Penarth overpowered (From Penarth Times)

Penarth overpowered

PENARTH 1st XI made the short trip to Llanrumney on Saturday to face their big city neighbours Cardiff. It was always going to be a difficult task but with a tiny boundary on one side of the pitch and with Glamorgan's Keith Newell having an excellent day for Cardiff the task proved to be out of Penarth's reach.

Cardiff batted first and were 21-0 off just two overs as Mark Frost and Peter Ingram both had loose opening overs. The run rate slowed slightly but with Newell and Richard Almond looking in good form it was hard work for the Penarth attack. Ingram failed to settle into any rhythm and was replaced by Robert Crimp.

Frost meanwhile had found a consistent line and length bowling 7 overs for just 11 runs. He then made way for the skipper Richard Skone while Crimp was replaced by Mark Thomas as Penarth turned to their spinners to try and get that elusive first wicket. It finally came after 27 overs. Skone trapping Almond LBW for 40. Then three overs later Thomas removed Newell, clean bowling him for a solid 61 and Cardiff were 132-2 off 30.

Skone was bowling a fine spell and in order to cut the home side's run rate he replaced Thomas with Frost and the new batsmen added just 37 runs in 15 overs and lost another wicket with Frost having Robbie Weston caught behind for 23.

Frost then took another wicket in his final over, bowling Neil Buttigieg for 12. However Skone and Frost had now bowled all their allotted overs, finishing with 15-33-1 and 15-38-2 respectively, and Ingram and Crimp were reintroduced for the final 6 overs.

With an old ball and short boundary the Cardiff batsmen went to town adding 50 runs, Crimp was the main victim having 32 hit off his last 3 overs, though he did collect the wickets of Dave Kirtley, for 29, Mark Watt, for 11 and Rob Powell for 5, to finish with figures of 6-44-3, while Ingram and Thomas had 10-51-0 and 9-50-1 respectively, as the Cardiff inning finished on 229-7.

Penarth fielded a new look opening pair with Jack Parkinson teaming up with the reliable Dave Ricketts, and things went well to start and steady progress was made. However after a solid performance Parkinson was bowled by a good ball from Khan for 8 and Penarth were 31-1 off 12 overs.

Worse was to follow as Penarth slumped to 46-4 with Richard Meggett and Peter Edwards falling to the bowling of Newell for 1 and 7 while captain Skone was caught behind for 0 off the bowling of Watt.

Two fine partnerships, put Penarth back into the game. First Ricketts and Goodfellow put on 40 for the 5th wicket with the latter being the main provider hitting 27 in classic Goodfellow style that had previously been missing this year.

When Goodfellow was bowled by Hibbert, Ricketts carried on with Richard Childs in support and they took the score up to 140 before Ricketts was adjudged LBW for 58 off the bowling of Horrocks.

What followed provided a serious bout of deja vous as the visitors proceeded to lose another 3 wickets for 1 run, this time the culprits were Thomas, 0, Childs, 20, and Crimp, 0. And at 141 for 9 it looked as if Penarth would be returning home defeated and with no batting points.

However a Herculean effort by Frost and in particular Ingram saw Penarth pass 175 for 3 valuable extra points. The game this Saturday against St.Fagans is now even more important as the Bears try to claw themselves free from the relegation zone.

FINE WINS

It was a different story back at the Athletic field where both the 2nd and 4th XI's recorded fine victories.

The 2nds were entertaining Ebbw Vale and ran out emphatic victors and recorded a 164 run victory which gave them a maximum 20 point haul to cement their position at the top of the 2nd XI table. Penarth batted first and amassed a gargantuan total of 298-7 in their 50 overs. The main contributors were James Docherty with 127, his first league hundred for the club, and stand-in skipper Neil Stephens with 65. David Stevens with 23 and Adrian Chilcott 20 also chipped while Sam Docherty 13 not out, and Gwyn Williams 19 not out added the late impetus.

Ebbw Vale were never in the game and limped to 134 all out, J Docherty collecting 3-27, while Ian Humpage, Andy Prickett and Neil Stephens all had 2 victims, with Graham McNaughten getting the other.

The 2nd team have a vital away trip to the only other undefeated side in their league, St.Fagans next week in a top of the table clash.

The fourth team notched up yet another win in the league against Crumlin in a very tight game. Penarth batted first and scored 178 all out with Andrew Jewell and Gareth Hall-Williams both making 64. Crumlin got off to a very quick start but the Penarth attack of Stuart Lewis, who took 1 wicket, and Matt Birch managed to tighten the reigns When their spells had finished their replacements Richard Pugh and Hall-Williams both came on to great effect taking 4 wickets each as Crumlin finished on 160-9.