WILTSHIRE'S hopes of reaching their first Lord's final since 1993 were dashed on Sunday when they were comprehensively outplayed by Northumberland at Westbury in the semi-final.

Wiltshire were beaten by an impressive eight wickets as Northumberland won the toss and, without hesitation, asked Wiltshire to bat.

With the conditions overcast and the pitch containing some dampness, their opening bowlers did not let them down. With good swing and seam bowling Martin Pollard delivered a superb 4 for 24 and Mark Symington returned 2 for 32 off their respective 10 over spells, tearing through the Wiltshire order.

Wiltshire manager Brian White thought that Northumberland winning the toss was decisive in the outcome of the game. He said: "Whoever won the toss would have won the game. If we had won the toss I would have put them in to bat. It was great conditions for the bowlers."

Wiltshire lost Kevin Blackburn off the second ball of the match and were soon 15 for 3. Last man in Kevin Nash top scored with 15 not out and the highest partnership of the innings was 29 runs, that was between Nash and Neil Shardlow for the last wicket.

Wiltshire were all out for 91 off 36.1 overs, and had four ducks in a innings where only three players made double figures.

Despite losing Alan Worthy in the first over to Richard Bedbrook, Northumberland had little trouble in reaching their target off 23.3 overs for the loss of only one more wicket.

Dave Shurben scored 46 and Adam Heather was 34 not out as they cruised to 94 for 2.

Ironically when Wiltshire last got to the final of this tournament and the last time these two teams meet was when they beat Northumberland in the semi-final. This time it was sweet revenge for the northerners.

White was pleased his team got to the semis. He said: "It's a shame as few of these players will get the chance to play at Lords. We played at Trent Bridge this year and it would have been nice to add Lords to the list."

Wiltshire's final match of the season is a three day championship match against Western Division leaders Devon at Exmouth, starting on Sunday. The match will see the debut of the Wiltshire U17 captain James Hayward, a left arm spinner from South Wilts.

Squad: Russell Rowe (Captain, South Wilts), Richard Bedbrook (Beckenham), Kevin Blackburn (Clifton/Optimists), Jon Chandler (South Wilts), Michael Coles (Bridgewater), James Hayward (South Wilts), James Hibberd (Calmore Sports), Kevin Nash (Bashley), Baqar Rizvi (Spencer), Neil Shardlow (Corsham), Ollie Smith (Old Hill).