ABERGAVENNY continued their excellent recent run of form and returned to winning ways with a hard-fought victory over Penarth.

Jon Denning led another superb performance in the field with five wickets for just 15 runs off his 10 overs.

On a slow, low pitch, Abergavenny won the toss and batted first. Openers Andrew Jones and James Schofield found it tough going to begin with as H Morgan and Dilnot-Smith bowled good lines and lengths early on.

Schofield eventually found some fluency and struck some lovely boundaries off Morgan. Unfortunately, an inability to rotate the strike effectively left Jones marooned at one end against the excellent Dilnot-Smith, who eventually finished with 2-21, with five maidens off his 10 overs.

Jones eventually succumbed in a manner that was to become familiar throughout the innings, mistiming a drive on the slow surface and giving a simple catch to point.

Schofield followed in the next over for 38, and Dan Hartland not long after, both LBW playing across the line to Dilnot-Smith.

Greg Fury, who made 21, and Steve Brown put together a useful little partnership, with both hitting some good boundaries, before another double strike left the innings tottering at 77 for five in the 22nd over.

Jon Viveash, in his debut First XI game this season, strode to the crease and stabilised the innings superbly, watchful in defence, and punishing any loose bowling in his inimitable style (including a marvellous straight sweep for four) on his way to an excellent 31.

The lower order offered good support all the way down, as Craig Barsnley (12), Owen Dawkins (16) and Harry Schofield (11) played very well, and made sure Aber used up as many overs as possible and dragged the total up to 153.

This was perhaps 20 runs short of what they would have liked, but was definitely defendable if they performed well in the field.

They made the perfect start as Denning took a wicket with the first ball of the innings, trapping Hughes LBW.

He struck again in the same manner two overs later, before Nathan Byrne got in on the act, out-thinking the batsmen and executing his plans perfectly to dismiss Davies LBW and have Sims well caught at second slip by Dawkins.

At this point Penarth were 22-4 and Aber were rampant. Denning, in his best performance of the season, bowled consistently good lines and lengths, at a decent pace, and finished a superb first spell with 2-14 off seven overs.

Nathan Byrne again bowled well, with 10 overs off the reel, and was unlucky to see his figures spoiled a little by S Docherty, who played a variety of drives through and over the slip cordon on his way to 45.

Byrne finished with 2-43 off his 10, and he and Denning have come to form a potent and varied new-ball attack this season.

Barnsley was introduced into the attack and immediately settled into a tight line and length, the pressure telling with the sharp run-out of P Docherty by Hartland.

At 57 for five, Abergavenny were on top but would nevertheless have to remain patient as they hunted for the remaining wickets, as the Penarth lower order steadied the innings while inching ever closer to the target.

Barnsley was rewarded for his efforts by bowling S Docherty with a beauty, and finished with 1-24 off his 10 over stint.

With Dawkins bowling tightly at the other end, Aber went for the jugular and Denning was reintroduced to try and kill off the Penarth resistance.

It paid dividends in spectacular fashion as he captured three wickets in two overs to bring him his first five wicket haul for the first team to finish with 5-15 in a superb display of left-arm over bowling.

At 108-9 it was surely now just a matter of time before Aber wrapped up the win, and despite some blows from N Morgan who finshed on 25 not out, Dawkins bowled the last man before Penarth got close enough to set the nerves jangling.

Despite a relatively tough run-in, they will hope to continue this form for the remainder of the season as they go toe-to-toe with Usk and Newport over the Bank Holiday weekend