DINAS Powys Cricket Club 1st XI suffered another defeat last weekend at the hands of champions-elect Monmouth. Monmouthshire has not been a happy-hunting ground for Dinas in recent seasons and this game did nothing to buck the trend.

While skipper Nathan Piddock has become an expert at winning the toss, most would rather it translated to winning cricket matches as Dinas chose to bat first at Chippenham Sports Ground.

Piddock (68) and Jack Thomas (24) got the visitors off to an excellent start but a strong 117-2 ended up as a weak 189 all out. With the exception of the openers, only Jack Preston (35) found time in the middle as his teammates floundered when holding a bat.

Matt Bloxham (7-2-21-3) and Alex Vowles (9-3-24-2) tested Monmouth with the ball but in truth the hosts rarely looked in trouble. They produced a near perfect chase closing on 193-7 inside 44 overs to win with relative comfort by three wickets.

So on a ground close to where the River Monnow ends to join the River Wye, in similar fashion Dinas’s season has also petered out into mid-table obscurity.

The 2nd XI entertained Malpas in a mid-table tussle at Parc Bryn-y-Don. Dinas skipper Andy Ford with the previous week’s damp weather in mind, decided to field first despite having a side packed with a range of shapes, sizes and mobility.

Malpas started strongly with the bat but the introductions of Richie Morgan (9-1-26-3) and Josh Clogg (9-3-17-2) to the bowling attack proved fruitful. Rhys Lloyd also continued to justify his spot in the second team by claiming another two wickets in his eight over spell.

Unfortunately captain Ford was blessed with many bowling options and didn’t get the chance to turn to spin-twin Mavis Wilton on his 50th cap for the 2nds as Malpas, all out for just 136 wilted before Wilton even had a chance to warm-up.

After Ruth Clogg’s usual divine spread, Ford pulled what he had been calling his ‘ace card’ in the week leading up to the game by opening the batting with Richie Morgan. When the skipper announced the news in the dressing room his side probably thought it was more like he’d played the joker.

This proved the case with Morgan going early for four and fellow opener Lloyd Di Mauro staggered his way to 21 leaving the home side with plenty of runs to get on 44-2. Jason Harries provided some much-needed steel at number three to craft 23 as Dinas started to sniff victory.

But it was Josh Clogg who hit a fabulous 51 not out to see his side home with Ford providing Clogg’s foil as Dinas reached their target with three overs to spare to win by six wickets.

The less said about the 3rd XI game, the better as Red Todd-Bennett’s side suffered a huge blow to their promotion hopes against St Fagans 4th XI.

A spongy Common pitch caused havoc as Dinas lost the toss and were put into bat by the visiting side.

Tom Eden (49), on his final appearance of the season for Dinas fell just short of his half-century in the only bright spark of a dreadful show of batting. After this team performance it’s hard to blame Eden for moving as far away as possible to seek pastures new in the North East.

In fact, skipper Red Todd-Bennett’s glum face post-match suggested he wouldn’t have minded joining Eden well away from the Common as well.

Dinas did not even make the scheduled 40 overs as they were all out for a paltry 107 with the bottom seven batsman only just scraping double figures between them.

St Fagans seemed to make heavy work of their chase with the Gareth’s, Storey (9-1-30-2) and even more so Hodges (9-1-17-4) leaving the visitors in a spot of bother at 90-7 with overs running out.

But a few edges and giant heaves across the line saw St Fagans victorious by three wickets with two overs to spare. While Dinas deserved little else than defeat, more catches were shelled than they care to remember which had they been held may have yielded a different outcome.