A Superb 119 from opener Sam Hope-Bell guided Chepstow 1st XI to a 65-run win over visitors Ynysygerwn in their opening South Wales Premier Cricket League fixture, reports Nick Hartland.

Carwyn James also hit 40 in an opening stand of 107 before holing out, and Sam’s brother Ben chipped in with 40 before falling lbw for the third wicket on 232.

After hitting 11 off the first five balls of the last over, Sam finally fell on the last ball to a catch, having cracked 19 fours in total, as Chepstow finished on 244-4 off 50 overs.

And he then took three wickets and a catch to help dismiss their rivals for 179 with five overs to spare, Luke Watson and Kameel Sahabdeen also taking braces.

The 2nd XI won a friendly away to Cardiff CC 2nds by 38 runs after setting a target of 222-9 off their 45 overs, tailender Filip Chitnis top-scoring with 35 not out, including six fours, backed by Ricky Sahabdeen with 34, James Kellaway 33, David Monk 31 and Matteo Goddard 24.

Chitnis also took a wicket as they then restricted the city side to 185-7.

The 3rd XI won by a whopping 200 runs at home to Malpas 3rds in their South East Wales Cricket League Division 13E season opener.

Fifth man Lloyd Bartlett starred with the bat, cracking 15 fours and five sixes in a swashbuckling 115 not out, backed by Jake Bryant with 78 and Dan Tyler with 55 as they reached 333-5 off their 40 overs.

Malpas opener James Perrett matched Bartlett stroke-for-stroke in reply also scoring an unbeaten 115, cracking seven fours and 11 sixes.

But the rest of his team could manage only 18 between them as they were dismissed for 133 in 23.1 overs, Paul Phillips helping himself to five wickets and Harry Harkins and Scott Williams two apiece.

The Newport club took some revenge on Sunday in a frindly at Chepstow, though, setting a target of 221 all out before dismissing the latter for 154 in 33 overs, Scott Williams top-scoring with 39 for the hosts and Max Perry adding 24 after taking three wickets.

Meanwhile, opener Matthew Jones with 52 and bowler Duncan Delreeve with three wickets were the two shining lights for Monmouth CC’s 1st XI as they opened their SEWCL Div 2 opener at Whitchurch Heath with a disappointing seven-wicket defeat.

Only Ben Lander with 16 joined Jones in double figures as the visitors were bowled out for 126 in 26 overs.

The Cardiff side then eased to a match-winning 130-3 in just 21.1 overs, despite Delreeve’s sterling 3-31 off nine overs.

The 4th XI also crashed to a 278-run loss away to Rogerstone Welfare 3rds in Div 13E, skittled out for 67 after being set a huge target of 345-6.

Pablo Nayager and Greg Thomas took wicket braces for the outclassed visitors.

Robson on song with 87, but Panteg call tune

Olly Robson hit 87 not out for Usk CC 1st XI in their opening South East Wales Cricket League Division One match on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to prevent visitors Panteg claiming a four-wicket win.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat, but top runmaker Elliot Doyle departed without troubling the scoreboard, holing out for a duck after facing just four balls.

Robson at the other end slowly started building his innings, with a succession of top order partners coming and going at the other end, Matt Hancock departing for 10 (30-2), Tamoor Zafar for 14 (55-3) and Oscar Watkins for 10 (88-4).

Aled Burkitt then went for a duck (89-5) and Dougie Spencer for two (106-6) just after Robson passed his half-century.

Freddie Wolfenden helped steady the ship with 31 not out as the duo then took the score to 175-6 off their 50 overs.

In reply Panteg made a solid start, putting on 61 for the first wicket, and always had the target within their sights, skipper opener John Glover cracking 58 and Christopher White 51 not out to reach 179 for six with seven overs to spare.

Wolfenden took two wickets, while Ben Jones, Zafar, Richard Rees and Paul Murphy chipped in with one apiece.

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Sunday’s Welsh Cricket Cup match also ended in defeat, despite setting visitors Newport CC 168-9 off their 30 overs, Amit Aswani hitting 49, Sidharth Ramesh 43 and Ryan Jones 29.

But Wales Minor Counties cap Michael Clayden with 76 not out and Wales U18 Monmouth School product Hugo Caldicott with an unbeaten 60 polished off the target for the loss of just one wicket with 2.3 overs to spare.

The 2nd XI faced a giant target in their SEWCL Division 4 match at Machen on Saturday as the hosts hit 286-5 off their 40 overs, skipper opener Rhydian Knot carrying his bat with a magnificent 138 as Usk toiled in the field.

Sam Rodden, Tom Welford, Ryan Price, Jamie Jones and Dave Harding-Smith each took a wicket.

Opener Amit Aswani hit 33 and Sidharth Ramesh 39 in reply before the latter fell for the fifth wicket with 128 on the board.

Seventh man Ryan Jones then struck a defiant 63 not out off 50 balls, including eight fours and four sixes, but ran out of partners as the visitors fell 50 runs short, all out for 236 in 37.1 overs.

But 78 and 41 respectively by openers Damien Harvey and Henry Allott and 68 not out by seventh man Joe Peacock guided the 3rd XI to a four-wicket home win over Sully Spartans 2nds in their SEWCL Div 10 clash.

Set a target of 226-5 off 40 overs, the hosts raced to 227-6 with nine overs to spare.

Llanarth 1st XI were set a huge 314-5 off 45 overs by hosts Hopkinstown in their Division 5 clash, Tom Heath and Dan Moseley landing two wickets apiece.

In reply they were soon reeling at 25-3, but a 131-run fourth-wicket partnership between Sam Michell and Milo Thomas brought them back into it until the latter went lbw for 48 having cracked nine fours and a six (156-3).

Three more wickets fell for the addition of only 10 runs, including Michell for an 81 that included 15 fours and a six.

Dan Moseley with 31, Tom Heath with 23, Gary Holley 25 not out and Arthur Myrddin-Evans with 18 kept plugging away, but ultimately the chase fell 34 runs short as they were dismissed for 280 in the final over.

It was a similar tale for the 2nds in Division 11, after visitors St Fagans 4th XI cracked 274-3 off their 40 overs.

Ben Llewellyn hit 74 in reply and Gerry Stentiford 51 not out, but they fell 39 runs short finishing on 235-5.

Sixty two not out by skipper Mark Jones and 54 from fellow opener Matthew Malson guided Monkswood 1st XI to an eight-wicket win in their Division 3 opener at home to Crumlin.

Adam Malson, Gareth Trumper and Mark Bleazard all took three wickets apiece as the hosts dismissed the visitors for 145 in 41 overs.

And they had no problems dashing off 146-2 to claim victory in 30.4 overs.