WESTINGHOUSE: THERE were dangers lurking in the Savernake Forest on Saturday as the Westinghouse batsmen discovered to their obvious discomfort.

The Marlborough pitch may have looked harmless enough but after two deliveries it soon became clear this was a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode. Both balls pitched on a length and flew high over the batsman's head, planting seeds of doubt which quickly grew into a nightmare.

The scoreboard registered just 27 runs when the top six batsmen were safely back in the pavilion, with none able to muster double figures. In an act of desperation, Westinghouse skipper Steve Coombs promoted number 11 Clive Penfold to the dizzy heights of number eight.

"I told Clive to just go out there and whack it," said Coombs. And whack it Penfold did.

Together with Jon Cleverly (32), Penfold took the attack to the Marlborough bowlers, dodging the pot-holes to post an invaluable 38 runs.

Tail-enders Howard Simons, Ian Woodman and Robbie Penfold hung around for a while before they too fell foul of the Savernake pitch as the visitors were dismissed for a paltry 128. "The pitch was dangerous," said Coombs. "To be fair to the Marlborough captain, Nick Crabbe, he had no idea it would play like that, even after all the rain we had last week.

"Nick said he would also have batted had he won the toss. Take nothing away from them, they bowled very well, but it was a nightmare to bat on." The pitch flattened out slightly after tea but it took Marlborough 42 overs to reach their target for the loss of six wickets.

Crabbe led the way with a defiant 23 and the experienced George Fox survived an early scare to post the game's only half-century.

Fox was eventually trapped lbw by Cleverly for 50 but by then the hosts needed just 30 to win with seven wickets remaining.

Aussie Tristan Francis took two for 16 and there were wickets for Coombs, Christian Fry and Sam Dix in an encouraging bowling performance. "We did bowl and field well but we never really had a chance," said Coombs.

"I don't want to make excuses but if it hadn't been for Clive's knock the game could have been over by 3pm. It was just a bad toss to lose and we have to forget this match now and move on.

"The positive thing is that everyone is still enjoying their cricket." Coombs will hope to break into a much wider smile tomorrow with victory over relegation rivals Devizes.