BUOYED by their victory against local rivals Glangrwyney the previous week, Crickhowell were in confident mood for the visit of Ledbury.

Crickhowell, welcomed back captain Nick Francis, who won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. He then proceeded to take the wicket of Foskett, thanks to a sharp catch from Ben Bowker in the slips.

Francis then returned the favour, catching the other opener Evans with another stunning slip catch in Bowker’s first over.

Ledbury’s middle order continued to struggle to build any challenging total, with Francis (2 for 25) brother Justin (1 for 9) and Price (2 for 10) all in miserly mood.

Ben Bowker then effectively mopped up the tail and finished with figures of 5 for 21 which earned him the ‘man of the match’ award.

Evans, Large and Orders offered some late order resistance for Ledburt, but their final total of 130 was never one they could easily defend on Crickhowell’s small town ground, unless they could make some early in roads when they bowled.

In reply, Crickhowell openers Parker and Lilley impressively stood firm and put on 60 for the first wicket. This was a wicket where batsmen never really felt ‘in’.

Conditions offered some assistance to bowlers, giving some sideways movement and variable bounce. Parker was the first to go, LBW, for a solid 35 with Lilley (24) then lobbing a gentle catch back to the bowler.

Jones and Cornock then followed in quick succession, so it was left to captain Francis and Ben Bowker, both showing some good early season form with both bat and ball, to steady the middle order ‘wobble’.

Both however, got themselves in, then proceeded to get themselves out, in the 20s, but at least had pushed the total on to within touching distance of Ledbury’s insubstantial score.

In low scoring games, it’s important, when batting second, to retain as many wickets in hand as possible to pick up the bonus batting points, so it was left to the trusty Watts and veteran Phill Bowker to see Crickhowell over the line without further incident.

Ledbury finished with only four points from the game with Crickhowell picking up another 23 points for the win by four wickets.

Next week Crickhowell look forward to the long trip away to face Woolhope.