Marshfield 218-6, Biddestone 217-5 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Marshfield 218-6, Biddestone 217-5

Marshfield's Russel Lodge prods away a ball from Biddestone's during the home side's victory in the final over on Saturday (16401/03NS)BIDDESTONE captain Kris Boulton says his team is still thinking positively despite suffering their first defeat of the season.

Biddestone were beaten in the final over of Saturday's thrilling game against Marshfield, but Boulton still drew encouragement from another decent performance.

He said: "Obviously, it's disappointing to lose and I was a little bit disappointed, particularly that we didn't get a few more runs, but, on a positive note, two or three of our bowlers bowled very well and Dwaine (Perry) and Matt (Lennon) were excellent. There's lots of good things still happening."

A quick outfield and a small pitch worked to Biddestone's advantage, as they went to work on the Marshfield bowlers, producing a solid total of 217-5.

Dwaine Perry (103) was once again the main threat in the Biddestone order, cracking a number of boundaries as he hit his first century of the season, and showing why he has earned the nickname "Mr Consistency."

Perry's superb innings was backed up by Matt Lennon's fine 65.

But the lack of production from the rest of the order meant that Biddestone fell short of the total they could have achieved and gave Marshfield an attainable target of 218.

The bowling of Gordon Bedwell (3 for 55 from 11) and Michael Lodder (1 for 35 from 12.4) was a plus for Biddestone.

But despite the best efforts of their bowling attack they could not prevent Marshfield from claiming victory.

It was a difficult loss to swallow for Biddestone as Marshfield scored the necessary runs with just two balls remaining and Boulton felt that, had the batting order done slightly more, they would have sealed another win.

"It was disappointing to lose. It was a very competitive, typical local derby. Both sides were very fired up and were quite vocal," said Boulton

"From my point of view I thought we were 20 runs sort of what we should have got.

"I think we really should have got to 240, which would probably have been enough."

Biddestone now turn their attention to Saturday's home game against Marlborough, with Boulton expecting a strong performance from their close rivals and hoping that his side can get back into the winning habit they have become accustomed to this season.

He said: "Marlborough lost last week as well, so they'll be fired up to come to us, but we're just looking to bounce back and get a result under our belts.

"I just want to make sure that we are there or thereabouts at the end of the season."

The only injury concern for Biddestone comes at the wicket-keeper position, with Hywel Evans suffering from a back problem that forced Boulton to take over the duties behind the stumps on Saturday.

Boulton said: "I'm hoping he's going to be fit, but if not I can fill in again and we've got plenty of good youngsters that we can pull in to fill a gap if necessary."