IN muggy conditions Llanarth's skipper, Den Heath, won his fifth consecutive toss and decided to insert Blaina.

Llanarth fancied themselves to make early inroads but Daryll and Lee Davies had other ideas and played very correctly and watchfully for the opening skirmishes, rare boundaries along with some Trees wides ensured the home side reached 38-0 from the first dozen overs but a double bowling change altered the course of the innings.

An Eian Johnson (3-26) and Chris Powell (4-16) combination engineered a collapse of 7-32 as Blaina slumped to 71-7 and the Trees scented an early finish.

Llanarth's hopes of wrapping up the innings quickly were then frustrated by Grant Gwillym (23*) and Alan Barber (17*) as they stuck obdurately to the crease in attempting to bat out the remaining overs. They saw off the last few overs of Johnson and Powell, the returning opening bowlers and some of Eddie Butler's spin in ensuring Blaina reached tea with a total of 119-7.

The drizzle had started in the final five or six overs of the Blaina knock and with menacing clouds rolling up the valley there wasn't much hope for too much cricket after a delicious tea. Nevertheless David Lomax (18*) and Mark Baxter (25*) started off and despite more water on the outfield they stroked some lovely shots to the boundary. Conditions weren't easing and the bespectacled Baxter found both droplets of rain on his glasses followed by them evaporating and steaming up his lenses an interesting hindrance to watching the ball. By the 12th over of the innings the rain had got worse and was presenting a problem for the seam bowlers on their run ups and the players sought refuge in the pavilion to wait to see if precipitation would stop.

Butler used the time to sign books for the spectators and was correctly fined for fraternising with the opposition whilst the game was still, technically, in progress.

With the Trees in a commanding position captain Heath was trying to persuade his opposite number to restart the match as the drizzle had lessened slightly but Blaina, quite reasonably, were having none of it and with current Newport Dragons rugby pro Rhys Jones in their negotiating party their point of view was convincing.

Thus the game was abandoned with Llanarth 49-0 from 12 overs.