OFF SPINNER Jason Searle grabbed five wickets as Chippenham rekindled their promotion hopes with a three wicket victory in a low scoring Premier Division Two game.

Put into bat by Chippenham skipper Ian Merryweather, Stroud made a steady start and at 59 for one looked set for a substantial total.

But they lost their last nine wickets for just 45 runs, with Searle finishing with figures of five for 28 from 15 overs, eight of them maidens.

Former Somerset seamer Paul Clifford weighed in with three for 28 from 15 overs as Stroud were dismissed for 104 in the 44th over.

Iam Merryweather (22) and Mark Hunt (11) gave Chippenham a solid start to their reply and despite a mid-innings wobble - in which overseas star Sean Adams collected his third successive golden duck - Chippenham eased home to victory in the 40th over of their reply.

Baqar Rizvi made 23 and Clifford rounded off a good all-round performance with an unbeaten 21.

Chippenham are now fourth in the table and face another difficult matcch on Saturday when they travel to play promoption rivals Weston-super-Mare, who are presently one place ahead of Merryweather's team.