ABERGAVENNY Firsts took the trip to Brecon on Saturday and were all out for a miserly 84.

Only Will Glenn (21) and Chai Sanapala (15) had any impact.

Abergavenny stuttered to five for three wickets, rallied to 33 for four, but were all out for 84. Brecon won by seven wickets as they reached 85 for three in 32 overs. Sam Clarke taking 2-18 and one wicket for Benjamin Davies.

Prior to this game Brecon had only managed one victory all season.

In the Welsh Cup on Sunday, Abergavenny were away to Chepstow who batted first and made 133-9 in their 40 Overs.

Geraint Leach 3-25, Ben Davies 2-20, Sam Clarke 2-17 and one wicket each for Lewys W-McCarthy and Will Glenn. In reply Abergavenny fell two runs short of victory having been bowled out for 132 in the 33rd over.

Morgan Bevans (38), Andrew Jones (23), Greg Fury (26), Chai Sanapala and Dylan B-Welsh each scored 12 runs. Thus ending a dismal weekend for the club.

LLANARTH welcomed Cardiff thirds to the LCG on a glorious summers day and after Skipper Dennis Heath lost the toss the Trees were invited to bat first.

Llanarth gave a first team debut to Alex Stucke and three very enthusiastic 14-year-olds.

Opening bowlers Evan Bines (0-25) and Tom Watson (3-19) bowled well on a favourable wet deck with a lot of movement and beat the edge on many an occasion. Unusually, Allan Dewfield struggled to get the ball away and with David Lomax also bogged down at the other end they gritted it out till drinks with only 56 on the board.

Cardiff continued after drinks with their stranglehold on the game and spinners Ollie Hughes (0-26) and Matt Phillips (3-20) bowled tightly. When Phillips bowled Lomax for 33 runs in the 31st over Llanarth only had 72 on the board. A mini collapse then followed with Will Heath, Chris Page and Allan Dewfield quickly following Lomax back to the pavilion. Dewfield scored 51 in what was a very patient innings.

Llanarth needed to up the run rate dramatically if they were going to get anywhere near a competitive score and Tom Vaughan (14) and Chris Powell (16) added a few quick runs before both fell in the closing overs.

The Llanarth innings closed on 141-8.

Lomax (3-16) and Tom Heath (1-25) opened the bowling and bowled with great accuracy and skill. Skipper Ricketts soon realised it was not going to be as easy as he thought as Lomax had him caught behind for six. Youngster Herbert was bowled by Heath and with the score on 18 for two, Llanarth were most definitely in with a chance.

Powell (0-15) was introduced in to the attack with both Hughes and S Lomax (18) struggling to lay a bat on him and he was unlucky not to take a wicket with several deliveries narrowly missing the stumps. Powell was joined by 14-year-old leg spinner Dan Moseley (0-23) who bowled extremely well in his short spell before Hughes took a shine to him and scored 17 off an over.

Dennis Heath (0-30) replaced Moseley and also bowled well as Cardiff still struggled to get any momentum in to their innings. The run rate was now at four an over and there were some doubts that started to creep in to Cardiff’s game.

Following the end of Powell’s spell he was replaced by Chris Page (3-28) and in his very first over he had S. Lomax fantastically caught at deep mid-wicket by debutant Alex Stucke.

Lomax returned and bowled Hughes for 49 with a beauty and Matt Phillips followed him the very next ball following a smart catch by keeper Vaughan.

It all came down to the last over with Cardiff requiring three runs to win. Chris Page was the man in charge of seeing Llanarth home and despite taking a wicket it was not to be with Cardiff finishing on 142-7 with two balls remaining.

Against title challengers Kington, Crickhowell won the toss and invited their hosts to bat first on a decent enough track.

Green and Protheroe did well early on, against openers Joseph Bowker and Nick Francis but it was the first change bowlers Kerrison (1-34 -8) and Ben Bowker (3-35-10) who dismissed the openers.

Jenkins took the catch that saw the back of the dangerous Green for 37 off Ben Bowker, and Kerrison bowled Protheroe for 11.

None of the Kington batsmen thereafter mastered the bowling and Nick Francis came back on to mop up most of the tail finishing with four for 28 in seven overs.

Joseph Bowker and young Lloyd Francis also bowled well.

Kington were dismissed for just 143 in 39 overs.

Crickhowell’s very poor form with the bat continued and they never really threatened the Kington total, being dismissed for just 51 in 17 overs. On the positive side for Crickhowell, this wasn’t a tale of reckless batting and gifting wickets to the opposition, as Kington used the conditions well and bowled very tightly. Green and Fenwick-Lofts did most of the damage and even the returning and vastly experienced Nick Kinman and Ryland Wallace couldn’t give the Crickhowell batting any stability, with both being dismissed for golden ducks to very good balls from the openers.

Hywell Price was the only batsman to make any impact at all and he finished unbeaten on 21, but with another three ducks and no other batsman able to hit double figures this was another disappointing batting performance after a promising showing in the field.

Crickhowell are now rooted to the foot of the table with just 26 points after a third of the season complete. The summary statistics for Crickhowell do not make for very good reading. They Are the only team in the division yet to score a batting point! Some work to do for the rest of the season then, and plenty of room for improvement.

Glangrwyney CC’s first team captain Ryan Sharpe won the toss and elected to field first against Woolhope.

The home team made the most of the offer to rack up 170 for eight in their 45 overs. For the visitors, Nicki Jones 2-36, Jules Hardwick 2-27 and new boy Kevin Palmer 2-35 on debut bowled well.

In reply, both visitors’ openers were out first ball which set the tone for the innings and the total of 64 meant a chastening loss by 106 runs. For the home team, the stand-out performer was Stuart Davies who took 7-21 from his ten overs with three maidens. It was Glangrwyney’s first loss of the season, and they remain second in the league.

It was a different story for Glangrwyney Seconds against the same opponents.

They recovered from 17 for three when chasing 100 to win with confident knocks by youngsters Jack Peach (31 not out) and Tom Devoy (29).

In testing conditions, the inexperienced pair held firm against the new ball attack and accumulated when they could but hit out to keep the score board moving. A 50 run partnership had been achieved when Devoy was out but captain Jim Astle hit a quick 20 to seal the win. In Woolhope’s innings of 99 all out, wickets were shared with Edward Hooper (2), Tom Devoy (3), Graham Paton (2) and James McIlroy (2), who is on a hat-trick next game. Fielding and catching this week was perfect with all chances being taken.