SWINDON’S fine WEPL Wiltshire form continued at the weekend after they comfortably defeated Calne by seven wickets to move up to second in the table.

Restricted to 139-9, Calne’s Sean Parker (63no) was the only home batsman to pass 30 as the visitors’ Connor O’Shea starred with the ball – picking up two wickets for just 29 runs from his 10 overs.

Despite Swindon’s top trio in Marc Williamson, Chris Aubrey and Conor Taylor all falling for single-figure scores – which reduced the visitors to 16-3 at one point – Alex Kill and Adam Tucker were on hand to knock home the winning runs.

The pair put on a match-winning stand of 124 to guide Swindon to their 140 with ease – and it ensured they picked up 18 points while Calne ended the day with just two.

Reacting to the win, Swindon skipper Williamson said his side’s efforts with the ball were arguably their best this year.

He added: “It was a great result for us, especially considering the run of fixtures we have coming up.

“It was handy to pick up another win. It’s early days right now, we just want to keep our momentum going for now.

“We’ll start to look at the table at the halfway stage. As long as we’re in contention at that stage, we’ll be in a good place.

“In this league, teams change year on year. After you have played each team once, you can get a good gauge with regards to where you stand.”

A patchy wicket meant bowling was always likely to be the preferable option on Saturday.

And Williamson was pleasantly surprised to be asked to bowl first after losing the toss.

Understanding what the wicket offered in the game’s opening innings proved a big help in Swindon chasing down their below-par target.

And the skipper was pleased to see his middle-order batsmen deliver the goods, following the team's early wobble.

“The wicket was a bit patchy in places, it wasn’t the best wicket we have played on,” said Williamson.

“We weren’t too disappointed to lose the toss and be asked to bowl – it was good for us to see how the wicket played.

“From there, we could bat to suit the wicket. It was the most complete bowling performance of the season, we picked up key wickets at important moments.

“We were in some trouble at 16-3, but we batted beautifully afterwards to take the game away from Calne.”

Elsewhere, Royal Wootton Bassett’s testing start to the season continued as they lost by 101 runs to Devizes.

Asked to bowl first, Bassett faced an uphill task from the start as Devizes' Tom Grant and Ollie Cox put on 76 for the first wicket.

Grant went on to register a superb century, while support from the middle order ensured the visitors posted 239-9.

In reply, Bassett were pegged back early by their opposition and reduced to 27-3 and they were eventually all out for 138.

Finally, Purton were bowled out for 134 to lose by eight wickets away at Warminster.