Penarth slumped to their third consecutive defeat as a monumental batting collapse saw South Wales Premier League Division One leaders Ynystawe take the spoils in a low-scoring affair at the Athletic Field.

All of Penarth’s matches last weekend were marked by a minute’s silence in memory of Keith James who died suddenly the previous week.

His former clubs, Radyr and St Fagans, were also represented in Penarth.

On the field, Penarth’s cause wasn’t helped by the late withdrawal through injury of Ali Bukhari, meaning a significant reshuffle.

Despite this and the loss of Will Skone in the second over of the match, there was little to suggest what was to come as Penarth moved to 53-2 with Nithin Mathias and Adeeb Ilyas progressing steadily.

However, once Lee Hicks trapped Mathias lbw for 27, Penarth stuttered badly.

Skipper Nick Morgan fell without scoring, followed immediately by Ilyas for 20, and a full-scale collapse was well under way.

No other Penarth player could reach double figures as Thomas Morgan, Garthwaite and Beasley shared the wickets and the Bears crashed horribly to just 75 all out.

The Ynystawe reply wasn’t all plain sailing. Ryan Sylvester dismissed Nathan Palmer in the first over with the score on zero, followed by two other victims to claim 3-23.

Unfortunately, there was no prospect of lightning striking twice and although Mark Thomas and Will Skone bagged a wicket apiece, 33 from Tom Blake did most of the work and the visitors wrapped up victory by five wickets.

The second team enjoyed the better of an even shorter game at Cowbridge where a stunning bowling display saw them roll their hosts for just 37 in a little over 17 overs.

Opening bowlers Tom Pascoe (2-12) and Lewis Ingram (4-14) caused chaos among the home batters with some superb swing bowling which initially reduced the hosts to 8-5.

Only one batter reached double figures before Isaac Foster’s slow left arm bagged the final four wickets for just seven runs as the rout was completed.

Jon Ellis and Greg Cross did the rest, steering their team home without loss for maximum points in 14 overs as Penarth made amends for their previously indifferent form.

There was plenty of drama, and rather more runs, as the third team won a nailbiter against Dinas Powys by just seven runs in a game that went into the final over with all results possible.

Peter Docherty, Adam Akhtar, Tom Parkinson, David Harrison and Dan Thacker all made useful contributions with the bat as Penarth amassed 200-7 from their 40 overs.

Reuben Mitchell bagged three wickets for the Villagers.

Lewis Clarke and Alan Clark got the reply off to a solid start before Neil Stephens picked up both players’ wickets with his off-spin.

A knock of 77 from Nathan Bennett kept Dinas in the hunt while Nick Viner’s 3-25 kept Penarth in contention before Andrew Graveson’s decisive intervention.

The opening bowler returned to the attack with the visitors needing 12 off two overs, and he grabbed three crucial wickets, all bowled via swinging yorkers.

Harrison then executed an excellent run out from the deep as Dinas tried to scramble the remaining few runs in a superb game of cricket.

The low-scoring theme returned at Cefn Fforest where the fourth team were indebted to 48 from Faizan Nazir who edged them to a disappointing total of 104 thanks to 3-23 from Keiran Johns.

Julian Humphreys and Avinash Mehrotra bagged early wickets to give Penarth a chance but one key partnership got the hosts close to their target. Despite wickets for Andrew Prickett and James De Vere, Fforest wrapped up a six-wicket win.