WILTSHIRE suffered a heart-breaking two-wicket defeat to Cornwall in the latest round of the NCCA Championship.
At the end of three days play, which began on Sunday, Ed Young's men fell agonisngly short of claiming victory and will be left wondering what might have been.
Having been sent in to bat first, Wiltshire began confidently, with openers Jack Mynott and Dylan Church putting on 82 runs before the first wicket fell.
However, the promising start soon crumbled as they fell to 124-6, with Cornwall’s Max Tryfonos causing problems and picking up 5-69.
Yet, Tom Cullen stood his ground and scored 74 to help push Wiltshire's total beyond 200. After helpful contributions from Harry Broderick and Chris Aubrey, Wiltshire ended their first innings on 265 all out.
Like Wiltshire, Cornwall also found runs hard to come by and struggled to 93-5 at the culmination of day one.
Josh Croom (2-28) swiftly wiped both openers out before Joe King begin first-innings figures of 6-56 thanks to some magical spin bowling.
When day two commenced, Cornwall skipper Paul Smith and Tryfonos made steady progress towards the visitors' tally by racking up 48 and 38, respectively.
Despite a score of 22 from Tommy Sturgess, Cornwall were bowled out for 183 - leaving Wiltshire with a first innings lead of 82.
Wiltshire hoped to build on their lead and take the game out of the hosts' reach, but yet again, Tryfonos had other ideas. Cornwall's stand-out bowler took 5-35 as Wiltshire collapsed to just 109 all out.
With only 192 required for victory, Cornwall trundled along nicely and ended day two at 133-4 thanks to a stellar partnership of 107 between Xavier Clarke and Will MacVicar.
Although the hosts appeared set for a comfortable victory, plenty of rain on Tuesday almost saw the fixture end in a frustrating draw.
Following a full morning of inclement weather, there was still enough time for four more wickets to fall as Young played his part with 4-105.
King again showed his class by recording 4-62, but Cornwall were not to be denied as Sturgess (15 not out) and Ellis Whiteford (five not out) saw them comfortably home with plenty of time and overs to spare.
Wiltshire will carry on their NCCA Championship next week as they face Dorset CCC at the South Wiltshire Cricket Club.
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