DEVIZES captain Tom Grant admits his side faced title favourites Warminster at the right time, following Saturday’s comfortable six-wicket WEPL Wiltshire victory.

Warminster were seemingly unbeatable this season having recorded comfortable wins in the opening 11 fixtures.

But a dramatic few weeks has seen them drop from top spot into second, with Chippenham now leading the way.

Saturday’s win for Devizes ensured they remain in the top half of the table, though chasing teams Royal Wootton Bassett and Purton are only five and six points behind respectively with two fixtures remaining.

Grant said: “It was a very good win for us, we played fairly well the week before against Chippenham before it rained and we took confidence from that performance.

“Warminster were unbeatable at the start of the season, but since they lost their first match they’ve had a bit of a wobble.

“I can only guess that their confidence has been knocked a bit and we’ve caught them at the right time.”

A standout bowling performance from Tim Saye saw the Devizes man take earn a five-wicket haul with figures of 5-16.

He was back up by Ben McGowan, Sumith Surendran and Grant himself – all of whom took at least one wicket as Warminster crashed to 94 all out.

Though Devizes lost both openers cheaply, Matthew Tilley and Ed Himbury steadied the ship with double figure scores as Devizes notched their seventh win of the season.

“I back our bowling every game,” said Grant.

“I believe we’ve got one of the best bowling attacks in the league.

“But it’s about everyone performing on the day together, Saturday was the first time that everyone was on top form at the same time.

“The wicket was really good. I spoke to Pete (Hickerton, Warminster captain) after the game and he agreed it wasn’t a wicket that merited less than 100 runs.

“It was a really good track, though there was a bit in it for the bowlers.”

Elsewhere in WEPL Wiltshire, Marshfield kept the title race wide open with a 27-run win at Chippenham.

Royal Wootton Bassett’s survival is not mathematically certain after they lost by 75 runs at Calne.

Darren Beasant’s side are one point and one place above Purton in the table, so are 39 clear of the potential drop zone.

Sean Adams hit 103 to help Calne post 225-9 off their 50 overs, with Mark Lazenby picking up three wickets for Bassett.

Calne’s Elliot Bodman and Pavraj Lochab then claimed three wickets themselves as Bassett were bowled out for 150.

There was a tie in the match between Swindon and Corsham 2nd.Captain Alex Kill took four wickets as Corsham were bowled out for 216 inside 35 overs, with Peter Dennett and Will Wales scoring 49 each for Corsham.

Having looked set fair to chase that down on 140-3, Swindon stuttered in the second half of their innings and were still on 216 themselves after the final ball was bowled.

Adam Tucker top scored with 43 not out and Conor Taylor added 42, while Ned Jones and Jack Humphreys also took three wickets each for Corsham.

Mohamed Cook scored 114 not out for Purton as they claimed an eight-wicket win at home to Marlborough.