SWINDON U13s and U15s both suffered agonising last-16 defeats in the ECB Vitality Cup competition.

After both won their Wiltshire titles last month, Swindon’s youngsters headed into the last-16 of the national competition with hopes of a magical season.

Yet those hopes were dashed in heartbreaking fashion after neither side was able to progress from tight, high-quality affairs.

Swindon’s U15s travelled to Dumbleton CC to take on the Gloucestershire winners, and were asked to bat first on an unfamiliar wicket.

After losing openers Jacob Hobson and Daniyal Rafiq, Swindon rebuilt through James Pitman (18) and Yusuf Khan (29). Lewis Rollinson picked up a couple of quick wickets, but then Karan Sharma (21) helped see Swindon CC to 114/6.

The defence of this total started well as Charlie Hallsworth and Hakesh Savalapu picked up the openers before the home side rebuilt.

Swindon continued to bowl tightly, and as the run rate climbed it looked like a tight finish was on the cards, but an outstanding 42 from 22 by Dumbleton’s Ethan Corbett took the game away from the Wiltshire side.

Dumbleton eventually reached their target with 10 balls to spare to win by six wickets.

Elsewhere, the U13s hoped to have better luck at the weekend when playing host to Dorset winners Wimborne & Colehill CC at the County Ground.

After winning the toss and electing to field first, Swindon bowled exceptionally well up front with Rhys Baker (4-2-5-2) and William Jordan (4-1-6-0) making scoring tough work for the opposing batters. As the visitors began to read the pitch, runs started to flow more, although Oli Staff bowled economically for his 3-0-14-1.

At the end of their innings Wimborne & Colehill CC closed on 102-3 with Fred Boger top scoring with 33 (retired).

In similar fashion to the first innings the chase started slowly as some good bowling, fielding and resolute defence saw off the new ball.

Rhys Baker came in following the wickets of Collingwood (15) and Tiwari (4) and looked fluent as he made 31 from 28 balls, but agonisingly had to retire with two runs needed to win off the last ball. Staff came to the crease and got bat to ball – but unfortunately found a fielder who ran him out to ensure Wimborne & Colehill won by just one run.

Swindon said afterwards that despite the defeats, the club remain “extremely proud” of the achievements of both teams and would like to wish both opposing sides all the best for the rest of the tournament.