South East Wales Cricket League Division Two - Monmouth (309-5) beat Whitchurch Heath (131 all out) by 178 runs

MONMOUTH Cricket Club First XI completed a first league double with a convincing 178-run victory at the Sports Ground on Saturday against Cardiff based opponents Whitchurch Heath in Division Two of the South East Wales Cricket League.

With a white rock hard wicket and a scorched outfield, Monmouth captain Adam Roberts had no doubt in batting first having won the toss. Monmouth’s in form openers Matt Jones (70) and Dave Teague (37) put on 56 for the first wicket in quick time before Teague fell victim to a very sharp caught and bowled from Adnan Gul (1-62 off 10) which brought to the crease exciting young prospect and Wales U15 batsman Harry Friend (13) who after a couple of nice boundaries nicked a short one to keeper Adam Fletcher off the bowling of Kris Rogers (1-44 off 10) to leave the game evenly poised at the 17 over mark with Monmouth 86-2.

However, this brought Monmouth skipper Adam Roberts (100) to the crease and along with the in-form Jones took the game away from a tiring Whitchurch attack that toiled in the heat. Jones played a steady hand and his 70 came off 107 balls and consisted of six fours, whilst the aggressive Roberts struck his 100 in 113 balls which included an impressive 10 fours and a six. When Jones was dismissed in the 38th over the score had gone on to 196-3 and with Monmouth’s hard hitting middle order still to come a big score was on the cards. Breeze picked up where Jones left off and smashed a quickfire 34 off just 22 balls with three fours and two sixes until his departure came at the hands of young bowler Lewis Maidment (2-42). No respite came for Whitchurch though as Josh Grey was in no mood to hang about and his explosive 27 not out came off just 16 balls. Holding the innings together though was captain Roberts whose valiant effort saw him scamper to his 100 off the penultimate ball of the innings, only to be caught off the final ball on the boundary. In total Monmouth, sponsored by Burkert Fluid Control Systems, amassed an impressive 309-5 in their allotted 50 overs but with a quick outfield and an excellent batting surface knew they would still need to do a job with the ball.

In reply Whitchurch openers Kim Swain (13) and Kris Rogers (70) started steadily before Swain hit one in the air to Josh Grey in the covers off the bowling of Jon Roberts (1-20 off 8). However, despite an efficient opening spell from Adam Roberts, it was the introduction of spin that led to Whitchurch Heath’s downfall as experienced off spinner Alim Hansraj (2-40 off 10) worked in tandem with exciting young Gloucestershire U15 leg spinner Sam Swingwood (4-30 off 10) and saw the visitors have no answer as they slid to 109-8. Only opposing batsman John Chapman (12 not out) reached double figures and once Kris Rogers was removed thanks to a sharp catch by Adam Roberts off Hansraj’s bowling the end was nigh for the visitors. In the end it was left to Paul Swingwood (1-7) and Henry Breeze (2-13) to mop up the tail and bowl Whitchurch out for just 131 in the 40th over, awarding Monmouth 20 points that keeps them just top of the table from Blackwood. Monmouth supported their bowlers well in the field, with catches taken by Josh Grey (3), Adam Roberts (3) as well as an impressive leg side take from Wales U15 keeper Joe Harris.

Next Saturday Monmouth travel to Radyr for another tough encounter but looking to keep the winning momentum going.