A heavy defeat to high-flying South Wilts in division one of the 11-a-side Wiltshire Youth Cricket League has ended the early-season run of victories for Corsham CC under-11s.

Batting first on a lovely morning at Station Road, a South Wilts side sprinkled liberally with under-11 county players racked up an imposing 197 in their 20 overs. Their openers got them off to a flying start aided by some patchy ground fielding and a couple of dropped catches. But when wicketkeeper Ollie Dickinson took a sharp catch off the bowling of William Goymer to dismiss the no. 2 batsman, and Harry Brain then bowled the other opener, Corsham might have been forgiven for thinking runs would dry up. It wasn't to be as nos. 3 and 4 proved to be even stronger players who found the boundary regularly. Both ended up retiring when they reached 50.

Things got easier for Corsham after that as left-armer Ernie Finn found his line and length. A sharp throw from Evie Dixon then engineered a run out and Alfie Johnson took three wickets, including two with the final two balls of the innings to leave himself on a hat-trick next time he runs in to bowl.

Chasing such a mammoth score with an inexperienced side, five still only under-10 and many new to this form of cricket, was always unlikely. Even so, Dickinson, Anay Verma and Liam Curtis all spent valuable time in the middle dealing well with some accurate fast bowling. Coming in at no. 4, captain Brain celebrated his recent call-up to the under-11 county side by reaching 33 not out at the close, including one colossal six over midwicket. Corsham finished on 72-4.

The club's under-11 players can enjoy a less intense cricket experience as well as a guaranteed win for Corsham this evening at Corsham School as Falcons take on Hawks in the 8-a-side pairs competition.