ON Saturday Abergavenny CC’s First Team welcomed Tondu to Avenue Road for their SEWCL Division One clash.

Skipper Leach won the toss and Abergavenny batted first for a total of 192-5. Adam Harrison led the way with a fine 62, ably supported by young opener Morgan Bevans scoring a composed 51. Gareth Burkitt also contributed 26 as Abergavenny posted a competitive score. For Tondu Jon Bussey claimed 2-34.

In reply Tondu looked well set at 112-2 before opener Owen Davies was stumped by Greg Fury off the bowling of Harrison for a well made 42. This signalled a mini collapse as Tondu slumped to 145-6 with Harrison and skipper Leach turning the screw, even claiming the wicket of the well set Scott Thornton for 51. The run rate increased and Tondu were left requiring 47 off the last six overs but some tight bowling by David Clarke and Dan Cooke saw the hosts home by 14 runs as Tondu finished up 178-9. For Abergavenny, Harrison and Leach each claimed 2-27 off their 10 overs while Clarke finished with 2-31.

Overall the young Abergavenny side showed a maturity beyond their years with a fine fielding display which included two run outs and some great catches which helped their disciplined bowling effort. Next week Abergavenny travel to Miskin Manor, who have also started their campaign with two victories.

The Beavers started their season in fine fashion with a comfortable seven wicket win against visitors Rogerstone Welfare, they then made it two out of two on Saturday with a six wicket victory away at Crumlin.

Beavers skipper Steve Brown won the toss and had no hesitation in asking home captain Ashley Randall to bat first. Opening bowlers Dylan Beaumont-Welsh and Ben Morris each picked up a wicket in their misery spells. Lewys Wilkes-McCarthy and James Waktkins then tore the heart out of the Crumlin middle order and picked up three wickets each. Tom Pipe then followed Watkins’ example and took the final wicket to leave Crumlin all out for 90.

Aber opening batsmen of Tom Griffiths and Gareth Powell looked to keep it tight until the tea break. Unfortunately, Powell and number three Richie Roberts fell cheaply to some useful home bowling, but Griffiths (33) and Nathan Holley (24*) helped to steer Aber home with few further alarms.

CRICKHOWELL travelled to Brockhampton for their second league game of the season and were glad to field a full 11 players including skipper Nick Francis.

Although the team performed better than they did against Garnons, the previous week, they were still soundly beaten by a stronger than usual Brockhampton side.

Crickhowell won the toss and invited their hosts to bat first on what seemed a slightly damp track, but openers Morrall (30) and Rhys Price (68) got their side off to a sound start with the Crickhowell bowlers finding it difficult to hit a good line and length.

It took the skipper, Francis, to bring himself on to get the breakthrough with Morral trapped LBW and Chris Price going the same way the very next ball.

Tim Price (1- 47) also bowled well without much luck and Lloyd Francis (1- 48) also chipped in, dismissing Price for his 68. Ben Bowker (1-75) and father Phill (1-30) were the other wicket takers but it was the captain, Nick Francis, who had the best return of the day for Crickhowell with four for 25, showing his worth to the team and also taking a good catch in the deep.

Phil Christie and Phill Bowker also took a catch each, but whilst the all round fielding and bowling performance was a vast improvement on the previous week, Brockhampton still managed to post a creditable 243 for 8.

In reply, openers Phil Christie and Greg Tew put on 80 in untroubled fashion and were setting a firm foundation for Crickhowell to challenge the Brockhampton score, especially with big hitting Francis back to boost the lower order.

A promising start though meant nothing as Rhys Price, with 68 runs already under his belt, brought himself on to rip Crickhowell apart. He remarkably finished with figures, in 10 overs, of seven wickets for just nine runs and all hope of Crickhowell getting anywhere near the Brockhampton score, vanished like raindrops falling on the ocean. At least Crickhowell were able to prevent a total humiliation and batted out their overs to post 6 points in a ‘loosing draw’, with Elwyn Jenkins [12*] and Phill Bowker [2*] remaining undefeated in a final total of 107 for seven. After just three weeks of the season, loosing one game to the weather and the other two through poor overall performances, Crickhowell sit second from the bottom of the table on just 13 points only one point ahead of newcomers Ross, who have 12. Goodrich are the early season front runners sitting unbeaten, at the top of the table, on 69 points and as these things often go in sport, guess who Crickhowell play next week at home? That’s right, Goodrich!

LLANARTH travelled to Abertillery in hopeful mood even though the venue has not been a happy hunting ground.

Unsurprisingly the wicket was damp due to the rain of the previous couple of days, but this time Dennis Heath won the toss and let the hosts worry about what a good score was.

Raja Bananas (2-20) and Tom Heath took the new cherry but despite bowling tidily enough couldn’t force a breakthrough from the opening salvo. It took the introduction of Andrew Spencer (2-25) to make inroads via contrasting catches by Banaras and Chris Page, the latter controlling the ball with his chest before hands.

Up until this point Abertillery skipper Mark Seymour (66) had been quietly playing himself in on the slow surface but he gradually unfurled his shots, including a couple of trademark extra cover drives that no-one moved for. He found an able ally in Ben Griffiths (29) who struck a couple of super sixes off of Chris Powell. At 100-2 with 15 overs left the Trees were looking at chasing a testing total.

D Heath’s (3-29) leg-spin dragged his team back into it with a trio of quick strikes that heaped pressure on his counterpart. Seymour’s fine knock came to an end when he skied the returning Banaras and was taken smartly by keeper Sam Michell. Gary Holley (2-11) was rewarded for his accuracy as the wickets kept tumbling. T Heath administered the coup de grace with the final scalp as eight wickets had fallen for 37 runs. Llanarth enjoyed their tea, content with 138 as a target.

In an interesting development, Bananas was sent in to open with Mark Baxter (53*), the Sultan of Swing not noted for his batting had an early evening soiree to attend so Llanarth decided to use the batting resource rather than lose it to a social engagement.

Hopes for some useful bunts never materialised as Bananas even managed to get dropped three times before being bowled. Michell (77*) then walked to the crease to join Baxter as more recognisable stroke play returned to the fore.

Abertillery opened up with spin from both ends meaning on an already slow track the batsmen had no pace to work with. Baxter decided an ‘over my dead body’ approach was best and blocked anything remotely on line whilst waiting for anything short which then sat up and was dealt with accordingly, indeed his second scoring shot was a maximum deposited into the adjacent Ebbw River. In contrast Michell, with power to burn, was able to play a more traditional innings and fired some searing drives through the field. He did offer a couple of chances but the force that the ball was struck with meant that they would have taken some catching.

The home bowling was accurate enough but without the runs to exert scoreboard pressure, and a wicket that was slow enough to let the batsmen adjust to anything that gripped, they were left hoping for a batting error. However with many memories of tossing away good positions on this ground the Trees pair were too determined to let it happen again, that they were now working singles around at will, as well as punishing the bad ball, only brought the end closer. Michell closed the game with a flourish by muscling consecutive sixes as the Llanarth pair put on an unbroken partnership of 137 to lead the team to a fine nine wicket victory.

Glangrwyney Firsts enjoyed a comfortable win against Strollers CC courtesy of another Mike Devoy half century.

Glang won the toss and elected to bat on a bright sunny day at Cwrt-y-Gollen. From the start Glangrwyney’s bowlers made life difficult. Nicholas Jones (2-17) removed both openers and picked up three maidens. Consolidation followed with Mark and Daniel Powell taking the score to 96 for two. However, after Tim Jones removed Daniel, the rest of the innings crawled along to 126 for eight in 45 overs. Further wickets were taken by captain Ryan Murphy Sharpe (2-31) and Gethin Price (3-19).

In reply the home team made a poor start losing two wickets for nine runs but Tim Jones, after his big 100 last week, took the score to 63 until he was dismissed. Meanwhile, Mike Devoy was progressing with another comfortable innings and was 68 not out when Glangrwyney strolled to the target to win by six wickets. A solid performance by the firsts with contributions across team bodes well for the season to come.

Glangrwyney’s seconds travelled to Kington with only nine players and put in a creditable performance. On winning the toss, captain Jim Astle chose the positive option and elected to bat however, at 25 for five it was clear that things weren’t going to plan. From this nadir, the next two wickets put on almost a hundred runs in more than thirty overs with opener James McIlroy (70) to carry the innings into the 38th over before being all out for 130, of which extras were a remarkable 27.