A bad weekend for the Seasiders (From Penarth Times)

A bad weekend for the Seasiders

IT was a weekend full of disappointment for Penarth's 1st and 2nd XIs, as the former fell to two dismal defeats and the latter lost a possible title-clinching battle with St Fagans on Monday.

However it's not all doom and gloom as St Fagans still have two difficult games to come with defeat in either gifting the title to Dave Stevens' men.

The 1sts were comprehensively beaten first by Sud-brook, where they slipped to 139 all out before the visitors knocked the runs off for the loss of five wickets.

Then on Monday they visited title-chasing St Fagans and once again a shoddy batting display saw the Sea-siders fail to set a challenging target, as they scraped to 175 all out, with Penarthian Nick Swetman helping himself to six wickets.

Then Tom Maynard (73) and Alun Evans (45 not out) smashed the Fags to a deserved victory in double quick time.

The 2nd XI had a big win on Saturday with skipper Dave Stevens hitting a magnificent 105, Peter Docherty making 71 and Peter Edwards 70 not out. Penarth's total of 295 was always going to be too big for Sudbrook to chase and Stevens' side cruised to a deserved victory.

With St Fagans having lost on Saturday, a Penarth win on Monday would have sealed the Premier league title, but it was not to be.

Batting first, Penarth didn't make the most of the starts made by their batsmen and ended up with a slightly disappointing 214 from their 50 overs.

St Fagans made a cracking start as Penarth failed to make early in-roads they had been hoping for.

The visitors never let their grip on the game slip away and eased to victory with five wickets down and six overs to spare.

The title dream is not over quite yet as St Fagans still have to play third placed Newport and fourth placed Usk, with a slip-up in either handing the title to Penarth - fingers firmly crossed!

The 3rd XI finished their season on a high with a resounding victory over Blaina. There were wickets for Rhys Goodfellow, Zia Gehlan, Usman Mohammed and'Plug' Newman as Penarth dominated the Blaina batsmen.

In reply Adrian Chilcott was at his swash-buckling best as he smashed the ball to all parts of the ground on his way to a match-winning 73.

Sunday also saw the club's annual Single Wicket tournament with James Docherty coming out on top for the third time in a row.

Dave Stevens was the beaten finalist having seen off Tom Parkinson in the semi-final, while Docherty beat his brother Sam in his semi.

Tom Sidford took the Biggest Hit crown, Sam Docherty took the best catch and youngster Chris Poole was adjudged Best Fielder for his efforts throughout the day.

1st XI v Panteg (H) Meet 11.20am

To be selected from:

D Ricketts, R Skone, J Hughes, J V Davies, M J Thomas, M A Thomas, N Morgan, J Docherty, P Ingram, R Morgan, P Goodfellow, R Crimp, D Stevens, T Sidford