USK 1sts suffered two agonising losses in 24 hours at the weekend – the first by two runs to Penarth in the South Wales Premier League, and the second by six runs at Bristol in the ECB Club Championship.

At home on Saturday, Penarth were dismissed for 202 in 44.2 overs, Matthew Marriott taking three wickets, Ben Jones and Cameron Hemp braces and Glamorgan's Billy Root and Tahmid Ahmed one apiece.

Guy Moore with 39 and 28 from Root helped them past the 100-mark, with Tamoor Zafar then passing his half century and taking them to within 10 runs of victory with three wickets left.

But the former Qatar skipper was run out for 60 on the penultimate ball with four still needed, and Marriott could only score two off the final ball with Usk finishing their 50 overs on 200-9.

Next day they were set 302-4 off 40 overs by Bristol, Marriott taking two wickets and Ben Jones and Matthew Williams one apiece, as host batters Kamran Dhariwal (102) and Louie Shaw (109) shared a 162-run third wicket partnership.

Glamorgan's Will Smale also shared a 159-run third-wicket stand with skipper Elliot Doyle as Usk hit back in reply, the former going on to score 114 and the latter 46.

Fifth man Zafar added 62 as they edged to 296-9, only to fall last man with two balls left

By contrast, Usk 2nds won by 207 runs away to Llandaff 2nds in Saturday’s South East Wales 2 clash, Matt Hancock firing 96 not out, Joe Peacock 45 and Iwan Jones 32 in their 259-7.

The visiting attack then laid waste dismissing the hosts for just 52 in 21 overs, Peacock and Sam Crisp taking three wickets each and Mohammad Salman and Jamie Jones two apiece.

But the 3rds lost by four wickets at home to Newbridge 2nds, scoring 185-8 in 40 overs before the visitors reached 186-6.

Julian Sanders top-scored with 43 while Dan Cordell took two wickets.