DESPITE the remainder of the Wiltshire and West of England cricket fixture list being wiped out due to rain, Purton’s match at Winsley got the green light, only for the elements to play a major role in proceedings.

Purton captain Mark Gardner was left frustrated after being forced to defend a moderate target with a slippery ball in wet conditions after umpires Colin Pitman and John Wiltshire decided to play on despite five separate rain breaks.

In the end, Winsley chased down the runs necessary in lightning-quick time for the loss of only two wickets - rubbing salt into the Purton wound.

And Gardner struggled to hold back his irritation with the way in which events unfolded when he spoke to the Advertiser after the game.

“I think we should have called it a day, yes,” he said. “In the end it is the umpires’ decision and they had the control throughout which is how it should be, but the conditions weren’t good.

“We were trying to bowl and field with a very slippery ball and it seemed they were more worried by the state of the pitch.

“It is still disappointing, even though we didn’t feel we had a realistic chance with the team we had.”

With Swindon Town at Wembley, Gardner was left to pick an understrength side for the match, and although the middle order pair of Ajay Kumar and Malcolm Samsun added some clout to the innings with 31 and 40 apiece, the bottom order struggled to cope with Winsley’s pace attack.

The Purton skipper conceded a lack of experience in his team’s ranks contributed to the loss, but was pleased with the application exhibited by both Kumar and Samsun.

“Ajay and Malcolm batted well and they scored quickly after the rain break when we need fast runs,” he said.

“But a lot of the side at the bottom of the order aren’t that good with a bat and we were bowled out pretty quickly.”

Swindon, Wootton Bassett, Goatacre, Nationwide and Malmesbury all had their matches cancelled due to the weather, whilst Lechlade got started against Devizes only to have their game abandoned with Devizes 128-4.