ON a blazing Sunday at Avenue Road, Abergavenny continued their electrifying run in the Welsh Cup and made no mistake in putting Cresselly well and truly to the sword.
Cresselly won the toss and elected to field to the dismay of some of their players, and Aber immediately set about making them regret the decision.
Despite the early loss of Richy Morris for eight, Greg Fury and Ryan Watkins were in supreme form as they spent valuable time at the wicket in advance of next weekend's crucial league game against Usk.
Fury played in customary brisk and attacking manner and made an excellent 86, before holing out at long on, ending a super partnership of 138 with Watkins.
Watkins added a further 133 with Gavin Heritage, another who made the most of the opportunity to find some form.
Watkins made a brilliant 139 featuring a full range of shots, and eventually fell with the score on 293, with five overs to go.
Will Glenn kept up the tempo, making a quickfire 15 not out, while Heritage finished a good innings unbeaten on 50, as Aber totalled 322-3 off just 45 overs.
Cresselly did not help themselves with a spate of dropped catches, a theme that was to continue into Abergavenny's fielding effort.
Facing such a gargantuan total, Cresselly could easily have wilted, but to their credit, openers Morgan and Harris played excellently, and remained positive when the opportunity allowed. Aber's seamers struggled initially on a flat wicket and a hot day and it was left to the spinners to keep a check on the Cresselly opening stand.
Will Ford bowled a magnificent spell of leg spin bowling but went without reward, while James Schofield also made the most of a rare bowling opportunity with a good initial seven overs.
It was left to the third spinner introduced into the attack, Owain Bradley, to make the inroads into the Cresselley line-up, first ending a fine opening stand of 125, having Harris stumped by Fury. Bradley went on to claim two further wickets, luring Morgan and Davies down the wicket only to be deceived in the flight and chip catches to the infielders.
That they were taken at all was something of a surprise as Abergavenny were just as profligate in the field as the visitors had been, although it was undoubtedly easy to switch off at 20 overs with the game seemingly done and dusted.
There was time for Nathan Byrne to return and pick up two wickets in two balls before coming mightily close to claiming a hat-trick. Staunch defence and some lusty blows at the end lifted a spirited Cresselly to 210-5 at the end of their innings, bringing to a close a good day's cricket played in excellent spirit by both teams
Abergavenny (third) now have a top of the table clash with local rivals Usk (second) to look forward to, before crossing swords with Panteg again on Sunday in the sectional final of the Welsh Cup