Potterne's perfect record continues

It is now 10 wins out of 10 for the season for skipper Graham Gaiger, who won the toss and asked the home side to bat on a long wicket.

John Caiger soon removed opener Chatfield, well caught by Shane Cloete at slip, and Simon Unitt removed Henry Fry lbw.

James Down then had Millward caught at slip again by Cloete for just one, which brought Greg Dix to the wicket and with Dominic Fry they started building a useful partnership.

The partnership had taken the score to 101 when he bullish Fry (66) hit a full toss from Rikki Jackson straight to Ollie Smith at mid off who took a simple catch.

Gater (14) and skipper Dix (34) both went to Sam Gaiger to leave the hosts on 156-9.

A fine opening spell by Vinnie Ogbourne (1-18 off 12 overs) had Potterne only on nine after seven overs, with Clark caught on just seven.

This brought the in-form Ollie Smith to the wicket and together with Mark Colyer started to push the score along nicely. These two moved the score onto 101 before Colyer (34) was run out.

Sam Gaiger (18no) joined Smith and they saw the scores level before Smith departed for 77. Phil Oliver then came in and hit the winning runs.

Box have now dropped out of the promotion race after losing by six wickets to Bath Civil Service.

Vice captain Dave Crawford said it was a terrible collapse from such a strong position. He added: "Our middle order have been struggling the last couple of weeks and we should have gone on to get 250.

"As for the fielding, I've lost count over the last two weeks how many catches have been dropped at crucial stages of the game."

Batting first, all was looking promising for a large Box total as Neil Pettit (64) and Dave Kelly (16) put on 73 for the first wicket before Kelly was trapped lbw by Wood (1-48). Gerald Hayward joined Pettit at the wicket and the pair put on a useful partnership to take the score to 134-1 off 24 overs before Hayward (25) was caught behind from McDonald (5-44).

However, Box lost their final nine wickets for 54 runs to leave them 191 all out.

In reply, Bath started well and certainly rode their luck, as Carlin (46) departed clean bowled by Crawford (1-59) with the score on 70 after several chipped strokes over the infield.

Harvey (78) and Reed (23) put on a useful partnership before Reed was superbly run out by Marcus Bray leave the score on 143-2. Box were hopeful of a batting collapse similar to theirs, but it wasn't to be.

Meanwhile, after inserting Cooper Avon, Calne's bowlers restricted them early with good deliveries from Andy Windsor (10-2-50-3). Then the Melksham-team began to up the scoring rate with good batting from Wallington (56), Wilb (55) and Randell (47) posting an impresive score 240-9.

Calne started well with Darren Holcombe knocking up a quick 50, but good bowling from Hemmings, who took three wickets, and Hiscock (12-3-33-4) then resticted the reply.

Late runs from Downham (25no) and Redman, who scored a quick 29, took Calne to a respectable 181-9.

Division Two

MOREDON Royal Oak captain Mohammed Farouq inspired his team to a four wicket win over Collingbourne with just two balls remaining.

Collingbourne won the toss and batted, with seasoned professionals Graham Chandler and Karl Rogers (13) making an aggressive start before.

McNeil (2-46) also accounted for Geoff Rogers before captain Owen Sheppard (58) and vice captain Graham Chandler put on a 111 partnership to take the score on to 151 off 27 overs.

Chandler continued to bat well and finished with a match top score of 98 not out, ably supported by Tom Grant (12), Ollie Scott (15) and Will Atkinson (10) leaving Moredon chasing a massive 250 total.

It was a difficult wicket for the bowlers, but with good spells from McNeill.

In response Moredon made an equally good start and were 54-0 before Ben Doherty smartly bowled opener Hanif. McNeil (35), Seller (48), Sheffield (33) and Merton (20) continued to show how good a wicket it was with some lovely stroke play.

But it was captain Farouq who took full advantage by scoring a very aggressive 54 not out -including four straight sixes.

The Collingbourne bowlers worked very hard with good stints from Owen Sheppard (1-37), Ben Doherty (1-48), Tom Grant (1-40) and Chandler (3-56).

Division Four

A SUPERB all-round performance saw Wilcot to a comprehensive 126-run victory over Beckington in their top of the table clash.

This important win has stretched Wilcot's lead at the top of the table to 27 points.

The home side got off to the perfect start as Jim Burns (78) and Alastair Fyfe (56) enjoyed a season-high opening partnership.

The pair put on 136 in 32 overs before Burns was run out. Cameron Campbell (18) and then Fyfe also fell to run outs, but with Beckington struggling to keep their cool in the field, runs flowed.

Julian Gilbey (35no) launched two sixes into the canal, but the killer blow to Beckington was Max Campion's 22-ball innings of 45 not out, including three sixes and three fours. In all, 101 runs came from the final ten overs as Wilcot reached the imposing total of 255-3.

Beckington's opening pair of Weare and Peters played freely in an opening stand of 65 before falling in successive overs.

Campbell was the chief wicket-taker (4-27), while Gilbey's control (2-17) meant the visitors were under increasing pressure.

The returning Campion (2-41) and Fisher (2-41) got their rewards for bowling straight, and a neat reflex catch by Nick Patel saw Beckington's last resistance fall as the visitors were dismissed for 129.

Division Six

SWINDON 4th eased to a 102-run victory over an understrength Corsham 4th.

Swindon batted first, and opener Law was beaten for pace and departed for two. In the next over, Kevin Thompson was bowled for a duck. Swindon captain Phil Laggett joined stalwart Paul Sore, and the two steadied the innings, with Sore in particular unphased by the Corsham pacemen.

The partnership was broken when Ings breached Laggett's defence to bowl him for 12 with the Swindon score at 51 after 13 overs, to bring Jason McGinley to the middle.

With Hick finding his length, there followed a calm spell with just seven runs added in as many overs.

However, this changed dramatically as Ings gave way to Corsham Academy bowler Sam Thomson. Unfortunately, the youngster bowled too short in his first over, and Sore found the boundary three times in taking 14 from the over.

Sore eventually brought up his half-century, but having added a further three runs to his tally, a mistimed lofted drive found the hands of Harry Elias at mid-on to give Hick his first wicket of the afternoon with the score on 90-4 in 28 overs.

Colin Wells joined McGinley and the pair put on 50 for the fifth wicket. It was Ings who broke the partnership by bowling McGinley for a patient 74-ball 23, and in the same over accounted for Wells (20).

Two wickets fell in Elias' next over when first Andy Baden was run out for seven, and Mike Cheetham edged to Shardlow behind the stumps for a three-ball duck.

Sore gave the Corsham fielders a couple of run out chances which were not taken and the innings ended with the score on 179-9.

In reply, openers Adrian Smith and Scott Fleming both went for ducks against the bowling of Andy Phipps and Jason McGinley.

Adam Mitchell, 12, played comfortably against McGinley and even managed to run the ball to third man a couple of times to open his account. Meanwhile Liam Sumsion looked to take the attack to the Swindon bowlers and spoilt Phipps' run of maidens.

However, he struck in the 13th over, when Mitchell edged a catch to Cheetham behind the stumps to depart for six with the Corsham score at 19-3. Elias went the same way to depart for a golden duck.

Sumsion despatched McGinley over the long-on boundary for six, but three balls later McGinley took his revenge as Sumsion found Sore to depart for 15. Tony Shardlow went two balls later to a swinging yorker to leave the Corsham innings in disarray at 25-6 after 14 overs.

Sam Thomson and Gary Ings steadied the innings and put on 16 before Thomson's innings came to an end when Andy Phipps held on to a stinging drive. Phipps came to the end of his 12-over stint with the impressive return of 4-17.

Chris King joined Ings and put on 10 before calling poorly to give Ings no chance of avoiding a run out. Ings departed for 11 and was replaced by Academy player Tom Nosek.

The pair put the earlier, more experienced batsmen to shame with a comfortable 21-run partnership before Sore beat Nosek's bat to bowl the youngster for nine.

Hick joined King (13no) in an attempt to stave off the inevitable defeat, but he too fell victim to a run out to end the Corsham innings at 72 in the 33rd over.

Elsewhere, Box 2nds suffered defeat at the hands of Bath Civil Service 2nds by six wickets.

Batting first Box scored 154 all out thanks largely to 54 from Tim Bligh, Nichols bagging 4-36 in the process.

In reply, Bath achieved the target with relative ease inside 26 overs, losing for wickets. Nicholls this time performing with the bat as he smashed 91.