MARSHFIELD skipper James Williams was relieved to secure a second win of the season as they completed a 129-run win over Malmesbury.

The visitors won the toss and set their hosts a target of 288.

Malmesbury struggled in reply after losing openers George Royle and Michael Collison for 61 before slumping to a total of 158 all out with 10 overs remaining.

“I’m pretty relieved to be honest,” said Williams, who has missed the opening games of the season with a slipped disc in his back.

“We should have won the week before and I think if we'd had played four and lost three it wouldn’t have been an ideal start, so it was good to get back to winning ways."

“It was a good toss to win and we went out pretty aggressively, they dropped a couple of tricky chance early on and once they got a bit more tired it was easier for us.

“It was nice for the runs to be shared around. We are still a little bit under strength from last year so it is quite encouraging from that perspective.”

Marshfield now face unbeaten leaders Trowbridge and Williams knows that his young side have a tough task ahead.

“I think it is going to be a tricky period still for us,” he added.

“We have got quite a young side and in the next month we are going to have some tough fixtures.

“We’re at Trowbridge next week and they are looking good this year.

“They had the bones of a good young side last year and they’ll be one of the teams up at the top again.”

New Marlborough skipper Arran Dickinson believes his side’s early-season form will be capturing attention after they handed Purton a 149-run mauling.

Opener George Penfold hit an unbeaten 102, the backbone of his side’s 249-5 and Purton slumped to 54-7 before Zurain Quershi (30) offered resistance, finally ending on 100 all out with George Fox returning 4-27.

Dickinson said: “This was a big game for us and I have no doubt a lot of teams will now be taking our title challenge very seriously.

“The Georges were outstanding. Penners (Penfold) set us up fantastically and batted very well. The rest of the boys batted around him as the anchor and the team batted as a unit, which is something we have worked on a lot this season.

“The bowlers did the same, with Foxy (Fox) taking the lead but was ably backed up by the others. I’m delighted by the result and our all-round team performance. I am sure we can kick on from here with a real challenge on this year’s title.”

It was also a good weekend for Devizes as they completed an 81-run win over Winsley.

Despite setting the visitors a small target of 131, Winsley were unable to capitalise and were all out for just 50, with Tom Pike (3-5) the pick of the Devizes bowlers.

Calne fell to a 133-run defeat at home to Westbury after failing to chase down 280 when the visitors declared with just under six overs remaining.

Great Bedwyn suffered a 10-wicket loss to Trowbridge, who chased down 97 in just 14 overs without loss.