Radio silence proved to be the perfect foil for Chippenham to safeguard their place in the Glos/Wilts Division.

After flirting with the relegation zone in recent weeks, Lee Ward’s men upset second-in-the-table Rockham-pton with a two-wicket win in Gloucestershire to ensure that they avoided the drop into the Wiltshire Division.

The win was even more vital after it emerged second-from-bottom Westbury had beaten Warminster, whuch closed the gap to just six points – something that only became apparent later.

“We knew that if we won our game, we’d be safe, so we didn’t worry too much about what was going on elsewhere,” said Ward.

“We usually take a look at the other scores on Twitter or what have you but there actually wasn’t any internet signal at Rockhampton so we couldn’t do that. It wasn’t until we were on the coach back home that we realised that Westbury had won too.

“Once again, our bowling and fielding was superb and we played really well. Things got a little bit jittery for me, as captain, when we were 9-4 but then Paul Bates came in.

“With the situation that he came into and the situation of our whole season, it was the innings of the season.

“I’m so happy that we’ve managed to stay in our division because I think, with some strengthening, that we can really push on next year.”

Rockhampton batted first after winning the toss, with William Tyler (33) and Matt Tyler (32) leading the scoring for the home side, with Rowan Cartlidge and Jack Spence both making 20.

But skipper Ward took 4-25 to turn the screw on Rockhampton as the hosts were dismissed for 142 in the penultimate over.

Chippenham looked in trouble as their first four wickets fell for just nine runs but Paul Bates stepped in to hit a fine unbeaten 64.

Rockhampton’s Chris Perry ended the afternoon with figures of 4-23 but Denson Narayan added a late 34 as the visitors reached 144-8 early in the 36th over to preserve their status.

Biddestone claimed a narrow home win over Swindon to secure third place.

The villagers were put in to bat first after losing the toss, with Vibhor Yadav (3-41) piling on the pressure.

But Naeem Khan (46), Luke Panes (42 not out) and Andy Flynn (35) all contributed as Biddestone posted 211-9.

Jon Sore led Swindon’s run chase with a knock of 68 but a haul of 4-41 from Stuart Kingwell and Dwaine Perry’s 3-33 was enough to skittled the visitors for 193 in the penultimate over.