Nine-wicket win a perfect start for Croesy cricketers

The Croesy bowlers ripped through the Radyr batting order, bowling out the visitors for 177.

And they raced to victory, losing only one wicket on the way to their way to the target of 178.

Alex Barry was the undoubted star as he scored 114 not-out off just 58 balls to take the game away from Radyr.

Also in Division One, Newbridge slipped to a narrow 14-run defeat at Usk.

Tom Robinson (48) top scored for Usk who were bowled out for 189 after being put in with Ben Wellington claiming 3-38 and Ryan Watkins 3-46 with the ball for Newbridge.

Wellington also put up a brave fight in reply as, batting at number seven, he top scored with 43 but Usk – led by three wickets apiece from Neil Perrett and Chris Douglas – bowled Newbridge out for 175.

Elsewhere in Division One, David Teague smacked an unbeaten half century as Chepstow saw off Abergavenny by seven wickets.

The newly-launched league is a result of a merger of the Glamorgan & Monmouthshire League and the Welsh Club Cricket Conference.

But this had an old familiar about it with last season’s Glamorgan & Monmouthshire Division One champions Chepstow carrying on from where they left off.

After winning the toss and inserting the hosts into bat, they bowled Abergavenny out for 141 in 38.4 overs with David Monk (3-33) and Mitchell Harris (3-23) shining with the ball while David Clarke top scored for the hosts with 33.

The visitors then needed just 22 overs to knock off the runs, with their run-chase led by Teague who whacked 12 fours in his unbeaten 59 while Carwyn James chipped in with 31.

Meanwhile a ninth-wicket partnership of 150 from brothers Richard and Roberts Matthews almost pulled off a memorable win for Blackwood at home against Sudbrook – although it the was the visitors who ran out narrow victors by nine runs.

Sudbrook batted first and were led by 93 from Matt Kinchin who struck 93 on their way to posting 289-6 for their allotted 50 overs, with Jamie Watkins also striking an unbeaten 42.

And that total proved to be enough as Scott O’Leary (4-20) helped bowl Blackwood out for 280 in reply, although Richard Matthews (94) and sibling Robert (68) helped them recover from 117-5 before falling agonisingly short in what was a superb game of cricket – eventually being bowled out for 280.

Meanwhile Newport Fugitives – who were promoted from Division Two of the old Glam & Mon at the end of last term – began with a win as they edged to a narrow three-run win at Pontypridd.

The visitors batted first and put 225-8 on the scoreboard before Pontypridd fell narrowly short in reply also had just one wicket intact when the overs ran out.

In Division Two, Malpas are up and running thanks to a 74-run win at Brecon.

Lewis Morgan (82) hit 10 fours in his 100-ball knock to steer Malpas to 242-6 from their 50 overs, as Matt Williams (3-48) stood out with the ball for Brecon.

Lewis Morgan then capped a fine all-round individual performance with 3-36 from his 10-over spell with Christian Rose bagging himself a four-wicket haul as Brecon were bowled out for 168.

Although it wasn’t such a good start for Ponthir who were handed a heavy 138-run hammering in a over-reduced rain-affected game at Welsh Asians.

Centuries and a 198-run partnership between Abbas Ashraf (119no) and Hazrat Bilal (103) saw the Asians put 303-5 on the board.

Ponthir were well short in reply and were bowled out for 165 despite the best efforts of Gareth Burkitt (43) and Luke Spinetti (36) with Mohammed Ilyas doing the damage with 4-15 off his six-over spell.

Rogerstone, meanwhile, were bowled out for just 94 as they suffered a comprehensive eight-wicket win at Lisvane.

Only opener Andy Harris (27) and Luke Harris (23no) got over double figures as John Turner and Steve Hughes finished with three-wicket hauls – before the hosts cruised to their victory target.

Elsewhere in Division Two, the weather intervened as Ebbw Vale’s game with Cardiff Gymkhana was abandoned while Barry Athletic cruised to a 10-wicket win at Sully Centurions – a win inspired by John Gee’s stunning seven-wicket salvo as Sully were skittled for just 35.

In Division Three Crumlin – who went through last season unbeaten to win the Welsh Club Cricket Conference Division One – began life in Division Three of the new league with a six-wicket win at Vale.

Ross Jolliffe bagged a couple of wickets to help reduce hosts Vale to 172-5 batting first, Ben Horton hitting a half-century for the hosts.

Meanwhile the star of the show for Crumlin was Carl Hopkins, who smashed an unbeaten 73 to help bring back that old familiar winning feeling.

Monmouth began with a thumping 126-run win over Monkswood under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a match affected by heavy rain.

Opener Josh Grey hit 142 and number three Matt Jones struck 73 as Monmouth posted a mammoth 354-3 from their allotted 45 overs.

When the rain came down, Monkswood were given a revised target of 280 off 30 overs, but they were eventually bowled out for 154 with Matthew Malson (48) top scoring while Tej Saran collected 4-12.

Machen, meanwhile, enjoyed an 18-run win at Dinas Powys. Will Harris struck eight fours and a six in his half-century as visitors Machen were all out for 162, with Nathan Piddock taking 5-17.

Gareth Harris (4-25) then starred with the ball for Machen as the hosts were bowled out for 144 in reply while Michael Fussell bagged himself three wickets.

Elsewhere in Division Three, there were wins for Whitchurch-Heath and Creigiau over Llantwit Fardre and Barry Wanderers respectively.

In Division Four – which is effectively the old Club Conference Division One – opener Chris Hartland stole the show for Brynmawr as they won by 75 runs at Cardiff thirds.

Harland smashed 24 fours and three sixes in his 191 while was helped along the way by number three Thomas Watkins who hit 15 fours and two sixes in his 122 as Brynmawr posted a massive 363-6 off 45 overs having been put in to bat – while David Ricketts took 4-56 for Cardiff.

Opening batsman Darren Swart (108) then hit a century in reply for hosts Cardiff before being run out with James Watkins taking 4-29 – while also ran out Swart – as they fell well short on 288-9.

Llanarth went down by eight wickets at Hopkinstown – who were inspired by standout performances from Gareth Morgan (6-25) and batman Simon Pember who struck 12 fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 93.

Peter Lee struck a half century for Abercarn as they began their campaign with a crushing 10-wicket win at Pentwyn.

Abertillery won by four wickets at Radyr thirds although the game featuring Pontymister & Cross Keys at Abercynon was cancelled due to the weather.

In Division Five, Newport thirds slipped to a 24-run defeat at their Penarth counterparts while the games between Pontnewynydd and Tredegar as well as Cefn Fforest & Maesycwmmer’s game at Blaina were abandoned.

In Division Six, Blackwood Town thirds' home clash with Undy and Magor was cancelled.

Lisvane fourths are up and running in Division Seven as half centuries from Peter Allen (71) and Gideon Jones (55) helped them to a convincing 78-run win at home against Pencoed.

In Division Eight, Brynmawr seconds went down by three wickets at home against Cynon Valley.

Huw Jarrett (48) and Dan Hartland (47) both narrowly missed out on half centuries as the hosts were all out for 153 and, despite 4-26 from Rob Lewis, it was the visitors who ran out victors thanks to largely to 69 from Ieuan Hames.

Elsewhere Abercarn seconds lost by nine wickets at home by Sully Spartans – who were inspired by standout performances from bowler Saiful Islam (7-6) and opening batsman Sudesh Duvuru (65 no).

In Division Nine, Newport Fugitives thirds crushed Cefn Fforest seconds by 152 runs as, having posted 227-3, they bowled the hosts out for 75 in reply.

Elsewhere Sully Spartans seconds beat Penarth fourths by 48 runs.

In Division Ten, Llanarth seconds were victorious by five wickets at home against Mountain Ash seconds with Josh Hardwick putting in a fine individual display.

He took 2-9 to help reduce the visitors to 113 all out before chipping in with 46 as the hosts won with five wickets to spare.

Meanwhile Sudbrook thirds opened their campaign with an eight-wicket home win over Blackwood Town fourths.

In Division One 2nd XI, Newport Fugitives went down to a five-wicket home defeat by Pontypridd.

The hosts, who were put in after losing the toss, were bowled out for just 123 with Ross Madden contributing 30 as Scott Parish took 3-31 for the visitors.

Madden then bagged 2-31 but Pontypridd were to leave victorious thanks to 72 from Gaurav Malvankar.

An unbeaten half century from Jamie Rayner helped Chepstow to a nine-wicket win at home against Abergavenny.

Cameron Rees claimed three wickets as the visitors while Tuhin Gavand and Lewys Jones both bagged two wickets apiece as Abergavenny were bowled out for 114 in 41.2 overs with Nicholas Kinman (27) top scoring.

Chepstow made light work of the run chase as they needed just 13.2 overs with Rayner smacking six fours and two sixes in his 52 not out to help his side over the line.

Newbridge powered to a nine-wicket home win over Usk which was inspired by knocks from Euan Tippings (84no) and Travis Morgan (74).

Usk had earlier put 195-6 on the board with Dominic Rees’ 62 leading the way while Joe Westwood, Lee Tyler and Chris James for Newbridge.

Tippings and Morgan then took over with the bat to see Newbridge to a convincing opening victory.

Elsewhere in the division, Welsh Asians ran out 73-run winners at Radyr.

In Division Two 2nd XI, Rogerstone edged a low-scoring encounter by 34 runs against Blackwood.

After Rogerstone had posted 166-8 batting first, Dwayne Nel, Tim Turley and Ian Jarratt were all among the wickets as Blackwood were bowled out for 132 in reply.

An unbeaten 93 from Greg Simmonds inspired Malpas to a three-wicket win over Dinas Powys.

Ellis James had earlier taken 4-25 as the visitors were bowled out for 192 before opener Simmonds smashed 13 fours and three sixes in his 142-ball knock to secure an opening day victory.

Elsewhere Whitchurch Heath won at Cardiff Gymkhana seconds.

In Division Three 2nd XI, a stunning spell of bowling from Bernie Smith (6-11) set Monkswood on their way to an eight-wicket win at home against Monmouth.

Smith’s devastating spell of bowling came off an eight-over spell as Monmouth were skittled out for just 56 – with Monkswood needing just 9.5 overs to knock off their victory target.

Ebbw Vale were winners by 37 runs at Llantwit Fardre – a win inspired by Jack Powell’s 5-17.

Batting first Ebbw were bowled out for 125 with Dylon Morgan (34) top scoring but that total proved to be more than enough as Powell’s five-wicket haul along with 3-5 from Tim Roberts skittled the hosts out for just 88 in reply.

Machen, meanwhile, suffered a 95-run home defeat at home by Brecon.

An unbeaten half-century from Ryan Morgan helped the visitors to 227-6 off their 40 overs while Machen were bowled out for 132 in reply with Stephen Kenchington and Gwyn Price both bagging three wickets as Brian Caddy (33) top scoring.

Crumlin were saved by the weather at home against Vale – as they were in trouble 95-5 chasing down a victory target of 224 when rain called a halt to proceedings.

Connor Williams was still there on 49 not out before play was abandoned while earlier, Vale had posted 223-5 from their 40 overs with Mark Francis (93) and Huw James (67) in the runs.

Elsewhere in the division, the game between Creigiau and Barry Wanderers was also abandoned.