ABERGAVENNY won their first league game of the season on Saturday in the most emphatic of fashions.
In an astonishing match dominated by big shots, Abergavenny beat Croesyceiliog by nine wickets with a small matter of 192 balls to spare.
This was due in no small part to South African import Richard Levi who announced his arrival in the Premier League in no uncertain terms with a magnificent 120 not out off just 70 balls with nine towering sixes.
It could have been a much steeper target for the Beavers to chase when Will Bragg, Akhtar Baloch and Mike Beacham were making hay in the May sunshine against the Aber bowlers, however, some good catching mixed with some poor shot selections saw Croesyceiliog slump from 122-2 in the 21st over to 239 all out in just 39.3 overs.
This meant that Aber had a massive 60 overs to chase down their target.
Glamorgan batsman Will Bragg looked in no particular trouble on an excellent surface at Croesy, but was undone by some late swing by Jon Denning (2-46) and was neatly caught in the slips by Levi.
Akhtar Baloch was playing his usual array of strokes and picked up a number of boundaries in the first 10 overs with the Croesy outfield extremely quick.
Baloch found a good adversary in Croesy skipper Mike Beacham and between them added 47 for the 2nd wicket before Beacham was LBW to Willow Coles for 29.
This was the first of three wickets for the pint-sized tweaker who returned slightly odd figures of 3-74 from his ten overs.
Baloch had taken 18 runs from one particular Coles over, but he was undone shortly afterwards by Levi and was caught on the point boundary by Andrew Jones for 81.
The Croesy lower-middle order offered little resistance to the Beavers bowling with only Devlar (24) topping double figures.
It was left to Gavin Heritage to mop up the Croesy tail when he dismissed Price for eight with the second ball of the 40th over.
This capitulation by the Croesy side meant that the Beavers gained their 10 unused overs, giving a revised target of 239 in 60 overs.
Despite the extended duration of the Beavers innings, Greg Fury seemed intent on finishing as quickly as possible as he climbed into anything short, particularly from Brian Armstrong, as he smashed 35 from just 18 balls with two big sixes.
This brought Levi to the crease, and following a circumspect start, he began to move through the gears. Never was this more evident than when he gained his first boundary with a huge straight six out of the ground off Marsh.
Levi maintained this tempo for the rest of his innings, striking a further eight sixes in a magnificent display of controlled hitting.
Andrew Jones (55*) was the perfect foil for Levi and they enjoyed an unbroken stand of 184.
It was fitting that Levi struck the winning boundary off the last ball of the 28th over, leaving the Beavers victorious by nine wickets and 32 overs in hand.
This maximum point victory will move Aber up towards mid table as they look to build on this win with another good performance at home to Pentyrch next week.
ABERGAVENNY'S second eleven cruised to a comfortable nine wicket victory over local rivals Chepstow last Saturday at Avenue Road.
Ryland Wallace, deputising for Mark Winstanley, had little hesitation in asking Chepstow to bat on a surface that promised some early movement off the seam.
The Beavers did not have long to wait before Chris Hartland struck, bowling Jones off an inside edge.
Further success followed two balls later when the dangerous Bennett was removed LBW, offering no shot to Hartland.
At the other end Dai Windross kept things tight as Chepstow laboured to make any headway against the Beavers opening pair.
'Midge' Jones and the veteran Timpson entered the attack and continued to exert pressure on Chepstow.
Jones was rewarded with an excellent spell of two for 16 off his ten overs, including a fine leg side stumping by Wallace.
At the 30 over mark Chepstow were still struggling at 74 for three before Hartland Minor entered the fray and removed the stubborn Hepworth for 44.
Despite skipper Wallace displaying certain totalitarian tendencies from his eyrie behind the stumps, Abergavenny continued to press home their advantage as Hartland Major and Windross returned for the final overs.
Aggressive bowling from Hartland, aided by some solid ground fielding and an excellent one handed catch by Wallace diving low to his right, turned the remainder of the Chepstow innings into something of a procession as they were finally dismissed for 141 in the penultimate over.
Hartland finished with the outstanding figures of six for 31 from his ten overs.
Abergavenny began their reply with Dan Hartland Minor and Marc Taylor opening the batting for the Beavers.
Both batsmen proved adept at punishing the bad ball and the innings gathered pace with Taylor driving forcefully down the ground and Hartland seizing on anything short from the Chepstow attack.
After 20 overs the score stood at 87 without loss and Chepstow looked a beaten side. However, in the 22nd over Taylor miscued a short delivery and was dismissed for a fine 44. This brought Harland Major to the wicket and, some interesting mid wicket conversations notwithstanding, the brothers saw the Beavers home in the 31st over to win by an emphatic nine wicket margin.
Dan finished off an excellent day for the Hartland boys with 68 not out and Chris 21 not out.
This was the Beavers third successive victory and augurs well for the club with some younger players of real talent beginning to emerge.
Sterner tests lie ahead with games against Newport and Cardiff just around the corner.
Yet the most pressing question on the minds of the players at the end of the game was whether or not the 'gentle giant' Winstanley would be able to recapture the leadership of the side from the ruthless Wallace for next weeks encounter with Pentyrch.
IN a mirror reversal of Abergavenny's fortunes, Usk's first team lost their first match of the season away to Sudbrook.
Skipper Tom Robinson won the toss and decided to bat. Right from the word 'go' Usk struggled as they were reduced to 9-4 in only the seventh over - the top three all getting ducks.
Staring down the barrel, Usk did at least recover and make three figures, Huw Waters (33) guiding the visitors up to an all out total of 103.
For Sudbrook, Ashling had the impressive figures of 10-3-26-5.
Though not as disastrous a beginning as Usk's innings, Sudbrook's reply stuttered in pursuit of their 104-run target.
With Sudbrook reduced to 79-8, an unlikely Usk victory was on the cards. However, this is as good as it got for the visitors, as they were unable to capture any further wickets. In a heroic effort Waters followed up his batting effort with figures of 10-4-25-5.
Meanwhile back at the Athletic Club Ground, Usk's second team had a better time of it against their Sudbrook counterparts.
Sudbrook won the toss and decided to bat, which looked a decent decision as the visitors' top order performed well reaching 162-3 after 40 overs.
However, they failed to capitalise on this platform as wickets fell regularly, three run outs restricting the Sudbrook push.
The wickets were shared out, with Tony Kear finishing as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5-0-25-2.
Usk's reply began in solid rather than spectacular fashion as the hosts found themselves 100-4 in the 27th over.
This is when Sanjay Thapan (57) and Tony Kear (54) took the attack to Sudbrook. The pair put on 61 for the fifth wicket in quick time.
Even after Thapan's departure, Tony Kear kept the runs flowing and despite the loss of a few wickets towards the death, Phil Stephens struck the winning boundary with 2.4 overs to spare.
ON Sunday Usk's firsts travelled to Pentyrch in the second round of the Welsh Cup and thrashed their opponents by nine wickets.
Tom Robinson again won the toss and decided to field first, as Usk's bowlers set about their task in hot, sticky conditions and took wickets at regular intervals.
Besides Ghori, who scored 62, no other batsman found going easy, and as a result extras were the next highest scorer with 19.
The hosts struggled up to 143 all out, losing their final wicket from the penultimate ball of the innings. Steffan Kelly starred for Usk with figures of 8.5-3-17-5.
Usk's reply got off to an electric start as Ian Clayton smashed a whirlwind 51, dominating a first wicket partnership of 69.
With the tone set Mark Tamplin (61*) and Matt Birrell (29*) had few alarms as Usk coasted to a nine wicket win with more than 20 overs to spare.
As a result Usk finally have a home tie in this competition for the third round, which will take place on June 14.
AT the same time on Sunday, back at the Athletic Club Ground, Usk's youthful Sunday side beat Dinas Powys by 100 runs in a 40-over friendly.
Captain for the day, Kai Michael won the toss and chose to bat. Despite the loss of an early wicket, Gareth Webber (32) and Charlie Watkins (31) put on 55 for the second wicket, before Webber and Nathan Barrett (29) put on 50 for the third wicket.
However, both fell with the score on 112, in the 25th over. It was from this point that Usk took the game by the scruff of the neck.
Phil Stevens (54) and Kai Michael (53) shared a fifth wicket stand of 121 in 13 overs. Both fell shortly before the end of the innings as Usk finished on a competitive 238.
Dinas Powys were always struggling as they lost early wickets and fell further behind an already demanding required run rate.
The visitors were dismissed with 10 overs of their innings unused and 100 short of victory.
All of Usk's bowlers chipped in with wickets, the pick of whom being Alex Head who finished with figures of 4-0-30-3.
Usk face another busy programme next weekend. The action begins on Friday night when the firsts play in the Macey cup away to Chepstow. On Saturday, the firsts entertain Cardiff, whilst the seconds visit the same opponents. On Sunday, Usk host a friendly against Ystrad Fellte.