GREAT Bedwyn strengthened their lead at the top of Division One of the Wiltshire Cricket League following a 155-run victory over Beckington.

Robert Palmer made an unforgettable 185 not out as Bedwyn smashed their way to 377-6 before Beckington were bowled out for 222 in reply, despite Charles Kunje’s 87.

Meanwhile, second-place Avebury lost further ground in the race for the title after a 58-run defeat by Corsham 2nd.

Corsham’s Paul Clifford (63) and Luke Curtis (50) both made half centuries as the hosts posted 232-7 before Josh Stanley (4-37) restricted Avebury to 174 all out.

Chippenham 2nd strolled to a comfortable 121-run victory over Marlborough despite only reaching 170-9 from their 45 overs.

Chippenham’s middle-order pushed them up to a defendable score as Marlborough’s Paul Smith claimed 4-36.

But Smith was to be outdone in the bowling figures by Craig Fry, who took 8-29 as Marlborough were bowled out for just 49.

Winsley and Malmesbury played out a thrilling tied match after Winsley posted 273 all out batting first.

After opener Toby Kershaw was caught on 60, the Malmesbury batsmen were unable to make it past 35 – six batsmen were dismissed for between 23 and 35 – and the visitors drew the match with Ben Oakley and Fin Beldon on 35 and 25 respectively.

Swindon 2nd continue to struggle at the foot of the Division One table after suffering defeat to Nationwide House by 18 runs.

Aaron Stevens struck 63 as Nationwide toiled their way to 156 all out – Cameron Oliver took 4-20 from his nine overs – before Swindon struggled towards their target.

Despite 51 from Harry Chevis, Swindon fell 19 runs short of their winning target and they remain bottom on 161 points with five games to play.

DIVISION TWO

Swindon United Churches’ fixture away at Bear Flat was abandoned during the visitors’ innings.

The hosts made 269-5, thanks to a superb 120 from Ashwin Agrawal and half-centuries from Ross Newman (56) and S Vesey (68) before the game was called off with United Churches at 40-1.

Swindon NALGO missed the chance to increase the pressure on the leaders as they fell to a 79-run defeat away at Box.

The hosts reached 212-9 – Malcolm Bond top-scored with 66 – as each NALGO bowler took at least one wicket each before a poor start cost the visitors dear.

After five of the top six scored 12 between them, NALGO were eventually bowled out for 133 in the 34th over.

DIVISION THREE

Lacock bounced back from disappointment last week as they defeated White Horse by 72 runs on Saturday.

A strong batting performance saw the home side post 283-4 as Matt Loft and Miles Copland finished on 69 not out and 38 not out respectively.

Tom Clay (59) and Chay Forester (62) also scored 50s for the hosts.

In reply, White Horse struggled to keep up with the required run rate and, despite 53 from Nathan Sheffield, fell well short of their target.

Bradford-on-Avon also responded to defeat with a victory as they triumphed over Heytesbury & Sutton Veny by 31 runs.

After both openers were dismissed for a duck, Will Johnson (53), Tony Burrows (61) and Lewis Green (52) made half-centuries as the home side posted 241-8.

Simon Grant (54) and Nick Leach (47) got the visitors off to an excellent start, but once they had been removed, Heytesbury struggled thereafter and could only muster 210-8 from their 45 overs.

DIVISION FOUR

Wroughton Wranglers kept hold of second place after beating Corsham 3rd by four wickets.

Ben Da Costa struck 120 as the hosts made their way to 235-6, but 81 from D Lawrence aided Wroughton in their successful ran chase, making their target with six balls to spare.

Corsham’s Lily Day took 4-39, but it was not enough to stop Wroughton taking the points.

Melksham cruised to victory as they beat Nationwide House 2nd by 171 runs.

Russ Collins were cruelly denied a century after being bowled for 98 by Mahendra Vishwakarma while Joe Veacock’s 59 helped the home side post 292-6.

Veacock then took his turn to star with the ball as his 5-20 blew away the tail as House 2nd were all out for 121.

Combe Down brilliantly chased down Ramsbury’s first-innings score of 221 to win by three wickets.

Frederick Walker top-scored with 69 for Ramsbury as they made 221-8 before Santosh Nair (67) laid the foundation for Combe Down to reach the winning total in the 42nd over.