THE era of coloured clothing arrived in Penarth on Saturday as the first team debuted their new kit against Newbridge.

But it was the visitors who took the spoils on the pitch as Penarth suffered a painful batting collapse in a disappointing defeat.

Having amassed a useful 180 with the bat Newbridge blew the Penarth batting away to win by 60 runs in the South East Wales mini-league and head to the top of pool 1.

As he had done a week before in the reverse fixture, Nick Morgan had no hesitation in electing to field first after morning rain had left its mark on the Athletic Field.

But Newbridge began well as Nathan Millichip and Travis Morgan negotiated the new ball spell of Ben Wellington and Tom Pascoe to pass the half century mark.

As is often the case it was the introduction of spin that paid dividends for Penarth as Will Skone picked up the wicket of Morgan for 27 with a smart caught and bowled and sometime later Millichip fell for 26 in the same fashion to Richard Skone.

Glamorgan’s latest professional recruit, 17-year-old Alex Horton, provided the backbone of the Newbridge innings with an excellent 69 not out but only Will Davey with 20 managed a meaningful contribution in support as Richard Skone and Mark Thomas picked up a brace of wickets apiece to restrict the visitors to 180 for 5.

In reply Penarth made decent progress as Jack Thomas and Jamie Hitchen took the score to 33 before the former found the hands of Elliot Jenkins off James Morgan’s bowling.

Hitchen moved things along nicely for Penarth and had 44 of the 68 runs on the board when he was dismissed by Scott Greaves, a wicket which precipitated a fatal collapse.

Matthew Williams was the man to rip through the Penarth middle order with a devastating spell of 4 for 20 as Penarth slumped to 88 for 6.

Firstly Richard Skone was caught at the wicket before former Newbridge man Wellington went for 9 and Nick Morgan and Will Skone completed Williams’ impressive haul.

There were to be no heroics from the Bears’ tail despite a brief counter from Llyr Morris and Tim Miller before the final four wickets were wrapped up for just 7 runs and Penarth were dismissed for a dismal 120.

The second team were handed a tough friendly fixture in the shape of a trip to face the Llanelli 1st XI at Stradey Park and it was no surprise that the Carmarthenshire side proved to be comfortable winners.

The Penarth cause wasn’t helped by losing a crucial toss and being asked to bat first with the wet outfield making run scoring doubly difficult.

James Erasmus provided the backbone of the Penarth efforts with the bat for a gritty 37 but with the run rate sticking stubbornly at around 2 an over Penarth were never likely to trouble the hosts.

Kreshay Bharwani made a promising 2nd team debut in the middle order but despite a late injection of 23 not out from Rhys Mottram and 17 not out from Matthew Slugg Penarth could only amass 108 for 6 from their 40 overs.

Despite tidy new ball spells from Rhys McGowan and Ali Souch Penarth couldn’t find the breakthrough as Llanelli made the most of the improving conditions.

Owain Baxter fell to a smart run out by McGowan and Mottram deserved much better than to be wicketless with his off spin but Phillips and Hughes made the most of hitting with the strong wind to bring about a quick end with unbeaten knocks of 41 and 44 to record a nine wicket win.

The third team game at Llantwit Fardre fell victim to the weather which left the fourths to register the only win of the weekend over Mountain Ash by 86 runs.

Having been invited to bat first Robert Ashcroft provided the backbone of the Penarth innings with 73, with contributions from Neil and Jacob Stephens and Ian Summerfield helping the home total to 168 for 7.

Only 42 from Anthony Davies provided any resistance in the Mountain Ash reply while Luke Summerfield, Martin Dennett, Andrew Prickett and Jacob and Neil Stephens shared the wickets around as the visitors were dismissed for just 82.

Cardiff University Staff visited the Athletic Field on Sunday and returned home with a 21 run winning margin on yet another rain affected day.

The University side batted first and amassed 135 for 6 from their 35 overs with Turner leading the way with 24 and Hubback 21, while William Davis managed 2 wickets for Penarth and Richard Anderton, Andrew Prickett, Liam Hopkins and Luke Dennett claimed one apiece.

The Penarth reply slumped to 41 for 5 before Andrew Graveson lead the counter-attack with an impressive 39 before the innings slipped away with his wicket and Penarth could only finish on 115 for 8 as the University staff claimed victory.

In the week where the new kit was debuted the club are indebted to their sponsors David Baker and Co, Curo and Churngold, and proud to feature their chosen charity Kidney Wales on the shirts for whom fundraising is ongoing.

This week sees the first team visit Cowbridge, the seconds and thirds host Dinas Powys and Barry and the fourths visit Panteg.