A step towards safety (From Penarth Times)

A step towards safety

It proved to be another productive weekend for Penarth Cricket Club's 1st XI as they moved out of the relegation places with a winning draw over a struggling Pontypridd side.

Penarth started the day below the visitors to the Athletic field, but after a fine batting performance and some solid bowling and fielding leap-frogged Ponty to be out of the drop zone at the half way stage of the season.

Skipper Dave Ricketts lost the toss and surprisingly found the opposition captain asking Penarth to bat on a flat track, with almost perfect batting conditions. The loss of Peter Goodfellow in the first over for 0, LBW to Martin Oliver, briefly justified that decision but after 20 overs Ricketts and Richard Skone had put things right and were making the most of the conditions taking the score to 70-1 with little effort or risk taking required.

Pontypridd soon lost two of their most reliable bowlers, Roberts and Ed Hallett to injury (ankle and back respectively), which further added to their already depleted chances of getting anything from the match. Skone in particular was not in the mood to let them off the hook and played some glorious strokes as he rapidly approached a half century.

Ricketts eventually fell in the 25th over for 28 runs caught behind off the bowling of Ryan Williams, and after partnering Skone past his 50 Richard Meggitt also succumbed to the bowling of Williams for 10.

This brought James Docherty to the crease and he and Skone looked to push the run rate along. Skone was by now in full flow and looked to be on for a richly deserved century, however he fell agonisingly short being caught behind off the bowling of John Wintle for an excellent 97.

Skone's departure came in the 46th over with the score at 195-4. Laith El Khatib went the same way as Skone 2 overs later for 6 as the home side looked to get to 250 and consequently collect a maximum of 5 batting points. Robert Crimp was next at the crease and he added some much needed impetus to the innings with some lusty blows, while at the other end Docherty had played his way to 50 runs in confident mood. When Crimp was finally caught on the boundary for 26 Penarth were 251 for 6 after 54 overs, Docherty and Mark Thomas added 6 runs in the final over as the Seasider's finished on 257-6 with Docherty 55 not out and Thomas 2 not out.

The Pontypridd reply started well for Penarth as first Graham MacNaughton dismissed Ryan Williams for 0 before Peter Ingram marked his return from injury with the wicket of Gareth Hughes caught behind by Jack Parkinson for 1 to leave the visitors 4-2.

Steve Mathews then came to join Ryan Evans at the crease and the pair set about rebuilding the innings, which they did well in the face of fine spells from both opening bowlers.

Despite Penarth's best efforts it was a partnership which proved difficult to break, and the few chances that did appear were missed.

It was left to Penarth's major run scorer of the day Richard Skone to finally break the partnership which he did with the help of a fine catch from El-Khatib at cover to remove Mathews for a combative 47.

Lewis and Oliver followed in quick succession for 0 and 4 respectively the former falling LBW to Thomas while the latter was bowled by a Skone arm ball, to leave the visitors 144-5 after 43 overs.

The major breakthrough came in the very next over as Thomas spotted Evans coming down the track and cleverly pushed the delivery down the leg side for Parkinson to take a sharp stumping sending the Pontypridd skipper back for 84, although at the cost of a wide.

What then followed was a dreary 10 overs in which Penarth were unable to finish off the visitors lower order despite the best efforts of Skone, Thomas, MacNaughton and Ingram, although Ingram did manage to have Wintle caught behind for 13.

At the end Ian Taylor finished with 32 not out while Gareth Owen had prodded his way to 7 not out as the visitors fell some 52 runs short of their target. The Penarth Bowling ended as Ingram 14 overs 2 wickets for 41 runs, MacNaughton 13-1-47, Skone 15-2-40, Crimp 5-0-28, Thomas 7-2-38 and Docherty 1-0-0.

The 2nd XI had yet another early finish as they travelled to Miskin Manor and dished out somewhat of a thrashing as they chase top spot in the league. The home side batted first and were torn apart by the spin of Neil Stephens and Andrew Prickett who picked up 4 wickets apiece as Miskin capitulated to 133 all out.

In reply it was Stephens again doing the damage smashing 71 not out as Penarth raced to a nine wicket victory. Dave Stephens was the only Penarth casualty falling for 32 and Rhys Morgan was there at the end on 10 not out.

The 3rd XI suffered another defeat in a close match with Great Western of Bridgend. The visitors batted first and scored 215 despite an excellent spell of bowling from John Clogg which went unrewarded, 4 wickets for Steve Newman and a couple for Simon Wilkinson. In reply Sidney van der Merwe was again on form hitting 68 in no time at all. Support however was not forthcoming and though there were good knocks from Clogg and Skipper Anthony Crimp it was not quite good enough as they fell some 18 runs short of their target. The 4th XI endured another somewhat unsuccessful weekend as they first saw Great Western 2nd XI amass 210 with Stuart Lewis the pick of the Penarth bowling collecting 4 wickets. In reply the 4th team collapsed to just 55 all out.

Selections for July 5

1st XI v Chepstow (A) meet 1100am: D Ricketts, R Skone, P Goodfellow, J Docherty, P Edwards, N Stephens, L El-Khatib, G MacNaughton, M Frost, M Crowther, J Parkinson

2nd XI v Abergavenny (H) meet 12.20pm: M Hitchen, S Docherty, R Crimp, R Meggitt, D Stevens, M Allen, M Parry, R Bromley, I Humpage, A Prickett, R Morgan

3rd XI v Wenvoe (H) meet 1pm: A Crimp, K Pires, S v d Merwe, H Elias, J Clogg, I Summerfield, A Chilcott, S Wilkinson, G Hall-Williams, R Smallwood, H Smith

4th XI v Wenvoe (A) meet 1pm, from: A Drew, G Davies, R Pugh, S Lewis, M Birch, A Jewell, D Slugg, T Sidford, C Lewis, P Ward, T Parkinson, R Goodfellow, H Williams, R Healy, I Akhtar, R Cox

Sunday XI v Pencoed (H) meet 1pm: D Stevens, M Birch, S Docherty, T Parkinson, M Thomas, R Morgan, R Goodfellow, G Davies, R Goodfellow, A N Other, S O Else.