HAVING waited five weeks to register their first victory of the year, Corsham’s campaign is starting to gather pace.

Ashur Morrison’s side made it three wins on the bounce last Saturday as the Station Road outfit sank Bridgwater by 50 runs.

Now, as they prepare for a Wiltshire derby with Potterne this coming weekend, Morrison feels that last weekend’s win over their Somerset visitors has set-up them up nicely.

“I always knew that it (the poor start) wasn’t down to ability,” Morrison said. “It was a little bit of belief and confidence that were lacking.

“But I think we gained a lot from our win over Taunton St Andrew and that has really got the morale up ahead of our massive game with Potterne on Saturday.”

Corsham got off to a decent start after being asked to bat first, with Steve Bullen (55) and Dwaine Fielding (29) putting on 54 for the opening wicket.

The middle order all put in solid contributions, with Sam Collier (38), Michael Coles (32) and Will Wales (27) helping the hosts to post 221-6 off their 50 overs.

The Station Road side were then indebted their spin duo of Tom Foley (0-23 off 10 overs) and Joe King (2-26) as they only conceded 49 runs between them off 20 overs before Dwaine Fielding made the most of the pressure by claiming 5-27 to bowl the visitors out for 171.

“It was a good all-round team performance and our mid-to-lower order really helped us post a competitive total of 221-6,” Morrison said.

“But it was our spinners who really gave that platform for the win.

“We were playing on the bottom pitch at Corsham and the boundary is quite short, and Bridgwater had hit around 40 off the opening three overs with some really streaky boundaries.

“But the spinners – Tom Foley and Joe King – did a fantastic job. To go at only two or three an over in 50 over cricket is a brilliant effort.

“They really did make my job a lot easier because when the asking run-rate increases to seven or eight an over, they have to go for it and I was able to set the field.”

Potterne, meanwhile, saw Ed Young fall seven short of a double century in their 103-run success at Downend as they climbed to second in the table.

The Wiltshire vice-captain blasted his way to 193 off 130 balls, plundering 20 fours and 11 sixes as Neil Clark’s side were bowled out for 310 with five balls of their innings remaining.

Downend chased the game and while Callum Loud struck 122 off 80 balls – 12 fours and eight sixes – they were dismissed in the 33rd over for 207 all out.