DINAS Powys Cricket Club's 1st XI travelled to Corntown to face close rivals Vale on Saturday.

Dinas skipper Nathan 'Norman' Piddock won the toss for the fifth game in a row and decided to bat on a good strip with a quick outfield.

Piddock's faith in his batting line up was justified as Dinas racked up 329/6 in their 45 overs. Openers Gordon Hannah and Brychan 'Brunswick' Tudor set the tone early on racing to 31 off 3 overs and the scoring rate was kept well above a run a ball throughout the innings.

Brunswick perished LBW for a patient 34, but through surviving opener Hannah and Curtis 'Charlie' Wingren the visitors kept motoring along at a rate of knots.

Hannah brought up his second consecutive league century with another one of his many boundaries and Wingren, shortly afterwards brought up his 50 with some nice leg side shots.

Hannah fell for an exceptionally well-crafted 110 from 89 balls to a standing ovation from his teammates. Even scorer Ken Hannah found time to put down his plethora of pens to applaud his son’s knock. Asad Rizvi (10) and then Piddock (21) joined Wingren for brief spells as he too chased his ton.

Wingren kept flashing his new blade which had come with a hefty price tag and reached his century before finally being dismissed off the last ball of the innings having hit 108.

After tea, Dinas looked to defend their mammoth 329 but luck wasn't with the bowling attack as the Vale openers looked to smack everything out of the ground whether aesthetically pleasing or not. However, Lewie ‘Frozen’ Clarke broke the ice with the score on 40 grabbing himself a couple of quick wickets.

Wickets then started to tumble for Vale as they looked to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Rizvi (3-21 from 9 overs) was the pick of the Dinas attack, and could have had more if a few tough chances had been held. There were further wickets for Steve Bussell, Lloyd Di Mauro and lastly, Connor Hetherton who finished the game off with a well-directed bouncer.

This left Vale all out for 188 meaning Dinas claimed maximum points for the fifth game in a row, as they continue their promotion push.

The 2XI faced table-toppers Barry Athletic 2XI at Parc Bryn-y-Don with stand-in skipper Gareth Evans winning the toss and deciding to bat first.

Mike O’Donovan and Evans himself opened up but both were dismissed relatively cheaply and Sam ‘Ken Barlow’ Marlow soon followed his side’s openers back to the pavilion after being trapped LBW.

Jason Harries (38) and Josh Clogg (22) rebuilt for the home team but once they had both fallen, Dinas folded like a deck of cards and were all out for just 121 inside 35 overs.

After an earlier than bargained for tea, Saajan Ali and Olly Coughtrey opened up the bowling with Ali particularly unfortunate to end wicketless. Young spinner Rhys Lloyd who has improved no end this season was brought on but could not improve his side’s fortunes with Richard Morgan (7-0-16-2) grabbing the only wickets as Barry knocked off the runs for the loss of just two wickets.

On the Common, the 3XI entertained Monkswood 3XI with captain Red Todd-Bennett doing particularly well to gather 11 bodies with Ashes fever hitting the club hard.

The skipper was the only survivor from the side who beat Whitchurch last week and is surely close to some sort of coin tossing record as he won yet another one, electing to bowl first.

Reuben Mitchell and Rob Tucker headed up the bowling attack with the former claiming an early wicket courtesy of a terrific slip catch from Geoff Colley. Tucker clean bowled Monkswood’s danger man soon after leaving the visitors a little under the cosh with few runs on the board.

Opting to keep Mitchell for the death, the skipper turned to spin bringing on Mavis Wilton. As luck would have it the Sun poked its head through the clouds while Mavis was bowling and he lobbed a couple up into the sunlight with the batsman needing a quality pair of Oakley’s to stand any chance of seeing it.

After a brief spell from ‘Mavey’, Colley entered the attack and rolled back the years in a fantastic spell claiming two wickets conceding only eight runs. Ken Barlow’s dad, Geoff Marlow did an excellent job the other end too, chucking in a few of his tricky leg cutters.

Rhys Harlin claimed his first senior wicket and Mitchell (2-35) came back on to complete his nine allotted overs to grab another leaving Monkswood on 134-7 off their 40 overs.

After some heaped plates of Ruth Clogg tea, Rob Tucker and keeper Tom Eden began the chase. Tucker went early for 13 allowing Todd-Bennett to come in and provide some foil for Eden. After hitting a couple of boundaries the skipper got a thin glove on one which was taken by Monkswood’s wicketkeeper so departed for 12.

Jack Fleckney couldn’t stay in either so in came Geoff Colley in usual fashion showing his wealth of experience. Having batted beautifully Eden unfortunately went for 49 leaving Colley with the task of steering his side who still needed 50 more runs, to victory

Rhys Harlin and then Dan Randell (four not out), playing his first game of league cricket aided Colley (41 not out) in his successful quest as Dinas won by five wickets.

Having asked every man and his dog from the village to play in the week, a big thanks goes to those who played and to come away with a win was an unbelievable result.

In the words of the late Errol Brown “I believe in miracles” said the skipper post-match as thirds secured their third consecutive win.

Next Saturday’s Fixtures (July 18)

1XI v Cardiff Gymkhana (Home – Parc Bryn-y-Don)

2XI v Newport Fugitives (Away)

3XI v Sully Spartans 1XI (Away)