On what, surely, must have been the hottest day of the year so far, stand-in captain Graham Hyde had the difficult decision of how to best approach Saturday's home tie against Corse & Staunton. Penallt Cricket Club, sponsored by R&B Boycott (Wye) Builders, had beaten the very capable, if young, opposition, in their away encounter. The task in hand was to gain maximum points from the fixture in order to best increase their League points average, in order to gain ground on the top two teams in the KW Bell Forest of Dean. The previous Saturday should have a seen a table topping clash with Westbury-on-Severn, which may have seen the balance change. However, the rains intervened. In an effort to squeeze as many points as he could from the match, Hyde elected to bat on an absolute road of a wicket. In an early mix up and a brilliant throw, opener Gwyn Jones was unfortunately run out. This brought in-form Adam Roberts to the crease to join his skipper. The two were very patient to begin with, having to cope with some lively pace and bounce from the C&S opening bowler. At the other end a very mean spell from a wily old fox stifled any early momentum. It was not long before Hyde and Roberts found their bearings and began to get the scoreboard ticking over at a good rate. So much so that skipper Hyde, who had pretty much kept abreast of Roberts, in an effort to move things along was beaten 'on the charge' and stumped for 48. Guy Adams joined Roberts and, while the Corse & Staunton players melted in the heat, continued what had now become an onslaught. Once gain Roberts carved himself a magnificent innings, festooned with fours and sixes. When he departed in the 35th over, Penallt had already gone through the 200 barrier. Adams finished on 23 as small cameo roles from Wilding, Powles and Swanson took Penallt to a healthy 246-6 at tea. No one could have predicted what would happen at the game's resumption. Lyndon Jacques' first delivery of the C&S innings was played on by their talented young opener and in tandem with Raj Kattapu, bowled superbly to reduce C&S to five wickets down in the first 10 overs. However, if the result was essentially guaranteed, it wasn't without valiant batting from N King (58) and a beautiful 48 from 16-year-old Josh Hutchings. C&S were never going to reach the 246 target, but these two played superbly to assure them of a losing draw. Jacques and Raj finished with figures of 3-23 and were ably supported by Tim Swanson and Keith Powles, with the other wicket taker being Roberts. Sadly, although Penallt did get two late wickets, the overs ran out for them to 'seal the deal' but were very happy to come away useful league points. This Saturday, Penallt are away to Dymock, in another challenging duel as they strive for top place.
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