ROYAL Wootton Bassett captain Darren Beasant feels ‘blessed’ to have the bowling attack that he has at his disposal after claiming their third win in a row.

The WEPL Wiltshire new boys jumped to third in the table at the weekend as they dispatched local rivals Purton by 96 runs.

While the hosts were indebted to their skipper Aaron Lee’s five-wicket haul to keep Bassett down to 234-8, Beasant heaped praise on his own bowlers as Purton were dismissed for 138 in 28.3 overs.

Having lost the toss and been invited to bat first, Bassett did well to see off the new ball for the loss of only two wickets.

Overseas opener Jared McDonald played a fine anchor role as he struck an 88-ball 54, while opening bowler Neilon Jospeh hit a 47-ball 51.

Jack Twine and Akash Sharma chipped in with 41 and 32 respectively as Purton’s Lee claimed 5-31 from his 10 overs.

“To be honest, you don’t mind losing the toss at Purton as it is usually a high-scoring ground,” Bassett skipper Beasant said.

“In fairness, we were probably 20 or 30 runs short of where we should have been so we have to give credit to Aaron Lee because he got a decent five-fer.”

In reply, Sharma and Joseph made good use of the new ball as they reduced Purton to 6-3 and 24-4 to ensure that the hosts were never in the game.

Sizwe Masondo mounted a rear-guard action for Purton as he struck 74, however, he found little support from the rest as the hosts were bowled out for 138.

Sharma was the pick of the Bassett attack with 3-26, while Joseph picked up 3-37 despite bowling 10 wides, and Asanka Vithanage also chipped in with 2-17.

“I can’t speak highly enough of our five bowlers, they have been fantastic all season. I’m blessed as a captain to have such a good attack,” Beasant added.

Elsewhere, Calne suffered a three-wicket home loss to Swindon.

After being invited to bat first, the hosts found themselves 12-2 after openers Stuart Windsor and Tom Clare were dismissed cheaply.

Calne managed to put up some middle-order resistance through Sean Adams (28), Matthew Richards (30) and Darren Holcome (22) but they were eventually bowled out for 140.

The hosts also took early wickets to put a dent in Swindon’s reply, however, Jake Goodwin (35) and Udit Talati (38) batted well to help steer the County Ground side to the verge of victory, which was secure in 40th over. Jim Sutton was the pick of the Calne bowlers with 3-42.

Marshfield suffered a 107-run defeat to Trowbridge, who saw Matthew Hopkins hit an unbeaten 120 as the leaders posted 274-7.

In reply, Marshfield were bowled in 37 overs for 167, despite a third-wicket stand of 83 between Russell Lodge (37) and Suffan Hussan (73).

Great Bedwyn were also on the receiving end of a heavy defeat as they went down by 118 runs at Warminster, who reached 242-9 from their 50 overs, while the visitors were dismissed for 124.

Devizes enjoyed a seven-wicket success at Marlborough as they bowled their hosts out for 107, while victory was secured in the 18th over of the reply.