WHEN Darren Beasant saw the fixture list for the new campaign, he knew that a trip to Warminster for his Royal Wootton Bassett side was one of the toughest starts they could have had.

The Gerard Buxton Sports Ground side have returned to the West of England Premier League this term after winning the Wiltshire League in 2016, while their Sambourne Road hosts were relegated from Premier Two Glos/Wilts last summer.

Despite all this, it was Bassett who returned home victorious following their five-wicket success.

After winning the toss, Beasant gambled by asking the hosts to bat on what appeared to be a good track.

While Neilon Joseph made an early breakthrough with the new ball by bowling Tristian Lundqvist, who failed to trouble the scorers, it was the Bassett spin trio of Asanka Vithange (1-18), Ian Lancaster (2-22) and Ben Batchelor (3-10) that did the damage as Warminster were bowled out for 168.

“Over the last couple of years, we have done a lot of bowling first and chasing down targets – it takes the pressure off the batsmen a little,” Beasant said.

“But when we turned up at Warminster, I didn’t know what to do, the wicket looked like an absolute motorway.

“You just didn’t know what a good score would be. Was it 280? 300? 350? So I took a bit of gamble and it paid off.

“Our spinners bowled really well, they took 6-50 between them and then we backed it up with the bat.”

Bassett’s reply got off to a steady start, with New Zealander Jared McDonald and Sam Lawro putting on 36 for the opening wicket before the overseas man edged Dominic Webb behind to David Bateman for 14, while Lawro fell soon after to leave the visitors at 39-2.

Beasant (44) and Jack Twine (31) then put on 62 before they quickly followed each back to the pavilion with Bassett on 105-4.

Jack Paish was run out for four before Akash Sharma (25no) and Joseph (16no) saw the visitors home in the 46th over.

Elsewhere, Joe Wookey scored a century as Devizes earned a 103-run victory at Great Bedwyn.

Wookey (100) was the backbone of the visitors’ 259-8, with half of those wickets taking by Max Andrews (4-45).

Tim Saye (4-14) and Tom Pike (4-46) then cut short Bedwyn’s reply as the hosts were all out for 151 in the 45th over.

Half-centuries from Harrison Painter (63no) and Peter Day (52) set Marlborough up for a 37-run win at home to Calne.

Marlborough’s innings subsided on 252 off the penultimate ball and no Calne player was able to pass 50 in reply as they were dismissed for 215.

Finally, Marshfield offered little resistance to their below-par total as they went down by nine wickets at home to Swindon.

James Williams’ side made just 139 and Swindon chased that down inside 25 overs, with Chris Aubrey leading the way with an unbeaten 63 in his side’s 140-1.