South East Wales Cricket League Division One - Abergavenny (162 all out) lost to Chepstow (163-7) by three wickets

CHEPSTOW Firsts enjoyed a great start as Luke Watson and Jason Dobbie sent Abergavenny’s openers back to the pavilion with only one run on the scoreboard.

Only wicketkeeper Greg Fury offered any real resistance, scoring 103 before he was stumped by his opposite number Gareth Ansell to become the first of Lewys Jones’ three victims.

And when home skipper Geraint Leach was clean bowled by Malith Madurasinghe, their innings stumbled to 162 all out in the 44th over.

“We were in the driving seat from the start,” said Madurasinghe later.

“But an excellent counterattacking century from Greg Fury took them to a score higher than we were planning to chase,” he conceded.

The chase saw opener Ansell score 76 before being given lbw but despite a few single-figure scores, Dave Bennett (10), Dobbie (20) and Tyler Morgan-Huggett (29) saw Chepstow to a comfortable victory with five overs remaining.

“Gareth played a very mature knock at the top of the order, with support from Tyler and Jason, to see us home,” Madurasinghe added.

“We look forward to hosting Usk at home on Saturday.”

Bob Cypher