AFTER a crushing win against Rogerstone, Abergavenny came unstuck against Pentyrch on Saturday.

James Schofield won the toss and elected to field first, and opening bowlers Dan Cooke and Ali Bukhari made a steady start but without making any breakthroughs. Schofield turned to spin early, through himself, and the leg spin of Will Ford. Mike Grossett was starting to get into his stride, passing 50 out the opening partnership of 69, which ended when his partner Scott Matthews was bowled by Ford.

Number three Dominic Grossett threw caution to the wind and changed the pace of the game, making a rapid, if streaky 29, before being bowled by Bukhari. There followed an excellent third wicket partnership of 80 between Mike Grossett and Connor Brown, before Grossett was dismissed five runs short of what would have been a well deserved hundred, caught behind by Lewis Parfitt off Schofield. The skipper picked up another wicket off the very next ball, trapping Wilcox LBW. Aber squeezed very well in the last ten overs, as Pentyrch made only 44 runs for the loss of six wickets. The innings ended on 224-8.

Aber's reply got off to a bad start as Andrew Jones was forced to retire hurt with a sore groin. Schofield and Parfitt were shackled by slow bowlers ideally suited to the slow pitch. With no pace to work with, the pair progressed slowly to 67 in the 25th over before Schofield's tortured innings came to an end as he was stumped off Steve Matthews. Alex Astley-Jones followed shortly after, before Parfitt went to another 50 in his impressive season. After he was dismissed, Aber tried to inject some urgency into the innings and turned to the lower order heroes from last week, Gillani and Ford. Both looked in good touch, but sadly Ford was unable to match his previous effort as he was caught at long-off for nine. Gillani smote some big sixes and made his way to 41 before being caught at deep midwicket. Bukhari continued to keep Aber just about in the hunt, but lost regular wickets at the other end. Eventually, with 38 needed from six overs, Bukhari perished for 39 and Aber finished on 187.

A somewhat disappointing end result, but Aber would have to admit that Pentyrch's bowlers made the better use of the conditions. They will hope to return to winning ways next weekend as they entertain high flying Sudbrook in what is likely to prove a tough encounter

BACK at Avenue Road, Abergavenny CC's 2XI welcomed Pentyrch and hoped to continue their recent good form against a side two places above them in the league.

It was the Pentyrch captain who called correctly and decided to bat first. Craig Whistance got the first wicket from a brilliant one-handed catch by Matthew Knight.

Whistance soon had the incoming batsman in trouble trapping him LBW. The Pentyrch batsman began consolidating but when the Aber skipper turned to Chaitanya Sanapala things started to happen for the bowling side. Sanapala was quickly rewarded having young Mills caught behind, and he soon had the other batsman in difficulty and finished with figures of four for 29.

At the other end it was the turn of the slow left arm spin of Greaves and Timpson (2-33).

As the wickets started tumbling and backed up by some good Abergavenny fielding, Pentyrch found it hard going and were eventually all out for 138 in 35 overs.

It was now the turn of the Abergavenny batsman to achieve the relatively low score set by the opposition.

After losing an early wicket, it was left to Sanapala and Lewis Holly to rebuild the innings. They got the score to 90, before both fell in short succession.

The nerves started to set in, and the remaining Aber batsmen became more defensive as wickets started to tumble. With the score on 118 for eight and still needing 21 to win, Ryan Murphy-Sharpe joined Matt Knight and they managed to get the scores level before Knight was out after gunning for glory.

This left captain Andy Timpson wondering whether his side were going to have another tie, but Murphy-Sharpe managed to get a single and ensured Abergavenny limped over the winning line for a one wicket win. Next week the side travel to Sudbrook.