A SUPERB all-round display saw Abergavenny CC's First XI pick up only their second win of the season after they beat a high-flying St Fagans side by five wickets at Avenue Rd on Saturday.
Skipper James Schofield won the toss and asked St Fagans to bat first under cloud cover on a soft and damp wicket after the rains in the week.
Opening bowlers Nathan Byrne and Jon Denning set the tone with some excellent new-ball bowling, culminating in the wicket of Beaverstock, bowled by Denning in the eighth over with the score on 15.
That brought Tom Maynard to the wicket for St Fagans, and he looked in lovely touch as he raced to 30 off just 28 balls, taking the score to 53 after 15 overs.
However, Maynard fell to the first ball of the 16 over, caught by Andrew Jones at deep midwicket off a cunning long-hop from off-spinner Andrew Coles.
This was a key moment in the game, as another few overs of Maynard could have produced enough runs to take the game away from Abergavenny, and with his dismissal the team grew in confidence.
At the other end, Nathan Byrne bowled very intelligently and was rewarded for an excellent 10-over spell with the wicket of Cutinho, caught behind by Greg Fury off the final ball of his spell, giving him figures of one for 27.
Schofield then made a double change, bringing on Chris Hartland to replace Byrne, and was immediately rewarded with the wicket off Leering, to another good low catch from Fury in Hartland's first over.
Hartland also picked up the wicket of, bowled off his pads for just six, in an excellent first six over spell of two for 15.
Chris continued his good recent bowling form as he settles into the first team at Abergavenny, and later finished with two for 25 off his 10 overs.
At the other, Schofield brought himself on and kept the pressure on the St Fagans batsmen, conceding just 11 runs from his six over stint.
However, although parsimonious, he didn't look like picking up a wicket, and so Coles was reintroduced to the attack for his second spell, and, dropping his pace slightly, bowled superbly in picking up three further wickets to finish with four for 32 from his 10 overs.
That left St Fagans reeling at 128 for eight from 42 overs, and Denning and Schofield wasted little time in wrapping up the innings, St Fagans finishing on 143 all out.
This gave Abergavenny maximum bowling points for only the second time this season, and is testament to the excellent discipline of all the bowlers.
The only minor issues to address would be that they still bowled a few too many wides, and missed a number of direct hit run-out opportunities, but in general the lines and lengths were consistently good, without the boundary balls that have occasionally littered bowling efforts this season.
In chasing down the target of 144 on a wicket still likely to offer assistance to the bowlers, it was important that the reply got off to a solid start and openers Jones and Schofield gave Abergavenny exactly that in taking the score to 38 in the 14 over before Jones was caught behind off Edmed for 25.
That brought Fury to the wicket, and although he made only 11, he made an important contribution in not letting the phalanx of St Fagans spinners settle by using his feet well, before he struck a lofted drive just too close to Cutinho at midwicket who clutched the catch at the second attempt, leaving the score on 62 for two in the 20th over.
Gavin Heritage arrived at the crease and built another useful little partnership of 23 with Schofield before he was stumped off Edmed for eight, not quite able to continue his excellent batting form of this season.
Dan Hartland was also stumped, this time off Provis for five, but spent some valuable time at the wicket, preventing St Fagans getting a sniff of a collapse.
Dan Hartland continues to gain excellent experience of different situations in first team cricket, and will hopefully have picked up much from this latest run-chase.
Schofield followed soon after, caught at mid-on to a horrible miscue off Beaverstock, after making a composed 43, (including that rarest of events – a six), taking Abergavenny to 107 for 5.37 runs were still required from 13 overs as Denning joined Craig Barnsley at the crease. The pair batted superbly, stabilising the innings initially, before unfurling some more attacking strokes, with Barnsley's cover driving in particular catching the eye.
The sixth wicket added the remaining runs and saw Abergavenny to victory with 3.2 overs remaining.
This was an excellent all-round performance, disciplined in the field and composed with the bat, and shows that, despite their league position, Abergavenny have a talented side who can compete with the best in the league on their day.
After an absorbing match, it was especially pleasing that the umpires, who both had excellent games, commended the captains on the spirit in which their teams played the match.
The next challenge for Abergavenny is to take this form into their next game, against a Sully side who are also among the sides fighting for a place in the top five to earn promotion to next year's new amalgamated South Wales Premier League
FOLLOWING a week of dreadful weather, Abergavenny seconds travelled to St Fagans and were pleasantly surprised to find a good batting wicket and winning the toss decided to bat. Things got off to a decidedly sticky start with Jon 'Wolverine' Viveash slashing a catch behind with just three runs on the board.
Youngster Alex 'Thumper' Astley-Jones struggled to penetrate the field, while at the other end Marc 'Hairball' Taylor looked in great form with some classic straight drives.
Astley-Jones was next to go, bringing Ryland 'Crabman' Wallace to the crease, and he and Taylor soon had the innings stabilised, although runs were hard to come by on a two-paced wicket and slow outfield.
Taylor continued to play some lovely shots, and soon reached 50, with Wallace ably supporting with another trademark dogged innings.
With overs running out Taylor attempted to increase the rate, but was eventually found out for an excellent 70, and was soon followed by Wallace for 44.
This brought Ioan 'Tiger' Lilley together with Mike 'Divvy' Devoy and they soon had the scoring rate moving with just seven overs left.
Devoy in particular hit a couple of lusty blows, while Lilley rotated the strike. Aber lost a couple of quick wickets, but had a decent score in their sights, and as the 50 overs ran out, finished n a creditable score of 203.
In reply, Huw 'Righty' Wright got he important wicket of St Fagans skipper Allan for just four, but it could have been even better if Owain 'Teflon' Bradley had held on an easy chance a deep square leg.
Devoy bowled his first seven overs for just six runs, but then St Fagans then took advantage of some lack lustre Aber bowling from the other end, with John in particular dispatching any short deliveries.
Skipper Mark 'Ginge' Winstanley rotated his bowlers, and it took Steve 'Filth Purveyor' Brown to break the partnership, with a neat catch by Alex 'Denzil' Denning.
St Fagans looked well set at 120 for two with 25 overs remaining, but it was introduction of Denning for a second spell that turned the tide in favour of the visitors.
Denning removed John for 69, then picked up three more wickets, reducing St Fagans to 150 for six.
Bailey hit a defiant 22, but when he went bowled by Devoy, all seemed up for St Fagans. Devoy bowled superbly conceding just 10 runs in his 10 overs, and with Denning picking up four for 41 off his 10 overs.
St Fagans still had wiley campaigner Makinson at the crease, and he used all his experience to keep St Fagans' hopes alive. Bradley and Astley-Jones picked up a wicket apiece to put more pressure on Makinson, and with just No. 11 Hopkins left, Makinson took one chance too many, and was well caught in the deep by Winstanley, another victim for Astley-Jones who finished win two for 23 off 7.5 overs, with Bradley one for 40 off his 10 overs.
This was an excellent win at a ground where Aber have seen little success over the years. Aber have moved up to third in the league as Blackwood slipped up against next week's opponents Sully.
LLANARTH seconds (pictured) contrived unsuccessfully to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat against Llantwit Fadre on the weekend, after failing to press home a clear advantage.
Having lost the toss, Llanarth made early inroads via Dave Griffiths' hostile swing bowling and two smart low catches at first slip from Mike Woodward, whose efforts were then upstaged by Andrew Spencer's four brilliant outfield takes.
It looked like a low score was in view as wickets continued to fall but then a stumping missed by the (home!) umpire, 'wickets' off no-balls and some spilled or missed catches all combined to hand the Llantwit Fadre later order the initiative, and they were able to finish on 212-9.
It was still a below par score, but more than the visitors could have dreamed of in the early overs.
The Llanarth reply stuttered and never really got into a decent flow as wickets fell with monotonous regularity. Keith Spencer (40) and Will Noblet (52) kept Llanarth within reach, but never assumed control.
In the end there was too much ground for the normally dependable middle order of Dai Griffiths and Mike Woodward to make up.
With several big hitters also otherwise engaged, it was left to the youngsters George Davies and Gruffudd Parry to salvage some points from a losing draw as Llanarth finished on 168-7.