Century for Southwell (From Penarth Times)

Century for Southwell

DINAS Powys Cricket Club had a successful final week of the season when both the First and Second XIs recorded victories against Caerleon.

The highlight of the Firsts win at Parc Bryn-y-Don was a century for opening batsman Ian Southwell, which helped Dinas reach 239 for 5 in their 45 overs.

Steve Hudson scored 52 in a second wicket partnership of 82. Southwell was eventually dismissed for 101, then Jason Ross and Geoff Colley added useful late runs to set a target which seemed likely to be well out of reach for Caerleon.

Huw Mark had an early breakthrough when Dinas bowled, bringing the Caerleon number three M Jones to the crease. He raced to 50 with 12 fours, taking a particular liking to the bowling of Marks and Steve Bussell.

Skipper Geoff Colley then brought himself on to bowl and took the key wicket of Jones, caught by Hudson for 77.

Colley took 2 for 24 in six overs, while at the other end Southwell, having his first bowl of the season, took 4 for 57 in ten overs, helped by catches from Colley and Andrew Ford.

Although losing wickets, Caerleon had continued to score quickly, and only needed 18 runs from the last four overs, thanks mainly to a solid century opening partnership by Ian Richardson and Tom Davies, who both scored in the 40s.

Phil Date took an early wicket for Dinas and Rob Shaw bowled accurately to take four wickets. Dinas again held their catches, Nigel Moore taking two and Ian and James Richardson one each.

The highlight for Dinas was young spinner Ben Davies taking four wickets in his first senior game, one thanks to a remarkable catch by his father Mike.

All this set up an exciting finish as Caerleon had plenty of overs in hand but were running out of batsmen. With the last pair needing only 6 runs to win, captain Ian Richardson opted for the experience of Date and himself to take the last wicket.

This proved successful, but not in the anticipated way, when a mix-up in running enabled Gareth Evans and Richardson to run out the last batsman, giving Dinas a 5 run victory.