LEAGUE leaders Potterne travelled to Oxfordshire on Saturday and recorded another victory against lowly Buscot Park.

Captain Graham Gaiger won the toss and asked the home side to have first use of the wet wicket.

Buscot got off to a steady start, bringing up an opening stand of 50 in the 16th over. The first wicket fell soon after with Neil Doran taking a good catch off the bowling of Simon Unitt to get rid of Thompson for 23, by this time Millar appeared to have bedded himself in for the whole innings.

Fernandes then came to the wicket and despite starting slowly soon got into his swing, hitting the ball a very long way. Buscot were strongly placed at 167-2 when Fernandes was finally out for 76 - caught behind by Paul Clark off the bowling of Ollie Smith.

Smith (5-21 off five overs) then became the scurge of the Buscot batsmen as wickets started to tumble and they finished on 190-8.

Regular openers Clark and Mark Colyer got the visitors off to a fine if quite slow start - the opening stand reached 83 before Colyer played on for a watchfull 30.

This brought Smith to the wicket and it was apparent that with the weather closing in an increase in the run rate was required.

Clark was the next to go running himself out going for a third run for a well made 45, including one huge six. Sam Gaiger came and went quickly for four but Smith was now punishing the bowling.

Skipper Gaiger also fell cheaply again for four, before Smith reached his 50 to carry his side home to another league victory. Smith finished 52 not out and Phil Oliver eight not out.

In contrast, Box saw their title ambitions blown away by Avebury.

Vice captain Dave Crawford said: "A bad day all round for us, not enough runs on what was probably a 140/150 wicket and we dropped catches in the field at vital stages of their innings. Avebury bowled very well and batted well when the pressure was on."

After being asked to bat, Box found themselves on 6-2 within the first five overs.

Darren Perrin departed for a duck, trapped lbw to one that kept low off the bowling of Ogbourne (3-28), and Gerald Hayward (4) became Ogbourne's second victim when he was bowled by an even lower delivery.

Malcolm Bond (13) and Neil Pettit put on 30 before Bond was bowled by Peter Force-Jones (3-25).

Dominic Fry (3-23) clean bowled Marcus Bray (5) and Crawford was out first ball lbw to an inswinging delivery from Fry again.

Eventually, Neil Pettit (40) departed after a gutsy innings, while Lewis Baxter (10) and Rob Styles (18no) put on a useful partnership towards the end to leave Box all out for 118.

With the wicket playing tricks, Avebury started slowly against the accurate opening bowling of Styles and Crawford and it was Styles who made the early breakthrough forcing Chatfield to send a simple catch to Skinner at mid-on.

The game was in the balance with Avebury on 50 for-3. However, Dominic Fry (44no) and Dix (42no) took Avebury to victory in the 36th over to win by 7 wickets. Dix having survived two dropped catches by Baxter.

Division Two

BURBAGE and Easton Royal played hosts to local rivals Collingbourne on Saturday.

For the third time in a row, Collingbourne lost the toss and were smartly put into bat on a wet wicket.

Things went from bad to worse as Collingbourne promptly lost the wickets of two of their best batsmen in the first over, leaving them nought runs for two wickets.

Geoff Rogers (14) and Malcolm Chandler steadied the ship for 16 overs before top bowler Terry Strong bowled Chandler for six.

Strong claimed match bestfigures of 5-15 off 12 overs and with support from Cam Hutchinson (2-8) and Nick Cook (1-25) reduced Collingbourne to a dismal 66 all out.

The only shining light was second team regular John Aitken hitting an impressive 33 not out batting at number 9. He and regular number 11 Karl Gingell (2) saved Collingbourne from further embarrassment by putting on a final wicket stand of 20 before Gingell was caught at mid-on in the 28th over.

Going into field Collingbourne attacked all through the innings. Tom Pike took the reins and led with some accurate swing and seam bowling, finishing with figures of 3-20 off 11.

Well supported by Ollie Scott, Aitken, Simon Baker and Graham Chandler (1-13) Collingbourne managed to keep Burbage under pressure all the way through their innings.

But a sensible innings of 21 not out from Street supported by Pete Amor (15) and Dan Wooton (9) meant Burbage were always going to win the game and did so by six wickets in the 28th over.

Division Four

WILCOT kept their promotion campaign on track with a convincing 83-run victory at home to Buscot Park 2nds.

They were indebted to Martin Featherstone-Godley's fine innings of 59, which enabled Wilcot to recover from a poor start to set the visitors a challenging target, which they never looked like reaching against an accurate all-seam attack.

The heavy midweek rains meant that the match was played on the artificial wicket, but Wilcot captain Cameron Campbell chose to bat first.

The home side lost wickets regularly in the face of accurate swing bowling from Hensman (2-25), but the pick of the visitors' attack was Tom White (5-23), who combined pace and accuracy to leave Wilcot reeling at 45-6.

Once more Wilcot were indebted to the lower order for runs, as Featherstone-Godley took control. Partnerships of 24 with Ben Fisher, 22 with Graham Smith, and 38 with Ninian MacGregor saw Wilcot to a competitive total.

Featherstone-Godley rolled back the years to show a succession of pulls, sweeps and drives which delighted the home supporters and saw Wilcot all out for 142.

In reply, Buscot Park were never able to score freely. Smith (12-3-20-2) and Max Campion tied down the top order with swing, seam and bounce, and wickets then fell once the change bowlers came into the attack.

Campbell was the pick of the home bowlers, returning the remarkable figures of 6.4-1-7-6, while Julian Gilbey claimed two wickets in an over. As rain started to fall, Buscot were all out for just 59, with only Charlie White (18) reaching double figures.

For Wilcot, it was ideal preparation for an intriguing battle with promotion rivals Beckington, although they will hope for more application from the top order.

Division Five

BIDDESTONE 3rds claimed an 80-run victory at Trowbridge thanks to a flying start from Tim Knight, who hit 48 from 34 balls.

There were also solid contributions from Jamie Penton (37), Chris Smith (42) and Mike Flynn (45).

Kevin Mitchell and Alan Crisford guided them past the the 250 mark, while Soloman was the pick of the Trowbridge bowlers with 3-52 in the total of 257-7.

Biddstone were given a scare by Paul Field's 64 from 56 balls, but a lack of support saw them dismissed for 177. Crisford (4-41) was the visitors' top bowler.

Division Six

CORSHAM 4ths completed the double over Marshfield with Gareth Moorhouse and Harry Elias doing the damage with the ball.

John Gale opened the innings with Tony Shardlow, and the pair belied their advanced combined years by pushing singles off the pace bowling of Pullen and the medium pace of Dixon.

With the score on 18, Shardlow (7) went too far across his stumps and leg-glanced a delivery from Dixon onto his leg stump.

Adrian Smith (9) smashed Sheppard to the extra cover boundary, but he too failed to reach double figures when he offered a catch and in a 34-run partnership.

Richard Toghill (30) made his intentions clear by launching Simon Bishop back over his head for four.

Gale was content to push the single while his partner played the big shots, and the pair put on 58.

Moorhouse then livened up proceedings with some sharp singles and Gale brought up his 50 with a huge straight six off Pullen, before eventually departing for a season's best 62.

The Corsham innings came to a close at 150-7 with Moorhouse holing out for 12.

It was Martin Hick who was the first to strike when Andrew Pierce lobbed a catch to Will Wales in the covers which the youngster embellished with a spectacular dive.

Matt Sheppard hastened the removal of the Corsham skipper from the bowling attack with shots to the legside boundary and was replaced by the pace of Harry Elias.

The Moorhouse-Shardlow combination was then successful in removing Dixon for six, and Elias found an off-cutter to remove Mike Salen for a duck.

The Marshfield middle order and tail had no answer to Elias (5-7) and Moorhouse (4-8) and the last seven wickets fell for 10 runs in under 20 overs.