ABERGAVENNY First St XI travelled to Newport Fugitives hoping to kick start their season after last weekend’s defeat to Chepstow.

Captain Geraint Leach won the toss and invited the Fugitives to bat, hoping the bowlers could take a few early wickets.

Unfortunately though, the bowlers were dispatched to all parts by the Fugitives batting line up with opener Richard Jones plundering 116, Nathan Millichip getting 89 and Huw Wilcox scoring 68 as the Fugitives racked up 349-5 off their 50 overs.

For Abergavenny the wicket takers were Geraint Leach (2) Chai Sanapala (2) and Sam Clarke (1).

In reply Abergavenny set about trying to gain as many batting points as possible and the batters dug in to help the cause. Seven players contributed double figure scores to help Abergavenny finish 210-8 with Steve Brown (41) and Lee Fury (40) leading the way.

Overall a disappointing result for Abergavenny but the young players who played showed plenty of fight and spirit to reinforce the believe that results will come. After a winter where the club has lost players to other clubs there is plenty of optimism that with some more hard work and some luck a win is not too far away. This weekend sees Abergavenny welcome Newbridge to Avenue Road with a 12.30pm start.

Meanwhile Abergavenny thirds made the long trip to play Eastnor fourths. Aber captain Mark Winstanley won the toss and decided to have a bat. Jon Lamont (25), Ashley Curtis (24) and Winstanley (22) were the only three batsman to make contributions in the Abergavenny innings as the youthful team were bowled out for 127 in the 38th over against the experienced host team.

With a low score to defend, Aber needed early wickets. Spinner Owain Bradley did dismiss the opener in the sixth over but Eastnor were racing along at six an over. Dan Bowden took another wicket but eventually Aber lost by eight wickets and only took two points from the match.

The following day, Abergavenny took on Talybont-on-Usk in the new Marches League T20 competition. Again Aber batted first and scored 109-6 thanks to some useful contributions from Jimmy Herrick (28), Mark Winstanley (32) and Kyle Holmes hit some late blows scoring 22 not out. Huw Griffiths was the most economical bowler with 2-9 from four overs but Craig Robinson took 3-18 from his four overs.

Talybont got off to a fast start with Luke Bowen hitting 56 which included five sixes. The Abergavenny bowlers kept on chipping away with wickets, Lewys McCarthy dismissed Bowen and Matthew Knight also had one. Dan Bowden continued his good form by grabbing 3-12 from his permitted four overs. Kyle Holmes (3-13) was the man of the moment though as he bowled a superb last over to help Aber to a two run win and set up a fixture against Crickhowell or Hay-on-Wye in the second round.

It was a good finish to the weekend for the thirds which saw seven under 16 players playing across the two days, with Eoin Shackleton and Alex Holmes making their senior debuts for the club. This Saturday Abergavenny thirds host Strollers firsts at the Crickhowell Cricket Ground with a 1pm start.