RELEGATION is now virtually guaranteed after Devizes were unable to beat the Bristol West Indians on Saturday at London Road.

Opportunities were there for the result to have been different but chances went begging in the field and there was not enough firepower in the batting to chase down the decent total set by the visitors.

Having won the toss, the West Indies started with a blaze of boundaries on a track that gave assistance to the bowlers.

However the introduction of Andy Hodder's slow leg spin turned things round as a succession of batsmen succumbed trying to hit him out of the ground.

With five wickets falling quickly, two of them to Alex Muse's leg spin from the other end, the West Indies had to regroup, and did so, led from the front by their captain with a knock of 51.

As the West Indians changed their game plan, defending the good balls and scoring off the bad ones, so their confidence grew and Hodder picked up a fourth wicket from another attempted boundary hit.

Devizes then dropped a couple of catches that could have left themselves a much more manageable total, but the visitors got away in the final overs and posted 255-8.

In reply Will Muse and Jake McCauley again laid a solid foundation against the hostility of Shermon Gordon. It came as somewhat of a surprise when McCauley fell after seeing off the opening bowlers.

Ali Garnsworthy was the victim of a controversial umpiring decision, given caught behind when the ball appeared to hit his thigh, and Devizes were struggling.

Muse continued to play sensibly against some very controlled bowling, and although he attempted to accelerate, there was little he or Tim Saye could do to up the ante.

Saye dispatched a couple of short balls to the square leg boundary before scooping one to extra cover and Muse, after completing a second successive half century, was bowled by one that came off the pitch slowly as he tried to pull.

With Hodder picking up a few runs off the slower bowlers at the end and Nick Paget chipping in, Devizes closed on 185-7.

It's been a painful year for the first team, as off the pitch incidents have seriously disrupted the clubs push to stay in the Premier two division. Two games remain to try and salvage something from the season.