HUGO Caldicott hit 60 and sixth man Tamoor Zafar 57, but it all proved in vain for Usk 1st XI as visitors Neath reached the target of 205 with eight balls and eight wickets to spare.

Ollie Rayner with 38 and opener Will Smale with 19 also contributed with the bat for the hosts, but the failure of the other seven batsmen to trouble double figures cost them, as they were all out with four balls of their 45 overs left.

Scott Matthews with an unbeaten 72 not out and Vriitya Aravind with 51 then led the Neath reply as they reached 207-2 in the penultimate over of the South Wales Premier One clash, Rayner and Zafar with the wickets.

Tamoor Zafar took four wickets
Former Qatar skipper Tamoor Zafar scored 57 and took a wicket. (ICC World Cricket)

But Usk 2nds won by a 266 runs away to Barry Athletic 2nds to stay second in South East Wales 4, after amassing a huge 368-6 off 40 overs.

Skipper Sidharth Ramesh starred with the bat with 130, backed by Pat Rodden with 69, Jarrod Bluck with 55, Jamie Jones with 32 and Mika Ekstrom with 27.

Sidharth Ramesh starred with the bat for Usk 2nds.
Sidharth Ramesh starred with the bat for Usk 2nds. File pic: Usk CC (Usk CC)

Barry were never at the races in reply, surrendering with a whimper with the last four wickets all ducks, as Usk skittled them out for 102 in the 28th over, Pat Rodden taking 3-2 off three overs and Greg Peacock 2-0 off 1.2 overs, backed by Ryan Price with two wickets and one apiece for Ekstrom, Bluck and Jones.

The 3rds also won in a much tighter low scoring SEW 9 affair at home to Blaengarw & Coedely 1sts.

Things didn't look great after they were dismissed for 149 in 29.1 overs, only opener Gethin Thomas with 39 and skipper Damian Harvey with 34 making real contributions.

But the bowlers then blitzed Blaen in just 21.3 overs for 136, Dave Harding-Smith taking 5-10 off 4.3 overs, backed by Daniel Cordell with three wickets and Oliver Hall with two.

The Newport Midweek League side lost by 42 runs away to Kings Newport, who posted a target of 223-6 off 18 overs, Ollie Rayner taking three wickets.

Sidharth Ramesh then scored 43, Matt Hancock 29, Rayner 26 and Ryan Jones 25, but they were all out for 181 with two balls left.

Llanarth 1st XI also lost out by five wickets at home to Radyr 3rds on Saturday, scoring 176-8 in their 45 overs before the visitors reached 177-5 with 3.3 overs to spare.

Sean Edwards hit 34 and Ollie Mann 31, while Gary Holley and Dan Moseley took wicket braces.

The 2nds lost out by seven wickets at Newport Fugitives after being dismissed for 131 in 34.5 overs.

Nick White scored 42, Anthony Norris 21, and Dave Myatt 17, but the hosts raced to 133-3 in 21.3 overs.

Fixtures this Saturday (July 6) include – Usk 1sts v Ammanford 1sts, Chepstow 2nds v Usk 2nds, Usk 3rds v Taw 1sts, Llanarth 1sts v Ponthir 1sts, Crumlin 2nds v Llanarth 2nds.

On Sunday, Usk Women host Blackwood Town.