ABERGAVENNY'S winning streak came to an end against Sudbrook at Deepweir after a curious batting performance left them 46 runs short.

After losing the toss Aber were asked to field first and made a good start as Ali Bukhari and Lewis Parfitt tested the opening batsmen with some skillful bowling.

In the sixth over Parfitt made a key breakthrough, removing last year's League Player of the Year Ross Lewis, caught behind by Matt Davies for seven. However, on a dry pitch, captain James Schofield quickly turned to his spin attack of Will Ford, Asim Gillani and Tamoor Zafar. Gillani was the first to make the breakthrough, bowling Lewis Morgan with a quicker ball. That brought the in form Micky Martin to the crease, who quickly settled, seizing on anything loose. Matt Kinchin was eventually caught off a long hop from Gillani, after an innings of 30 containing some strong shots. The introduction of Zafar into the attack really stangled the scoring rate, and he was rewarded for an excellent demonstration of the art of controlled leg spin with the wickets of Dave Wilson and Jon Lewis. Gillani and Zafar each finished with exemplary figures (2-15 and 2-14 respectively). However, Martin looked determined and mixed doughty defence with excellent running between the wickets, and he accelerated the scoring rate a little towards the end of the innings.

He was eventually removed for 46, caught at long off by Bukhari. Jamie Coles, Martin's partner in a valuable sixth wicket alliance of 70, was bowled in the same over, leaving Sudbrook 152-7, and with Parfitt picking up a well deserved second wicket, Sudbrook finished on 165-8 from their 50 overs.

Abergavenny would undoubtedly have taken a score of 165 at the start of the day, but with Sudbrook also boasting a spin orientated attack, it would be a case of which side would play spin best that would decide the outcome of the game. Initially Schofield and Andrew Jones made hay against the opening seamers, and raced to 33-0 from the first five overs.

Ross Lewis wasted no time in getting his spinners on and Mike Shaw made an instant breakthrough, trapping Jones LBW for 15.

Lewis Parfitt went early, trying to turn the ball round the corner, to be caught off a leading edge for one. Zafar, in at four, instantly looked in good form and he and Schofield continued to take the attack to the spinners, determined not to let them settle and just bowl ten overs as Aber had been allowed to do.

However, after a brisk innings of 21, Zafar just overstretched against Dean Wallace, to be stumped by Lewis. With the game situation interestingly poised and the innings progressing at a lively rate, Aber needed someone to decide to take the pace out of the game and just settle the chase down as Martin had done for Sudbrook. As a result, Schofield was furious to be caught at slip in the very next over, gone for 22.

Bukhari continued to be aggressive, with Dan Cooke joining him at the other end. The score advanced to 90-4, with Aber hoping the partnership could be extended further to put pressure on the opposition bowlers. However, Bukhari didn't execute an attempted loft over mid-off correctly, and was well caught low down for 15.

After Richie Roberts (1)was trapped LBW to give Shaw a fourth wicket in a super spell, Cooke (12) was also caught at mid-off, to leave the score on 111-7. Gillani (15) fell soon afterwards, after some typically belligerent shots, and the innings was wrapped up swiftly, as Craig Whistance and Matt Davies were dismissed and the innings subsided to 123 all out.

Abergavenny will rue the fact that no-one in the top order played the sort of substantial innings required to hold things together as they had in their previous victories, and in the end, Martin's invaluable defiance proved the difference between the sides. Aber were also guilty of not quite getting the balance between attack and defence right against Sudbrook's spinners, and despite their admirable approach that they were not going to let the spinners dictate terms, many batters gifted their wickets with aggressive strokes.

Abergavenny entertain Tondu at home next week and will hope to get back to winning ways in order to maintain their title hopes.

Abergavenny's Second XI also suffered defeat at the hands of Sudbrook, by a margin of seven wickets at Avenue Road.

Inserted by the visitors, the home side benefited from some erratic bowling and got off to a flying start, passing 50 in the eighth over. The highly promising Lewis Holley went on to score a splendid 62, playing a range of fluent strokes, but the scoring rate stagnated in mid innings as the Sudbrook bowling tightened up considerably. It needed some excellent striking from another young talent, Matthew Knight (40), in the later overs, to propel the final score to 209 for seven from the 45 overs.

Earlier, Nick Kinman had scored 20 and there was also a useful contribution from Ryan Murphy-Sharp. The pick of the visitors' bowlers was Rhys Prescott with three for 21.

In reply, Sudbrook chased down the total very efficiently. In the face of generally accurate bowling, each batsman kept the scoreboard ticking along, putting their team in a position to strike out in the later overs, with wickets in hand.

Young Joe Voke, opening the innings, batted impressively for his 49, Kyle Stevens scored a fine half century and skipper Matt Spencer accelerated the pace with a hard-hitting 49 not out, leading his side to victory with four overs to spare. This latest defeat leaves Abergavenny languishing near the foot of the league table.

Later, this month – on Sunday 30 June at 2 pm – Abergavenny Cricket Club will host a match between the current Glamorgan First XI and a team of Glamorgan 'legends', which will include seven former England players – Matthew Maynard, Huw Morris, Steve James, Steve Watkin, Robert Croft, Simon Jones and Alex Wharf. Hopefully, the match will evoke memories of the annual county matches once held at Avenue Road, which provided so much enjoyment to spectators.