charterhouse out for 26 as they claimed a comfortable 123-run success.