CORNELIUS Burger helped Trowbridge to a vital 58-run win at home to fellow strugglers Goatacre on Saturday, but they are still two victories away from guaranteeing Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Division One safety.

The South African all-rounder scored a sensible 93 as Trowbridge reached 270-5 off 50 overs, before taking four wickets to leave their opponents 58 runs short of their target.

The win has moved Trowbridge towards midtable, but with three matches left, captain Richard Holbrook believes two wins could still be needed.

He said: "I am not going to get over excited because it is still really tight down at the bottom of the league.

"I have tried to work it all out and to make mathematically sure of staying up, I think we will need to win two out of our last three games.

"Having said that one more win could be enough because a lot of the bottom teams are playing against each other."

Openers Tom Oatley (31) and Richard Greatorex (14) got the hosts off to a good start before Oatley was caught with the score on 51.

Greatorex was bowled in the next over to allow Holbrook (65) and Burger (93) produce a valuable third wicket partnership.

The pair took the score from 62-2 to 186 before Holbrook was bowled. Burger ensured the score board kept ticking over though as Trowbridge finished their allotted overs on 270-5.

In reply, Goatacre started well and reached 51 before Burger made a breakthrough, bowling opener Steve Lines for 31.

The wickets then began to fall with Burger, 4-34, and Peter Hickerton, 4-55, doing most of the damage as Goatacre were bowled out for 212 with just over two overs left.

After a disappointing few weeks that have seen Trowbridge struggle at the wrong end of the league, Holbrook was delighted with the performance.

He said: "I am much happier than I have been for a while. It was a really good all-round team performance and I couldn't have asked for much more.

"Everything went to plan, we batted well, bowled well and fielded well and hopefully we can carry this on for the rest of the season. There was a lot of pressure on this game because it was a must-win game so I am pleased with the character they showed."