Collapse costs Penarth (From Penarth Times)

Collapse costs Penarth

It was yet another disappointing weekend for Penarth's 1st XI as yet again they put themselves into a match winning position only to throw it away in calamitous fashion.

What was even more worrying for the team was that it was not their poor fielding which let them down, instead it was a terrible batting performance which prevented them from taking the points from an Usk side who were in the relegation dog fight with them.

Penarth lost the toss and the home side elected to bat first, they were soon regretting this decision as the Penarth opening pair of Mark Frost and Peter Ingram both produced fantastic opening spells to leave the home side 23 for 3 after 14 overs with Ingram collecting 2 wickets and Frost with 1. Usk were dealt another blow when Anu Mohindru was forced to retire hurt with a back injury, which prevented him from playing any further part in proceedings.

At this juncture Smith replaced Frost but failed to settle into his rhythm and after just 6 overs was replaced with Frost, while at the other end Ingram who bowled as well as he has all season was replaced by Richard Skone after bowling 10 overs 2 for 31.

Frost bowled another few tight overs before he was replaced by Mark Thomas. And just overs later Skone made the 4th breakthrough of the day trapping Wyatt for 8.

There was then a healthy partnership built between Kear and Davies and the home side recovered in a slow and unspectacular manner. When Kear finally fell to Skone for 58 the pair had added 74 runs to the total.

The final overs of the Usk innings were a cut and thrust affair as the home side scrambled for runs before there overs ran out. Frost came back into the attack and a fine spell produced a further 3 wickets for himself and Skone picked up the other as Usk were bowled out for 170. Frost finished with excellent figures of 13.4-4-31, while Skone had 15-3-55.

Penarth now had 58 overs to score 171 runs.

It was a slow start as Neil Stephens was trapped lbw for 0 early on but Penarth then took total control with Dave Ricketts and Skone batting solidly and pushing the score along nicely.

An uncharacteristically loose shot from Ricketts saw him fall for 23 with the Penarth total on 48-2. But Lloyd Smith strode purposefully to the crease and he and his skipper carried on the good work as Penarth eased comfortably towards their target easily matching the 3 runs per over rate.

Skone batted cautiously while Smith added the flair and he soon reached a well deserved 50, as Penarth reached 120-2 off 39 overs.

What followed next was a complete disaster. First Smith chipped a ball straight to cover to be caught for 57, then just 5 balls later Skone did exactly the same to fall for 32.

James and Peter Docherty were now at the crease and all seemed ok as the former started well enough, hitting a 4 and a 6 but he then proceeded to miss a full toss and was bowled for 13.

Jack Parkinson came in next and was soon joined by Richard Childs as Peter Docherty was caught at cover for 8. But Parkinson, followed by Mark Thomas and Peter Ingram were all soon back in the pavilion for 2, 1 and 1 respectively.

It therefore came down to Childs and Mark Frost to try and guide the Penarthians home, but even though they required 12 runs off 4 overs they failed to do so as with 5 runs to win and 6 balls remaining a mistake by Childs saw him run out for a brave 17 as Penarth were all out for 166.

Meanwhile at Penarth there were moving scenes as a one minute silence was held, as there were at all 4 Penarth matches, before the game acknowledging the untimely passing of Matthew Hitchen, aged just 9 months old, son of 2nd XI captain Mike Hitchen.

The game that followed produced yet another walk over for the 2nds as they continue their relentless charge towards the 2nd XI title. The opposition were Llanarth, although there was only ever one side in the match as Penarth skittled the opposition for just 114 with Andrew Prickett doing most of the damage taking 4-28 in 8 overs.

The Penarth reply lasted just 20 overs as Ian Summerfield 39, David Stevens 34 not out and Richard Meggitt 24 not out saw Penarth home with ease to cement their place at the top of the table.

The 3rd XI continued their fine run with a 29 run win at Bridgend. Batting first Penarth scored 214-9 with Hywel Elias top scoring with 46 while Simon Wilkinson scored 37 in just 23 balls and both Steve Newman and Huey Smith got 24.

In reply Bridgend were 185 all out, Newman contributing again with 4-56 while Ishy Ahktar took 3-43 and John Clogg got 2-53.

The 4th XI were also in winning form beating Bridgend by just 2 runs. Penarth scored 144 all out, Mike Parry blasting 36 with Dave Slugg, 23, and Richard Pugh, 18, also chipping in. In reply Bridgend managed to score 142-8 with Gareth Hall-Williams taking 3-35, Pugh 2-20 while Stuart Lewis stifled the Bridgend reply with a miserly 15 overs 1-24.

Saturday's teams

1st XI v Miskin (A) meet 11.30am: R Skone (capt), D Ricketts, L Smith, P Goodfellow, R Meggitt, J Docherty, P Docherty, M Thomas, P Ingram, M Frost

2nd XI Bridgend (H) meet 12.30pm: M. Hitchen (capt), I Summerfield, D Stevens, G Williams, P Edwards, R Crimp, L El Khatib, A Chilcott, A Prickett, C Mallows, I Humpage. 3rd XI Senghenydd (H) meet 1.15pm: A Crimp (capt), H Elias, M Slugg, H Smith, E Smith, I Akhtar, J Clogg, S Wilkinson, S Newman, G Hall-Williams, R Morgan.

4th XI Senghenydd (A) meet 1.00pm: A Drew (capt), D Slugg, M Parry, G Davies, S Lewis, M Birch, G Evans, T Cole, R Kynaston, A Jewell, G Hooper.

Sunday XI v Caerphilly Druids meet 2.00pm: J Docherty (capt), D Stevens, M Thomas, T Sidford, T Parkinson, M Birch, D Williams, R Skone, R Harris, A N Other, S O Else. 12th man Nathan.