CHIPPENHAM stretched their unbeaten run to a fifth game as they stunned league leaders Rockhampton by five runs.

The contest was a close affair right the way through, with Lee Ward’s visitors holding their nerve by producing a tight final over to seal the win.

“We have had a good few weeks and going into the game on the back of four unbeaten, we saw this match as a good test to see exactly where we are,” said Chippenham skipper Ward.

“We have always been confident that we can compete in this league and this is a really good marker for us going forward now.

“We always seem to have close matches against them. In the last three seasons it has gone down to the last over or the last wicket and this one was just as close again.

“They ended up needing 12 off the last over and only got five or six, so we were delighted to hold on.”

Early rain meant the game was reduced to 42 overs per side and, batting first, Darryl Losper (63) gave Chippenham the impetus at the start before some strong late hitting from Paul Bates and Todd Richardson helped them post a total of 201-7.

Chippenham suffered a setback early in the Rockhampton reply as skipper Ward was struck down with a hip injury and could only bowl three overs.

However, overseas man Losper, Owen Alsop, Brad Dawson, Denson Narayan and George Reed all played their part to restrict the home side and they could only finish on 196-9 at the close.

“The good thing for us is that it’s not just one or two people putting in performances. Everyone is contributing,” added Ward.

“It was a good knock from Darryl first of all and then Brad bowled as well as I have seen him do all season - he showed great control.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence flowing through the squad at the moment and whatever situation we are in ,we know we are always going to have a chance of coming out on top.

“But we know it’s a tight league and there’s not a lot of points between first-place and eighth-place. Everybody is beating everybody, so we certainly aren’t getting ahead of ourselves.”

Burbage & Easton went down by 90 runs when they entertain second-placed Warminster, who were able to close the gap at the summit with victory.

Brandon Ward’s 82 helped the visitors post 256-8, with Luke Woodcock leading the way with the ball with 3-59.

No Burbage batsman reached a half-century as they were dismissed for 166 in reply, Sam Tuttle with 36.

  •  BIDDESTONE went down by four wickets during their home clash against Swindon.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat but an excellent effort with the ball from Tom Codling (4-28) helped restrict them to 190-9, a score chiefly down to the efforts of Dominic Hendricks (72*).

Jon Sore led the Swindon reply and his unbeaten 98 got the visitors over the line. Subash Theiventhirarajah, Luke Panes and Andy Flynn claimed two wickets apiece for Biddestone.