PURTON were left cursing the weather at the weekend as their six-wicket defeat to Devizes saw their title hopes all but washed away.

Having lost the toss, Aaron Lee’s side were put in to bat and were looking steady at 45-2 after 15 overs before the rain set in.

That reduced their innings to just 25.2 overs, setting their hosts a target of 128 to win the match.

Devizes, who were bottom heading into the contest, secured their target with eight balls to spare but Lee said that his side couldn’t be too disappointed with the result.

“It’s near impossible to win games like that,” he said.

“We batted for 15 overs expecting a 50-over game and then suddenly, you only have 11 more overs.

“At 45-2 after 15, you’re in a really good position to go on and get a big total in a 50-over game.

“To then go from having 35 overs left to 11 kind of throws a spanner in the works.

“We bowled pretty well and still weren’t far off winning the game.”

With leaders Westbury 18 points clear and facing the bottom two sides in their final two games of the season, Lee admits that winning WEPL Wiltshire is now a tall task.

“You never say never and obviously, the weekend didn’t help us,” he added.

“Even if we had won at the weekend, we still need Westbury to lose a game.

“We’ll still go in and try and win our last two fixtures, which will be tough, but at the end of the day, we have had a fantastic season.”

Meanwhile, Swindon had to settle for a share of the points with Marshfield after rain stopped play at the County Ground after just 14 overs.