BEANACRE & Melksham’s decision to ask visiting Beckington to bat backfired as they fell to a 24-run defeat in Wiltshire County League Division One.

The Beckington openers put on 32 for the first wicket and the score was 56-1 when Daniel Gulliford was dismissed.

Josh Dwight then made the hosts pay when he was dropped without troubling the scorers.

He shared a third-wicket stand of 50 with Carl Harfield (58) before departing for 37.

The rest of the Beckington innings fell away as no batsmen, apart from Harfield could cope with Courtney Earl (5-61) as they closed on 179-8.

Beanacre’s Steve Rendell punished any wayward bowling as the hosts made an impressive start to their reply.

However, they were unable to put together any partnerships with only Rendell (37), captain Ben Brown (44) and Gary Burns (19) reaching double figures as Beanacre were dismissed for 155.

Joe Weare the pick of the visiting attack with 4-36.

Royal Wootton Bassett saw their lead at the summit cut to 29 points as their match at Lacock was rained off, while second-placed Urchfont defeated struggling Nationwide House by 13 runs.

Swindon Civil Service had no answer to the power-hitting of Hinton Charterhouse as they fell to a three-wicket defeat.

Civil Service were asked to bat by Hinton stand-in skipper John Newport and their opening bowlers, Liam Taylor and James Jacob, restricted the Penhill-based side to 45-2 from the opening 20 overs.

A patient 68 from Jamie Baden and some powerful hitting by Mark Thatcher took the Civil Service’s total to 164-7.

Hinton’s Newport and Mike Abington led the way with the ball with figures of 2-17 and 2-40 respectively.

Although the total seemed attainable for Hinton, Thatcher (4-50) and Stuart McNeill (2-29) had other ideas, producing a superb opening spell of swing and seam which reduced the hosts to 60-6.

However, Elliot Taylor, countered with a huge six off his first ball, plundering a quick-fire 24.

Then his brother Liam (41*) arrived to join Barry Maggs (45*) to knock off the remaining 65 runs with eight-and-a-half overs and three wickets to spare.

Box picked up their third win of the season at the expense of Bradford on Avon.

Jonny Page’s 80 set up Box’s total of 214-3, Steve Hall adding an unbeaten 53 and Rich Foley 38.

Foley then took 3-16 to help reduce Bradford to 129-9 off their 45 overs, Jon Peglar taking 4-34 as Ian Pinchen made 54.

Division Two

SWINDON United Churches were another table-topping side to have their lead cut without having a chance to bowl a ball.

The Sevenhampton-based outfit saw their match with Collingbourne cancelled, while second-placed Bear Flat beat Spye Park by five wickets.

Wroughton Wranglers’ Mark McMeeking’s unbeaten 80 was not enough to prevent his side losing to Avebury.

Wroughton were dismissed for 152 and their opponents reached their target with a wicket in hand.

Swindon A claimed a two-wicket win over Heytesbury and Sutton Veny.

Division Three

ANIS Ali’s unbeaten 107 helped Royal Wootton Bassett 2nd close the gap on leaders Beehive with a 35-run win over Wilcot, despite Shane Bryant’s 103 not out.

Division Four

BOWLERS ruled the roost in leaders White Horse’s 44-run success over Lambourn.

The table-toppers were skittled for just 80 runs by Lambourn, however, White Horse hit back and ripped through their opponents dismissing them for 36.

Tom Lentschner was the chief destroyer for White Horse with figures of 5-6 from 12 overs, while Nathan Sheffield backed him up with 4-10 from 4.5 overs.

Division 6

BEEHIVE 2nd claimed a home nine-wicket success over their Urchfont counterparts.

The hosts, after winning the toss, elected to field with captain Phil Stockley making the early breakthrough in his second over.

James Dennison also struck in his second over of the day as wickets fell at regular interval.

Stockley (6-41) also came close to securing three wickets in as many deliveries only to see the hat-trick ball stray down the legside.

Urchfont slipped from 24-5 off 13 overs to 28-9 from 18 overs, but a a 33-run last wicket stand helped them to 61 all out when Dennison (4-13) claimed the final wicket in the 24th over.

Beehive lost opener Mike Reeves (3) early on, but Nigel Reeves (41*), who hit a six to win the match, and Ash Rendell (13*) saw them home in 14 overs.