A MAGNIFICENT bowling performance from Devizes turned an almost certain defeat into an unbelievable victory against Trowbridge on Saturday.

After winning the toss Devizes captain Mark Colyer chose to bat in hot conditions that looked to favour the batsmen. But he must have regretted that decision when Trowbridge's bowling attack promptly skittled out Devizes for 67 off 25.4 overs.

Everything pointed towards an easy Trowbridge win at the interval. But James Ashford-Brown's five-wicket haul inspired Devizes to a sensational two-run victory.

Colyer, who has been involved with cricket at Devizes for 20 years, said he had never come across a match like it.

"It was one of the most unbelievable games of cricket that I've ever been involved in," he said. "We have set low scores before but we have never come back to win. Everybody was quite down after the way we batted. But we went in with a strong attitude and decided that we had nothing to lose.

"Once the first few wickets fell we felt we had a slight chance and it was only when we needed the last two wickets that you could really feel the pressure."

He said he would never forget the game and added that he did feel some sympathy for the Trowbridge players.

"They were a bit gutted to say the least. But I know we would have been if the same thing had happened to us."

Colyer hoped that the momentous win, which saw Devizes leapfrog Trowbridge into third, would act as the springboard to see them go on to earn promotion at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Trowbridge captain Ali Goddard said the defeat was "definitely a blow" but added that his side were also still in with a realistic chance of promotion. I have never played in a game like that before," he said. "It was definitely a case of good bowling rather than bad batting."