GOATACRE skipper Ed Wilkins was pleased to see their game avoid the wet weather for long enough at the weekend to record a sixth win on the bounce.

Having seen their match the weekend before with Westbury cancelled as a result of the elements, Wilkins, whose side sit top of Premier Two Glos/Wilts, was keen to get another win under their belts.

The weather forecast did not look to be on their side on Saturday morning, but the rain held off for long enough for the league leaders to record a 14-run success over Chippenham, courtesy of the Duckworth/Lewis method.

An unbeaten 107 from Brad Dawson settled a shaky start for the hosts, who went on to post a total of 261 from their 50 overs.

With the dark clouds drawing in, Goatacre knew they had to get 20 overs under their belt to secure a result, with Chippenham falling 14 runs short of their revised total of 157 from their 28.2 overs.

“Going into it and looking at the weather, we didn’t think we were going to get a game, so to get as much as we did in and to be ahead of them when the rain came was ideal,” said Wilkins.

“We lost the toss and got stuck in and we had to play it like the rain wasn’t going to come.

“We lost four early wickets so it was a bit tricky early on but then myself and Brad put a bit of a partnership together and Brad went on to get his 100, which was brilliant.

“At tea, with 260 on the board, we were fairly happy.

“We knew we had to get 20 overs of bowling in for it to be a game, so we tried getting through our overs fairly quickly.

“The problem with that is, if you do get to 20 overs and their ahead, you’re going to lose the game.

“It is something we had to try and do. We wanted to get the win and Matt House and Josh Langley bowled well first up and then Kevin Iles and Brad came on and got two or three wickets, which put them way behind on the Duckworth/Lewis.

“Once the rain set in, we knew we weren’t going to get back out and it was good to get the win.”

Burbage & Easton Royal and Biddestone, who meet this weekend, both suffered defeats at the weekend.

Despite winning the toss, Burbage succumb to a 44-run defeat as they were skittled out for 138 runs by Hatherley & Reddings, while Dwaine Perry’s 118 was in vain as Biddestone fell to a seven-wicket defeat in their rain-affected match with Rockhampton.