South East Wales Cricket League Division Three - Vale First XI (155-9) lost to Monmouth First XI (157-6) by four wickets
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MONMOUTH Cricket Club First XI moved up to second place in Division Three of South East Wales Cricket League on Saturday, with a five-wicket win away at Corntown based Vale CC.
After winning the toss, stand in skipper Josh Grey decided to bowl first on a tricky looking surface following the heavy rain all week. The decision seemed to pay dividends, as a steady clatter of wickets saw the hosts in trouble at 71-6 at one stage, thanks to wickets for Raj Kuttappu (1-17 off three overs), Alim Hansraj (1-18 off nine overs), Aled Jones (2-33 off nine overs) and Ben Davies (1-35 off nine overs), but it was Tej Saran’s spell that really caught the eye as his pace and movement proved too much for the Vale batsman, ending up with remarkable figures of 1-5 including four maidens off eight overs.
Credit though must go to Vale CC’s Paul Sheppard (85 not out) and he held the innings together superbly, and put on 74 for the seventh wicket with Mark Stevens (25) to take Vale to a respectable looking total of 155-9 off their allotted 45 overs by the end. A good fielding display from Monmouth, sponsored by JD Wetherspoons, saw catches taken by Matt Jones, Alim Hansraj, Tom Jones and Tej Saran, whilst wicket-keeper Dave Croudace made a sharp stumping.
In reply, the Monmouth’s innings got off to a terrible start as Tom Jones fell leg-before-wicket second ball to Darren Upham (2-39 off 9). This brought the in form Adam Roberts (73) to the wicket and he and stand-in skipper Josh Grey (22) took the score to 45 before Grey was stumped off the bowling of Alex Upham (1-34 off six). Roberts would prove once again the mainstay of the Monmouth chase, as the middle order all got starts but no-one really kicked on with double figure scores for Matt Jones (13), Dave Croudace (23) and Tej Saran (12) which just left young Gwent under 14 Ben Pilot (4 not out) to hit the winning boundary and see Monmouth home in the 41st over for a hard earned 19 points. The result sees Monmouth move up the Division Three table to second place, just one point behind leaders Whitchurch Heath.
Next Saturday, Monmouth will be hoping to continue their winning ways as they host newly promoted Barry Wanderers at the MCG, with a 1pm start. Anyone interested in playing cricket for Monmouth should contact [email protected]