SOUTH Wilts looked to have a touch of championship pedigree about them as they swept to a sixth successive win, beating Bashley (Rydal) by four wickets to establish a four-point lead at the top of the ECB Southern Electric Premier League.

With second-placed BAT Sports losing at Bournemouth, South Wilts have created a chink of light between themselves and the chasing pack.

"It's far too early to take about winning anything," South Wilts skipper Rob Wade said immediately after the game.

"But this was a good win, achieved on what, in the end, proved a difficult pitch to bat on."

South Wilts, who last won the Southern League championship in 1990, certainly oozed confidence - even at two stages of the game when Bashley enjoyed the upper hand.

They bowled themselves back into the contest immediately before lunch after classy Western Australian left-hander Shawn Gillies threatened to take the game away from them.

And again, later in the game, when their middle-order wobbled under pressure from Matt King after Jason Laney and Jamie Glasson had posted a flowing century partnership.

King (4-68) unsettled them with a four-wicket flurry, but Wade and James Hayward - one of three promising teenagers in the South Wilts ranks - restored parity and guided the visitors to the brink of a noteworthy sixth win on the bounce.

It was an absorbing and thoroughly entertaining affair from start to finish, with Gillies - a Melville century-maker in this year's Western Australia Grade final at the WACA - catching the eye with a splendid knock in the mid-morning session.

Relishing the pace battle with Hampshire left-armer James Tomlinson and Alan Kruger, who plays provincial cricket for Griqualand West in South Africa, Gillies looked a class apart as he struck 14 boundaries in a rich 71.

"I really enjoyed it out there. It was a good cricket wicket and, with two guys with first-class experience coming at you, it was a bit like playing in Perth where the Shield guys play in the Grade cricket," he revealed.

But, just as Gillies appeared set for a pre-lunch century, he holed out on the deep mid-wicket boundary off only the third ball 16-year old Eddie Abel tossed up into the wind.

In no time at all, young Abel had another wicket under his belt - Andy Sexton was bowled attempting a slog sweep - and fellow teenage tormentor Hayward had Andy Neal well caught low down by Jo Cranch, the keeper's 15th victim of the season.

"It was a joy to watch two promising teenagers ply their left-arm trade in tandem," commented watching Premier League chairman Alan Bundy.

Bashley, having lost their way from 129-2, came in at lunch an anxious 152-5, with the teenagers having snapped up three of the wickets.

When Richard Knowles (20) became Abel's third victim - the Bishop Wordsworth schoolboy now has 13 Premier League scalps to his name - Bashley appeared in danger of falling apart.

But Neil Taylor (26), supported by King, led a late-order rally, eventually checked by the return of Kruger, who grabbed three of the last four Bashley wickets to finish with 4-59 and lift his season's tally to 22 wickets.

Abel went cheaply when South Wilts set out to overhaul Bashley's 229 all out.

But Jason Laney, who heads the Premier batting charts this season, and Jamie Glasson quickly assumed control.

Laney, in particular, looked in a rich vein of form, punishing anything short, either through mid-wicket or by rocking on to the back foot to whisk shots through the cover regions.

But, just as the partnership appeared to be taking South Wilts home, Laney straight drove to mid-off and a distraught Glasson, left leg well down, was trapped leg before by Neil Taylor.

Laney's 73 included 14 boundaries in a 103-run partnership with Glasson (31).

When King removed Cranch and Russell Rowe at 140-4 and 150-5 respectively, the game was back in the balance.

But, as a crumbling top surface began to aid the Bashley bowlers, so Wade and young Hayward gradually regained control.

Ironically, it was the experienced Wade who played the supporting role.

Hayward, coached under the meticulous eye of Somerset Academy chief Mark Garaway, took it all in his stride.

He thought nothing of moving his feet and getting down the wicket to the seamers, thumping a host of straight drives and cuffs over the top of fielders to take South Wilts to within a ace of victory before spooning up a catch to gully.

Hayward, tremendously mature at the crease for a 17-year-old, hit 45 - an innings which lessened the task for Wade (34 not out) as South Wilts ensured their stay at the top for the third successive week.