PURTON are within reach of returning to the West of England Premier League after claiming a 55-run triumph over Urchfont last weekend.

Fifties from Akki Gomel and Mark Gardner, combined with a tidy performance in the field, was enough to see Purton stretch their lead at the top of Division One to 45 points.

Victory over Swindon Nalgo next weekend may be enough to secure the title mathematically.

Sam Lawro’s century helped Wootton Bassett leapfrog Urchfont into second place.

Lawro racked up a majestic, unbeaten 130 at Rylands Way and followed it with 4-25 with the ball as he single-handedly sent Bradford on Avon home with their tails between their legs.

Division Two

Box took another step closer to the Division Two title with a comfortable seven wicket victory over Swindon A.

Winning the toss, Box captain Rich Foley elected to bowl first and the visitors were bowled out for 106 in the 33rd over, with Dave Crawford (3-12), David Sanchez (2-22) and Robert Styles (2-24) all amongst the wickets.

Box’s reply got off to a difficult start when Neil Pettit was out in the fourth over but Gerald Hayward (36), Jake Pettit (36*) and skipper Rich Foley (12*) saw Box home in the 31st over.

Box now have a 58 point lead at the top of the table and will clinch promotion to the top tier if they can beat second-placed Beckington next weekend.

Corsham 3rd did their best to put the brakes on Beckington but eventually slipped to a single-wicket defeat.

Corsham were all out for 73 in just over 31 overs after the visitors’ Damian Parker took 4-10, including a hat-trick and four wickets in five balls.

The hosts’ James Rowe piled the pressure on Beckington by taking 4-18 but the visitors went on to reach 75-9.

Division Four

Potterne 3rd closed the gap on league leaders Wootton Bassett 2nd with a 31-run home triumph.

Mark Colyer (49) was one run shy of a half-century as Potterne posted 186-6 whilst Stefan Tyrie’s unbeaten knock of 37 wasn’t enough to prevent Bassett falling short Beanacre & Melksham 2nd claimed a single-wicket victory over Lambourn.

Chris Long took four wickets as Lambourn were skittled for 123 in the 28th over The visiting bowlers piled on the pressure during home side’s run chase but John Helps (38) lended a hand as Beanacre & Melksham reached 124-9 in 33 overs.

Division Six

White Horse kept the pressure on top-of-the-table Purton 2nd by thrashing Collingbourne 2nd by eight wickets.

Collingbourne batted first and were restricted to 102-7 before White Horse’s Chris Ladd hit 45 as his team cruised to 103-2 midway through the 24th over.

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