South East Wales Cricket League

Division 1

Usk 1sts (249-3) beat Chepstow 1sts (246-9) by 7 wickets

CHEPSTOW Firsts hung on to top spot despite losing their fourth match of the season at Usk, writes Bob Cypher.

After skipper Gareth Ansell won the toss and decided to bat first, Chepstow lost Carwyn James early on, caught by Usk’s 16-year-old opener Olly Robson, who was to play a major part later on.

Ansell and Sam Hope-Bell (56) formed a century partnership to rally but, despite the skipper staking an 84-run claim, he ran out of partners, finally departing with the score on 201-4.

Aaron Jones (36), Ricky Sahabdeen (13) and Malith Madurasinghe (17 not out) took Chepstow to a respectable 246 total.

But in reply, young Robson, robbed of a century two weeks earlier, made certain this time and carried his bat for 109.

With opening partner George Lewis making 68 and Mika Ekstrom adding 32 before being stumped by Ansell off Tudor Morgan-Huggett’s bowling, the home side were well in control.

Amit Aswani made 31 not out as he supported Robson - who had been on 86 when Ekstrom departed - to reach a well-deserved century.

After the match Madurasinghe said some poor fielding had proved costly.

“It was another disappointing day for us,” he said.

“At 117-1 with Gareth and Sam going well, we should have scored more but 246 was still a decent total to chase.

“We bowled really well for the first half of their reply but our fielding wasn't up to scratch and that made the difference.

“We host Pontypridd next week looking to change our fortunes.”