WARMINSTER skipper Tom Davie thinks that his side sent out a fearsome warning to title-rivals Chippenham and Rockhampton as they obliterated Swindon last weekend.

Third-placed Warminster capitalised on the joint-leaders’ respective defeats to move to within seven points of top spot on Saturday after they demolished Swindon by a whopping 280 runs at Sambourne Road.

“I think the top two will take notice of that because of the manner of the win – they’ll turn around and think: ‘Warminster are still in it’,” said Davie.

“I think it’s the manner of the win. We know that there’s a long way to go still but we know that we can still win the league.

“Both Chippenham and Rockhampton lost on the weekend, which was good news for us, and now that we’ve cut the gap, we want to try and build on that.

“We were missing some guys who decided to go away on a mid-season break but Rory Cullinan should be back this weekend (away to Gloucester City Winget) and he’ll captain the team because I’m away at a wedding myself.”

Warminster elected to bat first after winning the toss and opener Ankit Shastri set about slapping Swindon around the park as he notched up a storming unbeaten 169 from 136 deliveries, which included 18 fours and four sixes.

Shastri wasn’t the only home batsman in devastating form, with Desmond Kruger also smacking 12 fours and four sixes as he made 120 from 93 balls.

Captain Davie added 22 as Warminster posted a domineering 374-3.

Davie’s men then underlined their dominance with the ball as they ripped through the Swindon order, allowing only Paul Paginton (28) and Marc Williamson (26) to offer up any resistance as John Powell filled his boots.

Warminster’s Powell ended with figures of 5-22 as Swindon were skittled for just 93.