Abergavenny CC finally kickstarted their season with an emphatic 77 run victory against Sudbrook at Avenue Road.

Having lost the toss Abergavenny were asked to bat first and for the first time this season all their batters contributed as they amassed 242-8 off their 50 overs.

Main contributors were Dan Cooke, 56, and William Glenn, 55, while Alex Astley Jones got 32 and David Clarke, 22. 14-year-old Morgan Bevans also looked accomplished at the crease after some very good performances for the second team recently.

In reply Sudbrook were blown away by 20-year-old Luke Bowen who bowled with good pace and accuracy as he took 5-22 off his 10 overs as Sudbrook collapsed to 70-7.

Only Jamie Watkins, 34 not out, Matthew Spencer, 33, and 15-year-old Scott O’Leary, with 26, looked comfortable as Sudbrook were eventually dismissed for 165, with Geraint Leach, 2-21, and Chaitanya Sanapala, 2-39, claiming four of the last five wickets.

Abergavenny continued their winning ways with a fixture against Radyr at Avenue Road.

With plenty of showers around, Radyr bowled tight early on and used the conditions to their advantage to leave Abergavenny, 52-4, and staring down the barrel.

Richard Roberts entered the fray and smashed his way to 62 from just 35 balls which included five huge sixes and resulted in five lost balls!

Sam Clarke stuck with him and they put on 92 in just 68 balls before Roberts fell to a catch at cover.

Clarke continued to bat well before being caught behind for a well made 43 and the lower order continuesd to accumulate runs as Abergavenny were dismissed for 235, with other notable contributions from David Clarke, 25 off 30 balls, and Ruan Holt, 26 off 30 balls.

In reply Abergavenny got off to a great start with new ball pairing David Clarke and Luke Bowen.

The dynamic duo made early inroads, leaving Radyr reeling at 57-6. Both lads bowled good lines and pace, with wickets falling like flies.

Howard Stone put up some resistance with 22 but Ruan Holt claimed, 3-27, to leave Radyr, 90-9, and staring at a huge defeat.

A last wicket partnership of 40 frustrated the Abergavenny bowlers before Sam Clarke claimed the last wicket LBW to see Abergavenny win by 105 runs and claim their second victory in a week.

Overall a very accomplished performance by the young Abergavenny side which contained 14-year-old Morgan Bevans opening the batting and also fours other players under 19. The new ball pairing of Clarke and Bowen are really flourishing and it is hoped that this continues.

It was mixed fortunes for Usk last Saturday as the firsts were soundly beaten at Blackwood; however, it was a happier story back in Usk as the seconds thrashed Lisvane.

Over at Blackwood, the hosts won the toss and elected to field in 50 overs, Usk scored 219-4 from their 50 overs. Chasing 220, Blackwood were on 64-2 from 14 overs; however, Daniel Wilkinson (102*) and Callum Herring (70*) ensured there would be no further wickets lost as they coasted to victory with eight wickets in hand.

Meanwhile back at the Athletic Club Ground, Usk won the toss and elected to field. Lisvane made a good start as Snehasis Tripathy (57) helped put on 64 for the first wicket. Lisvane had got up to 84-1 when Tripathy departed. After this nobody else really got going – extras with 20 ended up being the next highest scorer. The fact that Lisvane crumbled was down to the bowling of Greg Peacock. Following on from his 4-wicket haul last weekend, Peacock went one better this time round, ripping out the top order and finishing with the exemplary figures of 9-1-24-5. Lisvane ended up on 166-9 from their 45 overs.

Usk’s reply was ruthless as Matt Cook (79*) and Mark Tamplin (57*) decided to finish the job themselves. Usk cruised to victory by 10 wickets with seven overs to spare as they finished on 168-0. Cook’s unbeaten 79 came 120 balls and contained 12 fours and a six, while Tamplin’s unbeaten 57 came from 108 balls and contained eight fours.

This Saturday, the firsts will look to return to winning ways as they travel to Newbridge, while the seconds will hope to continue the winning habit when they entertain the same opponents. The firsts’ match will begin at 12:30pm (a 50-over contest), while the seconds will commence their 45-over game at 1pm. On Sunday, Usk play a friendly at home to Llantwit Major beginning at 2pm.

Llanarth, buoyant following back-to-back victories, hosted Abercarn on a breezy, showery day at the LCG.

One of those showers delayed the start, reducing the overs and skipper Dennis Heath had no hesitation in inserting the visitors.

Tom Heath (2-26) took the new cherry and settled in to a decent rhythm whereas his new ball partner, Eian Johnson, seemed strangely out of sorts. Peter Lee took advantage with several pull strokes as Abercarn made a useful start at 46-0 from 10 overs.

It was time for a change of pace and the spin duo of D. Heath (1-27) and Chris Powell (1-13) were summarily introduced. It had the desired effect of completely strangling the scoring rate to the tune that just 25 were scored from the next 15 overs.

The batsmen’s increasingly desperate efforts to score proved futile, a couple of Tom Harris maximums excepted, as the home bowling maintained control. Raja Banaras (2-16) came on for a stint and continued the miserly theme and when T. Heath returned to castle the big hitting Harris Abercarn’s hopes of a handy total were gone.

Llanarth enjoyed a super tea content with their opponents total of 123-6 and confident that they could close out victory.

Ed James and Mark Baxter (59*) made a bright start in seeing off the opening bowlers and putting on 44 before James played across a straight one and was stone cold Steve Austin lbw. Allan Dewfield looked comfortable at the crease, striking a couple of early boundaries before he was undone by a subterranean delivery to leave the Trees 58-2.

When Tom Vaughan and Chris Page departed quickly this only served to bring the captain to the crease and, as per last weekend, he seemed to want to finish in a hurry as he stuck a swift 22 before skying one just six runs shy of victory.

The end came shortly afterwards and Baxter’s patient, unbeaten, half-century of blocks, interspersed with the occasional thumping of a bad ball to the fence, proved the bedrock of Llanarth’s response and a third consecutive win.