NEW captain Jason Searle saw his pre-season plans come to early fruition as Chippenham gained a six wicket win in their first West of England Premier League Division Two game of the campaign.

Searle believes spinners will hold the key to his team's success this summer and it was the slow bowlers who took right of the ten wickets as Knowle crawled to 117 all out in 47 overs.

After seamer Paul Bates had made the initial breakthrough by dismissing both openers in an eight over spell of two for 26 the spinners took control. Slow left armer Andy Dawson marked his Chippenham debut with a haul of four for 19 from 12 niggardly overs, Searle finished with three for 30 from 15 equally accurate overs of his off spin and Richard Bates chipped in with one for 27 from 5.4 overs.

"It's always nice when a plan works out and it was a good win," said Searle.

"Knowle were 93 for three after 26 overs and then took another 20 overs to add another 24 runs for the loss of seven more wickets.

"Once we got the ball in the right place they just couldn't get it away."

Knowle won the toss and surprisingly chose to bat first on a damp wicket and Coombes (53) and Mills (37) were the only batsmen to reach double figures.

After a rain interruption Chippenham required an adjusted target of 96 off 41 overs for victory and reached their target with 24 balls to spare. The major contributions came from Jack Humphrys (25), Richard Bates (25) and Ian Merryweather (19).