CHIPPENHAM suffered their third defeat of the season on Saturday as a Bradley Dawson-inspired Goatacre claimed victory by 101 runs.

Captain Lee Ward tipped his cap to Goatacre’s Dawson as the batsman’s telling contribution ultimately made the difference.

Having won the toss and sent their hosts into bat, Chippenham looked to be making steady progress at restricting Goatacre, pinning them back to 171-6.

But having already secured his century, Dawson relaxed his shoulders and began teeing off as the all-rounder worked his way towards an unbeaten 170 off 90 balls that featured 10 fours and 16 sixes.

Admitting the game was in the balance before Dawson’s intervention with the bat, Ward said: “The last 10 overs of their innings changed the game.

“For 40 overs of the game, I thought we were in control, in terms of the score, the way we were bowling, and we were keeping the runs down on what was a fairly small ground.

“But the difference was Brad Dawson’s innings – it was a case of hats off to him really. It was a superb innings.

“He batted really well and took advantage of the situation.

“It was a guy who had a fantastic day with the bat and ultimately, that was the difference between the two sides.”

With the home side having posted 341 from their 50 overs, Ward said his side were still confident of chasing down the high total on a relatively small ground.

Opening batsmen Adeesha Nanayakkara (90) and Chris Munden (47) laid a solid foundation for a potentially successful run chase, however, once both openers had been removed, Dawson (4-31) and co. set about taking control, eventually bowling Chippenham out for 240.

Ward said: “With our innings, we got off to a really good start – Adeesha (Nanayakkara) and Chris put on a 100-run partnership – we were well up with the run rate.

“Once we’d started and got to 100-0, the confidence grew again.

“We then lost a few wickets – I felt a few of the decisions didn’t necessarily go our way – but at the end of the day, that wasn’t why we lost the game.

“We lost the game because of Brad Dawson’s innings.”

Elsewhere, Frocester beat Corsham by three wickets after the Wiltshire side were dismissed for 107 while Dumbleton saw off Stroud by 58 runs thanks to 4-36 from Aditya Rai.

Trowbridge also produced a poor batting performance, being reduced to 106 all out, and Biddestone knocked off the required runs having lost just three wickets.

Meanwhile, Burbage & Easton Royal suffered one of the heaviest defeats in living memory as Thornbury scored 396-6 inside 50 overs.

Daniel Lezar smashed 152 from 84 balls while Marc Lezar (60), Nick Willis-Stovold (50) and captain Luke Davis (74) also reached their half-centuries in the mammoth total.

In reply, Burbage were skittled out for 76.