ON a baking hot day at Avenue Road, Abergavenny began their second half of the season in some style as they beat St Fagans by five wickets.

St Fagans won the toss and chose to bat first on a slightly spongy wicket with a little grass on top, that made for an excellent cricket pitch throughout the game. Abergavenny's seamers bowled with great control in the opening 10 overs in sapping conditions but the curse of dropped catches plagued them again as both openers were dropped, and began to open their shoulders and accelerate the run-rate.

Lewis Parfitt finally made the breakthrough, having Lawlor caught behind for 27. Parfitt was very unlucky not to pick up the wicket of Thorne as several miscued shots just evaded the grasp of the fielders. Will Ford was introduced into the attack and got some purchase from the surface, producing several lovely deliveries before trapping Tariq LBW for six, unable to pick the googly. Aber's perseverance was admirable in the conditions, and every time St Fagans threatened to accelerate, they managed to rein them back in, thanks chiefly to 'wicket-keeper' Cameron Herring's off-spinners.

Herring bowled 10 overs and picked up 3-28, picking up the wickets of the dangerous John, Leering and Aji. Herring's irrepressible energy levels were also evident in the team's fielding display, as, dropped catches aside, Aber were generally sharp on the ground.

Having been 156-2, St Fagans were restricted to 187-8 as Asim Gillani finally removed Thorne for 83, and James Schofield had Williams well caught by Dan Cooke. St Fagans managed to fashion a flurry of late runs through Hopkins and they eventually finished on 231-8, a score that Abergavenny were rightly very pleased with in the conditions.

Their reply suffered an early setback as Herring was bowled by Davies for one with the first ball of the second over. Schofield joined Andrew Jones and the pair compiled an excellent second wicket partnership of 120 in just 24 overs as they took advantage of some inconsistent bowling by the visitors and running well between the wickets. Schofield passed 50 first before Jones followed suit a few overs later. Almost immediately afterwards, Schofield was trapped LBW by Hopkins for 60, losing concentration and discipline for a moment, playing across the line to a straight one. With the score on 126-2 in the 26th over, the in-form Parfitt strode to the crease.

The third wicket maintained the momentum, as Jones continued his inexorable accumulation of runs, while Parfitt scored at his usual brisk rate, with several good boundaries struck by both batsmen. The third wicket added 78 to take the score to 204 before Parfitt just failed to get underneath an on drive enough and was caught at mid-on for 35. Alex Astley-Jones partnered Jones for a few overs, maintaining his confident form from previous games.

Jones reached a magnificent hundred, especially in the conditions, showing superb concentration and stamina in the sapping heat, reaching 101 before being well caught and bowled by Hopkins. Hopkins then had Gavin Heritage caught at slip two balls later, and was comfortably the best of the bowlers, bowling a nagging line and length, finishing with 4-41. With Jones dismissed in sight of victory, it was left to Cooke and Astley-Jones to strike a sumptuous boundary apiece to take Aber to an excellent victory with 3.5 overs to spare.

IT was Abergavenny's second XI turn to travel to St Fagans on a blistering hot day, and unfortunately they didn't fare as well as their first team counterparts.

The Aber skipper called correctly at the toss and Abergavenny elected to bat.

On a hard, very dry track which had the odd unpredictable bounce, the St Fagans bowlers soon had the batsmen in trouble at 49 for four with the young Richie Roberts scoring 30 in an assault on the bowlers but time was also needed at the crease.

At last a partnership started to develop between Ryland Wallace (51) after taking a blow on the elbow and Chaitanya Sanapala until the latter fell caught behind, having lost a couple of other wickets the innings was frail on 118 for 7, when Scott Greaves joined the elder statesman at the middle.

The St Fagans bowlers lost their line and decided it was time to bowl short to the left handers and with the smaller boundary managed to accelerate the score before Greaves was bowled for a useful 29, and Wallace soon departed thereafter and the innings finally folding on 179 with seven overs unused.

With the temperature still very hot, Andy Timpson wanted some alacrity in the field. Murphy-Sharpe and Sanapala taking the new ball and it wasn't long before the opener departed being splendidly caught by Greaves, unfortunately it resulted in him being injured and walking like one of the old men of the team and also not being able bowl.

Sanapala managed to take the first three wickets leaving the home side on 20 for three and it was left for the St Fagans middle order to rebuild the innings which they did and the next wicket taken was on 115.

After Matt Knight's initial first two overs he settled down to bowl a consistent spell of spin bowling and was unlucky not to pick up more wickets especially Nicholls who managed to remain unbeaten on 86.

Two further wickets were taken by the skipper Timpson but the St Fagans batsmen reached the total easily and with four wickets to spare.