Wiltshire League Division Three
Swindon United Churches 145 all out
Seagry 55 all out
SWINDON United Churches beat bottom side Seagry by 90 runs at Sevenhampton, capping a successful ‘Pink Saturday’, when they were fund-raising for the Against Breast Cancer (ABC) charity.

The ground was decked in pink, with Churches players and supporters joining in the spirit of the occasion.

Initial figures suggest that the Wiltshire League Division Three club have raised about £700 for ABC through many initiatives on the day.

On the cricket field, Seagry won an important toss and chose to bowl first on a soft, damp surface.

With the ball sticking in the pitch, batting was particularly difficult with batsmen from both sides struggling to time the ball.

Both opening batsmen for Churches were soon back in the pavilion, with James Mann (8) and Matt Shadwick (3) falling to bowlers Alan Norman (3-15) and J Norman respectively in the opening six overs.

Daniel Hunt (29) and Chris Gilchrist (22) settled things down with a partnership of 31, before Gilchrist pulled left-arm spinner Ben Copeland to a fielder on the deep-square leg boundary.

When number five batsman Liam Brooks (6) became Copeland’s second victim, Churches were teetering on 59-4.

Wicket-keeper Martin Garstang strode in to change the momentum of the match, busily compiling 37 fine runs from 42 balls.

Off-spinner M Flynn (2-23) also bowled well, but the Hunt/Garstang partnership added 62 runs before the re-introduction of Alan Norman to the attack swung the game back in Seagry’s favour.

Norman bowled Hunt and Garstang in consecutive overs to leave the home side on 126-6 from 30 overs. The Churches lower-order failed to produce, with only Bilal Hussain (10) making it into double figures, as Churches finished on 145 all out from 36.1 overs.

The Seagry openers got off to a solid start, seeing off both opening bowlers to reach 18-0. Right-arm seamer Alan Boivin claimed the very tidy figures of 5-3-3-0.

The Churches change bowlers, Bilal Hussain (2-18) and Chris Spackman (4-21), worked their magic to remove G Phillips (8) and C Grace (9) and the score quickly became 18-2. From that point on, the wickets fell at regular intervals, with Spackman also picking up the wickets of Flynn (6), Copeland (14) and Hunt (1) in his six-over spell.

Spackman was denied an opportunity to claim a five-wicket haul, as left-arm seamer Tom Burford grabbed the final two Seagry wickets in his first over of the day.

Seagry eventually succumbed to 55 all out from just 22 overs.

The 23-point victory for Churches, matched the result that Chippenham 2nds got at Keevil, meaning that the gap between first and second in the league remains at 10 points.

On Saturday Churches make the long trip to Heytesbury & Sutton Veny for the penultimate match of the 2017 season.

Skipper Rich Martin will want another victory to make sure that the final-day visit of Chippenham 2nds becomes a winner-takes-title clash at Sevenhampton.