ABERGAVENNY CC put two disappointing defeats behind them and returned to winning ways with a good all round performance against Newport Fugitives, built on the back of a superb century from Andrew Jones.

On winning the toss, James Schofield elected to bat, and after a couple of hair raising moments with short balls keeping unbelievably low, Greg Fury got off to his usual flying start, racing to 19 before being caught behind to just about the only ball that carried all day.

Will Glenn joined Jones and the pair advanced the score to 60 from 12 overs before going through something of a lull. However, they came out the other side and constructed a superb partnership of 155 in 31 overs.

Jones went to a magnificent 100 and Will Glenn scored a measured 45 before being bowled by the opposition captain. Gavin Heritage maintained the momentum, sharing a further 63 with Jones before the opener was finally dismissed for a marvellous 138. A few late boundaries and hustled runs took the final score to 258-6 from the 50 overs.

However, despite wickets to Joe Hrastelj and Dan Cooke, Aber were sluggish and slack at the start of the Fugitives' reply and a plethora of poor balls and wides allowed the home side to 61-2 from the opening 12 overs. Lewis Parfitt and Will Ford put a tight rein back on the innings though, and bowled two fantastic, tight spells, with Ford bowling his 10 overs for just 18 runs, picking up the wicket of Aber old boy James Didcote along the way.

Parfitt's initial six overs yielded just 14 runs and grabbed a wicket of his own, removing Thomas LBW for eight.

At drinks, Aber had dragged the innings back to 91-4 and had assumed control of the game. They were never to let it go, and on his first team league debut, Andy Pratten picked up 2-25, to leave the home side on 123-6. From that point, it became a question of how many wickets and points Aber could pick up. For a while, they were stuck on seven, but Matt Knight picked up two late wickets, and Newport finished on 188-9.

Aber will be relieved to have stopped the rot and given themselves a little more breathing space at the bottom with their 20 point haul from the game. Next week they entertain Chepstow at Avenue Road in what promises to be a tough game for the Beavers.

Elsewhere, Abergavenny lad Mark Wallace scored his maiden One Day century at The Riverside, Durham. His knock of 105 in 88 Balls with 12 fours led Glamorgan's run chase in the high scoring game on Sunday