ON a day when batting was very difficult, Newport started the second half of the season in the Premier Division of the Thomas, Carroll South Wales Cricket League as they had the first by losing to reigning champions Sully.

After the midweek deluge most wickets were damp to start and when Sully won the toss at Spytty Park, they put Newport in and restricted them to 139-9.

Tom Cleeve made a battling 31 and Andy Harris 30 but the Sully bowlers kept a tight line and runs were never easy to get. Andrew Davies returned 10-3-14-3, Terry Williams 10-3-19-2 and Tom Evison had 2-23.

Ryan Aingworth bowled a good early spell to take 1-12 off eight overs and Michael Clayden had 2-31 but Lloyd Smith scored 32 and Davies was 22 not out when Sully reached 143-6 to end their mid-season hiccup.

Sudbrook closed the gap at the top of the table with a stunning victory over Bridgend Town at Newbridge Fields.

Surprisingly, Bridgend opted to bat first when they won the toss and that was just the boost Sudbrook needed.

John Lewis returned 10-6-15-3 and Rob Thorne 10-5-16-2 as Bridgend slumped to 112 all out in the final over with Les Cutter (28) their only batsman of note.

Lewis then led Sudbrook to 113-3 with 38 not out in 35.5 overs. Adam Weaver, Huw Kinsella and Mike O'Shea had a wicket each for Bridgend.

Croesyceiliog put visitors St Fagans in to bat and saw them reach 40 without loss in only six overs. But then Richard Kaufman was trapped lbw for 26 and that started a collapse which ended with St Fagans all out for 142 in 44.3 overs.

Owain Hopkins managed 24 as Will Bragg took 4-19 in seven overs, Nathan Marsh 3-35 in 10, Mohammed Ali Bukari 2-28 off nine and Mike Beacham got the other wicket with 1-24 off 10.

Bragg (14) and captain Mike Baillon (13) played supporting roles to the star of the show, Bukari, who batted beautifully and reached his century with a four off the last ball of the innings which took Croesy to 146-4.

Panteg's game against Usk was a victim of the weather while the matches between Penarth and Cardiff and Pentyrch against Tondu were both drawn.

Chepstow's game in Division One was cancelled, as were the matches at Blackwood and Brecon, but Abergavenny strengthened their grip on the leadership by beating Newport Fugitives at Avenue Road, but only just.

The leaders asked the Fugitives to go in first and that paid dividends as they were knocked over for 135. Chris Bridges led by example with 46 and Dave Adams got 21 as seamer Nathan Byrne bowled some devastating away swingers to collect 5-14 and 10 of those were extras. John Denning at the other end took 3-22.

It looked a straightforward task for Abergavenny but some good bowling by Gareth Thomas (3-30) and Andrew Bartlett (2-27) reduced the home side to 105-9 and that should have signalled a win for the Fugitives.

But number six batsman Andrew Robinson was still there when number 11 Denning joined him and together they added a match-winning 31 runs.

Robinson not only finished with 79 not out, but while adding those 31 runs he protected Denning so well that the number 11 only faced one ball.

In the only other match played in the division, Rogerstone went in first at home to strugglers Barry and scored 213-9 with George Hope making 64, Gary Williams 42 and Zofi Ali 25. Peter Helyar took 3-26 for Barry and Andrew Buckland 3-33.

Best of Barry's fragile batting was Buckland (39) as John Berry took 3-22, Mo Asif 2-10, Haydn Berry 2-12 and Jamie Suller 2-23 to reduce the visitors to 112 all out.

Mid-table teams Machen and Ponthir provided two surprises in Division Two, with the game at Machen a real thriller.

Visitors Malpas had only lost once and are pushing hard for promotion. They inserted Machen, who made 178-9 thanks mainly to a superb 86 by Andy Knight which was worth a lot more on a difficult wet wicket.

Next best was Lawrence Innes as Paul Evans took 4-43 for Malpas and Christian Rose 2-31 off 15 overs.

Runs were always a struggle but Mickey Martin made 37, Peter Mason 26 and Mark Collins 23 as Malpas reached the final delivery needing three runs to win but they only got one and finished on 176 all out.

Robin Jones bowled a superb 15- over spell for 5-36 and Alan Norman had 2-49 off 15.

It was nowhere near as close at Ponthir, where the home side batted first against Ton Pentre & Porth and made 201-9 with Mike Holcombe making 51 not out and Lewis Spinetti 37.

For the Rhondda visitors, Glen Williams took 4-45 and Andrew Price 3-38.

But Ton Pentre & Porth couldn't cope with the Ponthir attack and collapsed to 109 all out. Brian Morgan made 27 and Stef Huges 26 as Holcombe took 5-25 and Mark Crook 3-31.

In the other match played, Vale thrashed struggling Hoovers by nine wickets.

11:15am Monday 14th July 2008

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