BURBAGE & Easton Royal picked up a vital victory over title rivals Marshfield last weekend but skipper Tom Wallbridge is continuing to preach caution over the villagers’ title quest.

A week after moving top of the table, Burbage stretched their lead at the summit to 16 points with a six-wicket victory at Broadleys.

But Wallbridge says that his team’s win was far from a walk in a park and was pleased to see his players enjoy beating their county rivals.

“It was another fantastic performance from us and I was really pleased with it but it was nowhere near as comfortable as the scoreline suggests,” said the Burbage skipper.

“Marshfield have a good batting line-up and they came at us hard. They were 81-2, so to bowl them out for just 205 is a great effort.

“A lot of that was thanks to Darran Freegard, who’s up there with the best bowling averages in the league, and then, after Michael Papps and Sourish (Mukherjee) stuck around for a while, Haydn Amor came in and finished things off.

“It was nice to see the guys enjoy a win like that and there was a bit of pressure but every game in this league is like that and we have to keep turning up ready to put in a performance.”

Marshfield batted first after winning the toss, with James Williams (48), Rupert Crockett (36) and Russell Lodge (35) all weighing in but Burbage’s Darran Freegard was in fearsome form with the ball as he took 6-41 to help dismiss the hosts for 205 with a single over remaining.

Michael Papps hit 91 from 88 deliveries as he spearheaded Burbage’s run chase, with Haydn Amor chipping in with an unbeaten 47 form 37 balls to guide Wallbridge’s men to 206-4 midway through the 45th over.

Elsewhere, bottom-of-the table Devizes finally brought their nine-match losing run to an end with victory over Trowbridge.

Mark Banham took 4-18 whilst Tom Grant and Tim Saye also chipped in with two wickets apiece as Devizes skittled their visitors for just 65 in 32 overs.

Skipper Joe Wookey then stepped up and hit an unbeaten 37 to guide his team to 68-2, and just their second victory of the season, in just over 21 overs.

Marlborough bounced back from their derby defeat at the hands of Burbage by eking out an eleven-run win at Winsley.

Peter Day top-scored with 38 for the visitors, who were restricted to 144-9, but Marlborough proved just as effective with the ball, with Alex Cox (3-27), Ben Head (2-19) and Fraser Gordon (2-24) all contributing as Winsley were skittled for 133 with less than two overs remaining.

Great Bedwyn slipped to a seven-wicket loss at struggling Nationwide House, with the hosts’ Nick Clarke hitting an unbeaten 105 as House chased down the visitors’ score of 246-8, reaching 247-3 in the penultimate over.

There was also disappointment for Calne, who slipped to a heavy defeat at the hands of in-form Purton.

Purton’s Tom Bowler smacked an unbeaten 128 as the visitors posted 253-8, with Sean Adams taking three wickets, but Tom Richards’ unbeaten 96 proved in vain as Calne were dismissed for 168 in the 36th over.

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