Box collapse under pressure

Batting first, Spye put on 17 for the first wicket before Fennel (10) was out, caught at first slip by Kelly off the bowling of Dave Crawford (4-29). The second wicket came when first team debutant Carlo Weisner (1-23) trapped Hues (27) lbw in his third over to leave the visitors on 57-2.

Dave Beal (20) and Doel (51) restored some order to the innings before Beal was caught by keeper Nick Marshall off the bowling of Lewis Baxter (3-38).

Soon after his fifty Doel edged a simple catch to Baxter off the bowling of Gerald Hayward (2-39) with the score on 149-4.

A useful partnership between Bathe (33) and Beal (13) followed before Spye's last six wickets fell for 30 runs to leave the visitors 214 all out.

In reply, Box were off to a flyer, thanks to openers Neil Pettit (27) and Captain Dave Kelly (24), before Kelly was run out.

Gerald Hayward (70) then hit an aggressive but controlled innings before he was bowled by Dave Beal (4-22). Pettit departed shortly before Hayward was bowled by Hulse (3-60).

Box were still in a strong position at 149- 3 with more than 20 overs to go, but what followed was a mirror image of last week's collapse. Seven wickets fell for only 33 runs as the middle order and tail failed to capatilise on a good start to leave the home side 182 all out.

Crawford said: "A severe case of deja-vu. Having got ourselves in such a strong position, we again threw it away. A few of us need to value our wickets more, myself included.

"I played a stupid shot which has gone a long way to costing us victory."

In the bottom of the table clash, Calne secured a nine wicket victory over Sutton Veny after knocking the runs off with just nine overs gone. Calne bowled very well, restricting their opponents to 64 all out.

Good spells from Andy Windsor (6-20), Luke Edwards (2-14) and Barry Garland (12-4-12-1) made it hard for the batting side to score runs.

Calne's reply did not start well, but explosive batting from Darren Holcombe, who hit four sixes, made victory comfortable.

Division Two

A SOLID batting display by Collingbourne saw them upset the leaders KC Club on Saturday.

Collingbourne lost the toss and captain Brown chose to bat first on a very good track. Opening the bowling with spinner Simon Baker (0-19) and seamer Ollie Scott (1-8) KC Club were kept to 69-1 off 20 overs.

Number three bat Gouws showed why he was one of the best players in the league by hitting an aggressive 72, well supported by opener Mercer (34), Bennett (18) and hard hitting Tonks (18no) ending the innings at 211-6.

Left arm leg spinner Tom Grant (1-43 off 12) was the pick of the Collingbourne bowlers. But good spells from Ben Doherty (0-34), Graham Chandler (1-36), Owen Sheppard (1-27) and John Aitken (2-27) helped keep the score down.

Collingbourne had the best possible start in reply with opening bats Mark Liebling and Graham Chandler sharing a 113 partnership in 23 overs before Liebling (66) was caught.

Chandler (67no) was looking good right through the innings and when joined by captain Sheppard (66no) the pair yet again put on over a hundred partnership to win the game by eight wickets.

The KC Club bowlers had very little luck with Sanson (1-36) and Brookes (1-26) picking up the only wickets.

Division Three

HIGHWORTH, playing only their second game since June 9, secured a well-earned victory by three wickets at Lambourn, despite the batsmen being rather rusty.

Star of the show Andy Simmonds bowled extremely quickly in taking three wickets in the Lambourn innings.

One more win in their final two remaining games should see Highworth crowned divisional champions for a second year running.

Division Five

BIDDESTONE 3rds continued their winning form with an impressive 114-run victory over Warminster 3rds.

Batting first, Biddestone's opening pair put on 90 in 14 overs before Sam Boor was caught for 22.

His partner Andy Flynn continued to play shots and made a brisk 70 from 54 balls.

Mike Flynn continued the good work, chipping in with 40, and an unbroken partnership of 59 between Kevin Mitchell (26no) and Andy Marsh (28no) saw the home side post a total of 233-6.

In reply, Warminster were never able to get up with the run rate as wickets fell at regular intervals and they were dismissed for 119.

Craig Pepper (3-21) and Jamie Penton (3-8) were the pick of the bowlers.

Elsewhere, North Bradley chased down Dauntsey's target with 14 overs to spare and won the game by seven wickets.

After winning the toss, Dauntsey captain Kingsbury elected to move up the order and open the batting, a decision which paid off. He hit three sixes on his way to 50 but when he was clean bowled by a corker from spinner Jon Taylor the innings began its collapse.

The away side struggled to cope with the accurate and tight bowling of both James and Jon Taylor, with the middle order collapsing within the space of four overs. The tail of the Dauntsey batting wagged, but when James claimed his fourth wicket of the innings, caught smartly at slip by Brown, the innings closed on a competitive 162 all out.

In reply, Bradley began in a hurry with captain Andrew Colebrooke hitting a quick fire 34 before being caught well at slip by Biggs.

Last week's centurion Liam Brown continued his good form scoring 40, and in an extremely stylish way Chris Fardell batted through the innings scoring 57 not out for the victory.

Division Six

CORSHAM 4ths registered their highest total and biggest winning margin of the season under the warm sunny skies of Leafy Lane at the expense of Box 2nds.

Electing to bat first, the Corsham innings started poorly when John Gale directed a short delivery from Tim Bligh into the hands of gully to depart for five in the eighth over.

However, the damage was soon under repair with Tony Shardlow and Adrian Smith finding plenty of scoring opportunities, aided by plenty of extras from the bowlers.

Shardlow was the most fluent of the pair and took his score to 44 with a huge six over square leg, before falling lbw to Gavin Richardson.

Richard Toghill joined Smith and after a watchful start, steadily moved the Corsham score along. With Craig Mace coming to the end of his allotted overs, Box rang the changes with spells from Henry Dabson, debutant Milan Majithia, and Tom Cogswell, but the Corsham batsmen grew in confidence as the score mounted.

Both batsmen survived chances to deep fielders before passing the half century mark, and took the Corsham total past 200 in the 38th over. With the score at 224, Smith pulled a short delivery from Richardson to mid wicket where the waiting fielder took a comfortable catch to curtail his innings at 72, including nine fours.

His departure saw Toghill open his shoulders in the remaining overs and with two straight sixes and nine fours, took his tally to an undefeated 81 at the close with newcomer Ed Nosek adding 12 in the final daunting Corsham total of 272-3.

Matthew Hope and Matt Jones opened the Box reply against the left arm swing bowling of second newcomer, Paul Smith, and Hick's drifters.

In his second over, a swinging yorker from Smith beat Jones who departed without scoring to be replaced by David Nicklin. The new batsmen hung around for five overs before offering a catch to Tom Nosek off the bowling of Smith (2-19) to depart for one, with the score at 17-2.

Nosek (2-11) took a second catch to dismiss Tom Cogswell for ten off the bowling of Hick (4-15) and Matthew Hope (20) was trapped in front by the same bowler.

Steve Dalton was Hick's next victim, followed two overs later by Henry Dabson who fell to a diving catch at extra cover by Josh Bewley. Gavin Richardson (9) and Tim Bligh (11) added 24 runs before Sam Thomson (2-14) accounted for both in the same over.

Mace gave Bewley a third catch off Nosek to leave for one, but an obstinate final wicket partnership of sixteen by Majithia and James Harris held up the inevitable Corsham victory for six overs before Nosek found a Yorker to bowl Milan for 11 and wrap up the innings in the 35th over for 89.

Elsewhere, Goatacre 3rds were asked to bat by Marshfield 3rds and Goatacre's opening pair of Paul Farrant and Guy Thomas put on 79.

Thomas scored 56 on only his third game of the season, and Farrant hit 38 in his first game this season following a fractured wrist in March.

Martin Wheatley with 26 and Jerrad Murphy undefeated on 22 took Goatacre's total to a respectable 193-7.

Marshfield could not find an answer to an accurate opening spell from Matt Cave which gave him a five-wicket haul for 20 runs off 11 overs and with Immy Heer getting 2-18 off 10 overs, Marshfield's innings ended on 94 all out.