CHIPPENHAM made it three wins from three on Saturday after their convincing nine-wicket win over local rivals Corsham at Hardenhuish Park, writes JONATHAN LEIGHFIELD.

Lee Ward’s Chippenham sit top of WEPL Premier Two Glos/Wilts and have now bowled every team out they have played so far this season.

The home side opted to send Corsham into bat first, and their decision appeared to be justified as Charlie Slade took two early wickets.

However, Corsham recovered slightly thanks to their middle order before 75-3 quickly disintegrated into 117 all out – Richard Bates causing the most damage as he took 4-11 from his 10 overs.

Chippenham almost chased down the total without losing a wicket, but Chris Munden fell for 46, leaving Adeesha Nanayakkara to hit the winning runs as he remained unbeaten on 59.

Chippenham captain Lee Ward championed the consistency of his side this season and believes the victory over their local rivals shows how far they have come.

Ward said: “We talked about the performances we’ve had leading up to this game – we’ve had a strong start to the season, and we wanted to keep those standards high.

“And obviously, it was a local derby, so you always want to come out on top in those games.

“We’ve long been in the shadow of local teams like Corsham, so it was a real statement from us to show where we’re going as a team.

“Our standards were really high, our fielding was really good, bowling was good, and we were always confident of chasing what we considered to be quite a low score on that pitch.”

Elsewhere, Biddestone were bowled out for 223 as they lost by 44 runs away at Dumbleton.

A five-for from Joseph King helped Goatacre record a 167-run victory against Trowbridge, while a fine century from captain David Cope helped Burbage & Easton Royal chase down 253 to beat Stroud by four wickets.