HAVING beaten fellow strugglers Woolhope the previous week, Crickhowell faced another basement battle against an improving Dales side at home last Saturday.

Yet again skipper Nick Francis won the toss and elected to field first, but had to juggle his resources carefully, with a number of front-line players unavailable.

It turned out to be a real family affair, with Nick himself showing the way taking 4-30 in his 12 overs. Brother Justin (2-62) was a little more expensive, but nonetheless chipped in with two important wickets from the middle order, and with Tim Price (0-40) and Paul Cornock (0-15) failing to gain a breakthrough, Nick turned to his son Lloyd to bowl out. Lloyd found a good line and length, and finished with impressive figures of 4-25 in 7 overs to see Crickhowell through to maximum bowling points.

The Dales’ batting card is one that the Francis family will want to print out and frame, as every wicket that fell, was taken by a Francis!

Dales were finally all out for 180, but Rowsell (50) and Jones (55) made important contributions.

At tea though, Crickhowell should have felt confident to chase this total down, so long as one or two of their batsmen could also make a significant score.

The Crickhowell batting however, this season, has been very inconsistent with very few batsmen being able to stay at the crease for long periods to build a score of substance. Saturday’s game was much the same, with a number of batsmen ‘getting in’ but none being able to go on and build that match winning score. Parker (18) and Watts (14) gave the side a good start and Lilley (33) looked set to build on this before being bowled by Breeze, who finished with 4-30 of his 12 overs. With a number of other senior batsmen coming up short, Cornock (4), Wallace (5) and Price (4), Crickhowell’s chances of pulling off a win, seemed to lay with their talisman skipper, Nick Francis, but when he fell for 25, another victim for Breeze, it seemed that Crickhowell’s chances of a win, had also been blown away. Gregg Tew on his comeback, after major surgery, managed 13 but Crickhowell finally fell well short being bowled out for 136 and could only manage one batting point.

For Dales, all the bowlers had some success with Gore (1-28), Rowsell (1-36), Jones (2-41) and Stanik (1-0) all supporting Breeze well. With just two more games to play this season in the Marches League Division 1, this setback for Crickhowell shouldn’t be a complete disaster. But with Glangrwyney now virtually doomed to relegation, it’s a question of which other team is likely to join them, and it still could be anyone of 5 with Crickhowell, Dales, Brockhamton, Woolhope and even Builth, still in the mix. With some of the teams at the bottom still having to play each other, and others having to face the teams at the top, pushing for the title, it’s certainly going to be close.

The equation for Crickhowell is simple though, and whatever happens with the other fixtures, so long as they can find another 12 points from their last two games, then they will be safe for another year in the top division.

Next week they face defending champions, Luctonians away, who have battled their way back to top spot, and the last game of the season is also away at Garnons who are currently third in the table.