A NEW competition has been hailed as the way local cricket must develop by one club's skipper – but snubbed by others.

While Chepstow's vice-captain Malith Madurasinghe said he applauded the league for the move, one club was accused of "not trying to beat their opponents" in a message on social media.

This season the Glamorgan and Monmouthshire league introduced a T20 competition in which three clubs play each other in a round-robin format.

Madurasinghe, who captained Chepstow CC's first team in the absence of skipper Jason Dobbie, against Welsh Asians and Group 2 hosts Pontypridd, is among those who see twenty-twenty cricket as a step in the right direction.

"Yes, T20 is the way forward as the game is shorter and an exciting way to get people into cricket," he said

"It was a trial competition – we've not done this before.

"We now have fewer teams in the league due to the start of Premier League 2 so we have a free league weekend and, hence the T20 competition was introduced.

"I don't think it's a matter of clubs taking this seriously, we struggled with availability and only had ten in the first team but that made it an even sweeter victory.

"The competition was added late so a lot of our players made alternative plans for this weekend, some who have to work on a Saturday chose to work and not miss a league match and it was speech day at St John's School and Monmouth Boys School, which affected six of our players who are either teachers or parents of pupils at these schools. Maybe Monmouth Cricket Club were more affected by the latter.

"I know some sides conceded their games because of poor availability but I applaud the league for trying something new.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained in my view so let's see how the rest of the competition pans out.

"It maybe needs to be tweaked for next year but that's part of the learning process."

Meanwhile, Ross Lewis, captain of Sudbrook CC's first team said the break from league competition had advantages.

"We quite enjoyed the break because we managed to rest a few players like Rob Thorne who has been carrying an injury for a few weeks."

Both of Sudbrook's teams enjoyed success with the bat, the 1st XI managing 210 runs in their win over Pentwyn while the 2nds totted up 220 runs in their success over Monmouth Seconds.

Unfortunately, on a day when club scorers had a particularly busy time, it appears comprehensive scoreboards were not particularly reliable. Results available at the time of going to press.

In Group 2, Chepstow 1sts beat Welsh Asians by six wickets, including a Mitchell Harris 113 not out for Chepstow. The side then followed up by beating Pontypridd by seven wickets.

In Group 9, Sudbrook Cricket Club lost to Monmouth by 40 runs but beat Pentwyn by 107 runs.

For 2nd XI sides, Chepstow beat Welsh Asians by seven wickets with 141-3, and Sudbrook took wins against both Monmouth and Pentwyn with 156 and 78 runs respectively.