JUST one week after the return to action there was a familiar feel about this week’s cricket as all four Saturday league fixtures fell victim to the weather and just 19 overs of friendly action was completed on Sunday before the heavens opened once again to end the weekend’s action.

All bar the first team fixture were cancelled early on Saturday, and although every effort was made to get the first team game on against Malpas the weather was the winner by mid-afternoon and the inevitable abandonment followed.

Sunday’s friendly fixture versus Barry Wanderers started with Penarth in the field and although Luke Summerfield, Luke Dennett and Avinash Mehrotra bagged a wicket apiece the weekend action was finally ended by a mid afternoon downpour with the Wanderers at 64 for 3.

There was some more joy for the juniors in midweek, although Under 11 fixtures on bank holiday Monday were again victim to the terrible weather.

On Tuesday the Under 13s sent three teams into action with two of them registering victories.

In an excellent all round performance the Golds managed 105 for 4 against St Fagans before a tight bowling and fielding display secured a win by 54 runs.

A very strong Cardiff side were victorious against the Penarth Greens at Forest Farm, after setting a very difficult total to chase.

And on a bitterly cold evening at the Island the Bears team visited Barry in a pairs match and put in a very solid performance with several players making their first appearance in a competitive match to win by 61 runs net.

To outline the strength in this age-group it is excellent to see Rhys Muxworthy, Owen Lewis, James Llewellyn and Evan Lendrum make the Cricket Wales South team at U12 level.

The Under 15s hosted Llandaff on Thursday in their first league outing and were comfortable victors having restricted the visitors to 88 for 5 in their 20 overs.

Penarth’s wickets were shared between Luke Summerfield, Kiran Rayani, Ben Poddar and Evan Friis before Summerfield managed 32 not out in the reply with useful contributions from Isaac Foster, Adam Akhtar, Daniel Ingram and Luke Dennett getting Penarth home by six wickets with four overs to spare.

There was more excellent representative news as Luke Summerfield and Isaac Foster have been selected for the Cricket Wales South U14 squad, while Will Davis, Adam Akhtar and Evan Friis have made the development squad at the same age group.

Having been rained off on Monday, Barry were able to host the Under 11 Golds on Friday in a rearranged friendly at a sunny Barry Island.

This gave Penarth a chance for the first ever hard-ball match for several players and a first outing of 2021 for all others and Barry were narrow winners in a game which came down to the very last ball of the night. Many thanks to Barry for hosting at short notice.

Meanwhile Rhys Lewis, Harri Lewis and Khuush Bharwhani complete the Penarth contingent in representative teams by making the Cricket Wales South line-up at U11.

This Saturday sees the first team face Ynystawe at the Athletic Field, the seconds visit Newport, the thirds host Miskin and the fourths travel to Abergavenny with a full programme of junior cricket in midweek.

You can keep up with the action by following the club on Twitter and Instagram (@penarthcricket) and Facebook.

The club would like to extend their thanks to sponsors David Baker and Co, Curo and Churngold.