BEN Wellington was once again the standout performer for Penarth as the first team dodged the inclement weather to record a comfortable victory at Newbridge on Saturday.

Having starred with the bat in previous weeks, the former Newbridge man came to the fore with the ball this week as he blew away his former club’s top order to set up the win for Penarth who have now recorded back to back victories in the shortened ‘mini-league’ season.

Having won the toss, skipper Nick Morgan had little hesitation in asking the hosts to bat, with the wet Welfare Ground outfield and humid conditions likely to make batting challenging and Penarth didn’t have to wait long to justify the decision as Wellington breached Nathan Millichip’s defences in the third over.

Tom Pascoe soon weighed in with the wickets of Christopher Hartland and Travis Morgan before Wellington was back in the action with a further four wickets as Newbridge subsided to 49 for 7 by the time the opening bowlers had finished their allotted spells.

Wellington’s first 5 wicket haul in Penarth colours came at a cost of just 25 runs.

Newbridge steadied slightly but could never get the scoreboard moving and Keane Royall was eventually removed by Tim Miller with the score at 65 and Mark Thomas and Neil Stephens wrapped things up as the home side were skittled for just 86.

Any Penarth nerves were steadied as new opening pair Jon Ellis and Jamie Hitchen took the score into the twenties before the former became the first of four victims for Lewis Parfitt, but the nerves may have resurfaced as the prolific Wellington then fell to the same man without addition.

Hitchen and Morgan moved things forward before two wickets again fell at the same score, Hitchen for 19 and Llyr Morris for nought, to leave Penarth 4 down and still 40 shy of their target. Morgan found further company in the lesser-spotted James Docherty, making his first appearance of the season, who helped Penarth to within one hit of victory before misjudging a single and being comfortably run out.

There wasn’t much of a wait for the winning runs however, as they came in slightly unusual circumstances from the very next ball.

Tim Miller hit the ball high in to the outfield where he was dropped but then profited from four overthrows to add to the two he’d run and Penarth had passed their target with some 18 overs and five wickets to spare.

All the remaining Saturday action was abandoned without a ball being bowled as the rain over Penarth refused to relent, leaving Sunday’s fourth XI friendly against Cardiff Cavaliers as the only remaining cricket of the weekend.

In unsurprisingly damp conditions run scoring was at a premium as a Cavaliers line-up featuring Penarth Saturday regulars Andrew Graveson and Tim Miller mustered 131 all out.

Luke Summerfield accounted for both his clubmates, while Martin Dennett picked up two wickets and William Davis three with Richard Anderton, Luke Dennett and skipper Andrew Prickett one apiece.

Andy Hubback managed a gritty half century for the visitors with Newberry and Dearden the other main contributors.

Wickets fell regularly in a Penarth reply which was always a little behind the run rate and nobody could find the necessary injection to get them back in the hunt.

Faizan Nazar made a battling 17 at the top of the order while Luke Summerfield was the pick of the batsmen with a well made 30 but they couldn’t make the ground up and the innings closed at 104 for 8, a winning margin of 27 runs.

Parkhurst and Mark Twaits managed a brace of wickets each for the Cavaliers.

This weekend sees the return fixture with Newbridge for the 1st XI, whilst the 2nds travel to Llanelli, the 3rds to Llantwit Fardre and the fourths host Mountain Ash.