Crickhowell visited Kington, won the toss and invited the home side to bat first on a wicket that had been freshened up by the overnight rain.

Batting proved to be difficult early on, with some lateral movement and lift at times, and the Bowker brothers were able to make early inroads, grabbing three quick wickets between them. Green then strode to the wicket and decided that attack was likely to be the best form of defence and smashed the ball to all parts of the ground.

Riding his luck at times, he was heading for a quick fire fifty with only 10 overs bowled, so skipper Francis decided that a slower paced approach was needed.

Phill Bowker (1- 44) came on and induced the mistake from Green with son Joseph taking a well judged catch on the boundary edge to see the back of him for a whirlwind 49.

Francis (2-25) trapped Stokes LBW and had Geyton caught by Parker both for only 11.

Joseph Bowker finished with a creditable 6-81 – clean bowling four victims and getting the other two smartly caught by Kerrison and a difficult running catch from keeper Lilley.

Ben Bowker also returned for another spell, finishing more economically, with one for 46. Kington though were able to push on to a good score of 221 all out.

Crickhowell started brightly enough with Parker, Kerrison and Lilley all shaping up well, but two LBW decisions were perhaps a little harsh on the visitors who lost Kerrison for a battling 19 and then last year’s top run scorer Lilley for only one.

With Watts and Jenkins also going cheaply Kington had their tails up and were making life difficult for the Crickhowell batters.

When Francis, who already had two big scores to his name this season, departing on 19, it was always going to be difficult for Crickowell.

Only Ben Bowker (18) and brother Joseph (14) were able to get into double figures, and they were both bowled by Geyton who finished with excellent figures of 4 -29.

George also had good figures of 3-32 and Green also chipped in with 2 -35.

The Crickhowell innings fizzled out on a paltry 119 in less than 33 overs and they were unable to muster any batting points at all. Even in defeat, Crickhowell need to bat with a bit more backbone, and seek to use up all their overs, if they are going to improve on last season’s points tally. Next week Crickhowell are at home to Brockhamton and will be looking for improvements in most areas, but especially in the batting.