Smith stars in vital victory (From Penarth Times)

Smith stars in vital victory

Last weekend turned out to a be a great one for Penarth's 1st XI as they comprehensively defeated Newport at the Athletic Field to lift themselves out of the relegation zone in the South Wales Premier League.

The undoubted star of the Penarth show was Lloyd Smith who took 4 wickets in the Newport innings and followed it up with a fine unbeaten century. Smith was ably supported with the ball by Mark Frost who claimed 5-67 and with the bat by Dave Ricketts who scored 65 in an opening partnership of 150.

Penarth won the toss and skipper Richard Skone sent Newport in to bat. It was clear from the start that Newport's danger man was going to be Ryan Watkins, and the Glamorgan youngster wasted no time early on as he sent any loose balls racing to the boundaries.

However it also became clear that Penarth had the measure of the rest of the Newport batsmen as Frost and Peter Ingram both produced good opening spells which resulted in the dismissal of Newport captain Gary Wood for 5, lbw to Frost.

Smith and Mark Thomas then came on to bowl and both had productive spells Smith collecting the wicket of Roberts for 9, clean bowled, while Thomas bowled an excellent line and length, conceding just 9 runs in 7 overs. However Penarth lost wicket-keeper Richard Childs to a suspected broken finger and Peter Docherty was brought in as emergency cover.

Although Watkins was looking comfortable it was clear that the rest of the Newport batting line-up were not in such good form and this showed as the run rate slowed considerably when Watkins was not on strike. The introduction to the Penarth attack of Richard Skone only served to add to the pressure on the visitors as he managed to slow even Watkins scoring.

With the score on 90 after 29 overs Watkins who was visibly frustrated by the lack of runs being scored attempted to force a quick single off the bowling of Skone, but Mick Martin at the other end was not quite as quick off the mark and a direct hit from James Docherty at point saw him run out for 12.

Thomas was replaced by Frost and although Watkins seemed to take a liking to the extra pace, Strange, at the other end, was always struggling and eventually fell to Frost lbw for 14.

Watkins was joined by Mike Knight and the two added 42 runs in 9 overs with Watkins doing most of the damage and passing the 100 mark in the process. It was a dangerous time for Penarth as after passing his century Watkins really started to throw his bat at the ball, but the re-introduction of Smith proved decisive as Watkins skied one towards cover where Peter Ingram took an excellent, if not slightly unorthodox catch, to dismiss the youngster for an excellent 118.

Smith then followed this up with another wicket just 2 balls later having Roberts caught behind by Peter Docherty for 0. With Skone bowling an excellent spell at the other end it was left to Smith to capitalise on the pressure exerted by Skone's miserly performance and he did so by picking up his fourth wicket, that of Knight, bowled for 15.

Skone finished his 15 overs having conceded just 28 runs, and Frost returned to bowl the last 2 overs down the hill, and in the first one bowled Rhys Harper for 7. Then in the final over with 2 Newport wickets and 2 ball remaining, Frost gained Penarth their final bowling point by firstly catching Joe Thompson off his own bowling for 3, and then with the last ball of the innings, he had Clayden caught by Peter Docherty for 0 to leave the visitors 196 all out.

The Penarth reply was an absolute joy to watch as Smith and Dave Ricketts made light work of the target in a measured and controlled run chase. Needing just over 3.5 per over both batsmen settled down well and with the small exception of a few short balls bowled to Ricketts by Watkins, neither batsman looked like giving their wicket away in the face of a young bowling attack which rarely looked like having enough to take one. The fact that Newport used seven different bowlers shows their desperation to try and produce something to take a wicket.

Ricketts was his usual patient self, waiting for the bad ball and making the most of it when it arrived and in the meantime driving the bowlers mad as he simply played out the good balls. While at the other end Smith was playing the ball around in flamboyant style using every shot in the book, he also showed great patience in the face of some good bowling and refused, as he has done in the past, to allow his frustration to impede his shot selection.

The score moved steadily along and was soon passed 100, and shortly after that, both batsmen, Ricketts first and then Smith, passed 50. The two men were evenly matched throughout their innings and when Ricketts was caught by Thompson off the bowling of Watkins for 65, Smith had 67 and they had added 150 for the 1st wicket.

Skone joined Smith at the crease but it became a one man show as Smith took it upon himself to make the most of his good start and push the score along in the face of some demoralised Newport bowlers.

Smith passed 100 with just 4 runs left to get and it was left to Skone to hit the winning runs as Penarth cruised home with 9 wickets and 12 overs to spare. Smith's timely return to form means that Penarth move above Abergavenny and out of the relegation places. If they can build on this performance in the coming weeks against Pontypridd (A), Sudbrook (H) and then the big one against Abergavenny (A) they should be able to cement their place in the premier league for next year without having to leave it to the final few games.

The 2nd XI returned to winning ways against Newport Fugitives recording a fine 7 wicket victory. The Fugies batted first and were bowled out for just 126 as Mike Hitchen's men were back on top form in the field. Graham McNaughton taking 3-31 in an excellent 15 over spell, while the calculated off-spin of lower order specialist Neil Stephens brought him 4-26.

In reply Penarth raced to their target with David Stevens providing the back bone with 33 not out while Robert Crimp 35 and Peter Edwards with 16 made sure that Penarth hold on to top spot in the league.

Tony Crimps 3rd XI continued their fine run of form as they beat St Peters by 30 runs. Batting first Penarth amassed 225 with Hywel Elias top scoring with 80 while Huey Smith 40 and Kevin Maddox 37 both helped the cause with their contributions.

St Peters made a good attempt at chasing the Penarth total but 5 wickets from Simon Wilkinson and a 4 wicket haul from Ishy Ahktar maintained Penarth's winning streak. And to complete the first all winning Saturday the 4th XI made a fine recovery to beat St Peters 2nd XI by 2 wickets. The visitors were ominously poised at 80-0 off just 17 overs before Matt Birch 4-24 and Dave Slugg with 5-44 reduced them to 110 all out.

Penarth made hard work of the reply but 30 from Gareth Davies along with valuable contributions from Graham Hooper 20 and Dave Slugg 22 meant that the 4th's consolidated their 3rd position in the league.

On Sunday the Travelling Circus visited Blaina and came second in an enjoyable game. The home side batted first and scored 198 the highlights of the innings being a first wicket for Nathan Townsend, Matt Slugg attempting to impale himself on a set of stumps and Alan 'slim' Drew bringing out the old roly-poly ball! There were wickets for 'Sid' Stevens, Dave 'Biggles' Williams, 'Angry' Smith, Drew and 2 each for 'Casual' Jenkins and 'Plug' Newman.

In reply Penarth stumbled to 196 all out, Lloyd Smith and Matt Slugg both scoring fine half centuries, and Steve Newman scored 35 but with just 2 runs to win and nearly every fielder on the boundary he skied one straight to cover as Penarth just missed out on making it a 5 in 5 weekend.