Goatacre 109-3, Swindon 105 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Goatacre 109-3, Swindon 105

GOATACRE missed out on capping their wonderful season with promotion by the narrowest of margins, despite a resounding win over Swindon.

At one point it looked as if Goatacre might have been heading towards Premier Two, but Trowbridge were able to hold out for a win at Hatherley and Reddings to secure first place.

Although they missed out on first place and promotion, the seven-wicket win on the final day of the season secured Goatacre's highest finish ever.

Captain Sam Parish said that his side were disappointed not to have won the league, but he added that they could be extremely proud of their efforts throughout the season.

He said: "If you had said to me at the start of the season that we would finish second then I would have been delighted, but I feel that we should have won it.

"We had a couple of games where we threw points away and that's the only disappointment really.

"I felt we should have won it, but I think in a week's time we'll go back to being very happy about what we have achieved.

"The first team players always believed we could be very good in this league.

"As a club we need to gear ourselves up and look at getting promoted. Now we know we are good enough for this league and that we can go on and finish in the top two or three next year.

"A lot of people view Goatacre as a small village club, which we are, but hopefully we have shown a lot of people how good we can be."

Swindon, who could also have claimed top spot, won the toss and elected to bat, only to find themselves up against a fierce bowling attack from Goatacre.

Swindon opener Darren Beasant could only find five runs before he was caught behind by Parish off a Jonathan Wilkins Jnr delivery.

Darren Rourke put up some resistance, hitting 30 before he too was caught behind by Parish, this time from a Kevin Iles delivery.

Iles and Rhan Heer demolished the remainder of the Swindon order with ease, bowling them out for 105 in just 30 overs.

Iles took 5-30 from 13 overs with five maidens, while Heer took 3-25 from 15 overs with five maidens.

Goatacre took just 24 overs to reach their target of 106, with opener Steve Lines knocking 38 to put them in control, before falling lbw to Will Nichols.

Dan Horton, who also fell lbw to Mohamed Zohaib, hit 23.

Wilkins Jnr added 15 before he was caught playing a stray shot, but Peter Turner, 12 not out, and Ed Wilkins, four not out, quickly racked up the rest of the runs.

Parish said he was delighted with the result and the performance, even if it had not resulted in promotion, adding that the team's crop of local players will stand them in good stead for next year.

He said: "It was a great result, but obviously it didn't count for a lot in the end as Trowbridge won, but it was a hell of a result.

"Kevin got their Australian (Rourke), who scores a lot of runs for them, with his first ball and that gave us all a lot of confidence and we really went from there.

"It was quite anxious because we finished early and the first we heard was that Hatherley were still in with a very good shout.

"Good luck to Trowbridge. I didn't think they would win up there. We said before our game that whoever wins our game would probably win the league. It's been a real team season. We haven't relied on just one or two players. Everybody's done their bit. We're one of only two sides that haven't got a paid overseas player and that shows how well we have done with local players.

"For the rest of the sides, if they get promoted, they have got to rely on getting another really good overseas player, but we would essentially be going there with the same group of players."