Abergavenny Cricket Club 3rds vs Ledbury 2nds

Last Saturday there was a big win for the Beavers at Ledbury!

After 180 years, the Ledbury team said farewell to their beloved ground wanting nothing more than a win, but Abergavenny Thirds had other ideas.

Mark Winstanley won the toss and, as usual, elected to bat first, starting the game with another solid partnership between Mark and John Lamont.

But good bowling by Simon Watkins and Vicky Evans disrupted the Beavers good start, taking 4 wickets between them causing serious damage to the batting line up.

More stability seemed vital, and Kyle Holmes and Owain Bradley gave exactly that by ‘steadying the ship’ and putting on a 60 run partnership, but sadly a good delivery by Liam Kendrick dismissed K Holmes for a solid 38 runs.

His son, Alex Holmes, was the next man in, showing great maturity for such a young cricketer scoring a vital 30 runs for his team.

However the runs were slowing up and Steve Evans managed to break the partnership getting rid of Bradley for a steady 27.

You couldn’t help but think Aber were a few runs short going into the last over, but in came Gavin Nash scoring a shattering 24 off the last over helping Aber reach a respectable 181.

But on a small ground you had to feel Aber were still a few runs too short when Simon Watkins, the pick of the bowlers, managed a staggering 12 overs: 2-22 including 8 maidens.

It was now Ledbury’s time to bat and perform for this final day at the ground.

There was a nervous start for Ledbury, caused by Aber’s opening bowlers Dylan Beaumont-Welsh and Michael Jones restricting the batsmen with 5 maidens between them.

Then Gavin Nash began to pick up wickets. Although good batting from Robert Yeoman showed a bit of a comeback, it was still a very uphill battle.

As Abergavenny began to break into the tail, a heartfelt fifty from Sam Burgees made for a very exciting end to the game.

But good bowling from A Holmes eventually found a breakthrough with a sharp catch by Bradley.

Ledbury were bowled out for 166 in the 44th over with Nash stole the show with great figures of 4-38 picking up the winning wicket, also, a strong contender for man of the match.

The teams left the field with a memorable match and a historic victory for the Beavers.