USK 1st XI went top of South Wales Premier One after beating Swansea CC by three wickets in a nailbiting last-ball finish on Saturday, in one of the only games to beat the weather.

Abergavenny will probably be grateful that their home match with Saturday morning’s league leaders St Fagans was abandoned though, with the visitors reaching 191 without loss after 31 overs.

Usk’s Ben Jones and Glamorgan’s Billy Root struck to dismiss both Swansea openers for ducks, with the former then taking the next two as well to leave the visitors reeling at 13-4.

Swansea recovered to post 168 all out in 43.4 overs, but not before Jones dismissed the last man for a duck to finish with 5-28, backed by Matthew Marriott and Matthew Williams with two apiece.

Set a rain-hit target of 140 from 31 overs, the hosts then squeezed home with Matt Hancock scoring two off the last ball.

Opener Hugo Caldicott scored 21 and Root 43 before Hancock with 22 not out and Matthew Marriott 18 not out saw them home in an unbeaten 44-run stand.

At Avenue Road on Saturday, Abergavenny won the toss and put St Fagans in to bat, only to run into in-form South African-born former Glamorgan One Day Cup winner Steve Reingold and county club rookie Callum Nicholls.

The duo were untroubled reaching 43-0 in 10 overs before going on to a century partnership in the 20th over.

They resumed later at 101-0 after a rain halt, and pushed on to 191-0 (Nicholls 93, Reingold 89), when the rain returned, with the match later called off by the umpires.

Each side were awarded five points, leaving Abergavenny third bottom ahead of a six-pointer at Cardiff CC this Saturday (June 14).

Meanwhile on Sunday, a magnificent 105 off 81 balls from former Qatar skipper Tamoor Zafar helped fire Usk to a 26-run home win over Panteg in Sunday's Senior Welsh Cup match.

Zafar shared a match-winning fourth-wicket 154-run partnership with Sidharth Ramesh who scored 57, with skipper Elliott Doyle also scoring 38 and Harawal Ahmed Wassam 22.

Williams then took 4-38-7, backed by Sam Crisp with 2-32-6.2 and single strikes for Zafar, Jones and Paul Murphy as they dismissed Panteg for 223.

Usk's Big Smash League team also beat Newport Royals by 32 runs at home in midweek after reaching 165-2 in 18 overs.

Ollie Rayner cracked 50 off 28 balls, including seven fours and a six, before retiring 50 not out, while fellow opener Hancock scored 45 off 43 balls, Julian Sanders 30 not out and Ryan Jones 23 not out.

Royals were then rolled out in 17.4 overs for 139, England star Joe Root's brother Billy taking 4-22-3, Greg Peacock 3-23-3 and Ramesh 2-21-2.4, leaving Usk top.

Llanarth won a Sunday friendly by 10 runs at home to Moccas, setting a target of 197-7 off 35 overs before dismissing the visitors for 187 on the final ball.

Sam Michell fired 44, Ollie Mann 39 not out, Glen Hamilton 37 not out and Adam Gilchrist 44 before Colin Grove took three wickets and Tom Heath and Harrison Griffiths two apiece.

Another side that were grateful for the intervention of the weather on Saturday were Glangrwyney 1sts who were skittled out for 71 in 24.1 overs at home to Abertillery Town 1sts, only Geoff Holmes with 16 making double figures.

Luckily the rain then prevented Town from batting, who would probably have made short shrift of the lowly target.

Llanarth 2nds hosts Shalom 1sts on Wednesday night in the Macey Bowl, while Usk play Croesyceiliog away on Thursday night (June 12) in the Big Smash League.

Saturday's fixtures (June 14) include – Cardiff CC 1sts v Abergavenny 1sts, Abergavenny 2nds v Dinas Powys 1sts, Bridgend Town 3rds v Abergavenny 3rds, Abergavenny 4ths v Lisvane 4ths, Pontarddulais 1sts v Usk 1sts, Usk 2nds v Llandaff 2nds, Brecon 2nds v Usk 3rds, Dinas Powys 2nds v Glangrwyney 1sts, Glangrwyney 2nds v South Wales Sri Lankan 2nds, Llanarth 1sts v Radyr 3rds, Abercarn 2nds v Llanarth 2nds.