THE vagaries of a drying wicket, the difficulties created by a gusting wind, the accuracy of the visitors seam bowlers and the loss of two wickets for only four runs had Westbury's cricketers scanning the nearby estuary for signs of a westerly gale on Saturday.

But when you want it, it never comes!

Instead the Severnside team had to take a more pragmatic approach and bat themselves out of trouble. They did so calmly and with authority and eventually sent Ruardean Hill back to the hills a well beaten team.

However, it was not easy, says Westbury captain Ian Dunn.

"Ruardean Hill bowled very accurately and especially Nick Jayne. It was not easy on a drying wicket and in the circumstances I think we did well. On a typically dry Westbury wicket we would have liked another 25 or 30 runs," said Dunn.

There was an element of digging in for victory by Dunn and his batting partner Chris Wayman. Early on they had to graft for every run and worked diligently to share a partnership of 100. Wayman was eventually dismissed for 60 while Dunn scored an impressive and important 68.

However, the fireworks were provided by Dan Hockaday who smashed an impressive unbeaten 65.

"It was not a slog but a beautifully constructed innings. It was a great example of shot selection," said an admiring Dunn. Hockaday's run plunder effectively knocked the stuffing out of the Hill.

Though they batted diligently the pressure was always on to keep up the run rate. Jayne scored an impressive 40 but wickets fell regularly and they were well short of the required total.

Dunn is encouraged by his team's form and Saturday's victory was the third on the trot.

"I don't think we will be looking over our shoulder and worrying about our league position this season. We are third at present and doing very well," said Dunn.

"We have some excellent young players and some useful, more experienced cricketers so the team is pretty well balanced," he said.