CRICKHOWELL had a weekend of mixed fortunes, loosing at home to Luctonians but beating Wormelow on Sunday to book a place in the finals day of the Marches League T20 Cup.

On Saturday against Luctonians, with Crickhowell still missing a few players, they were able to open up with the pace of Joseph Bowker, who was back after some shoulder problems, and brother Ben.

The two worked well in tandem, with Ben bowling opener Platford [senior], and Joseph ripping through the rest of the top order to see the league leaders struggling.

Cornock took a smart catch in the gully to dismiss Probert and Wallace snapped up another catch at the wicket to see the back of the dangerous Platford [junior] who has scored over 700 runs in the league this year, including an unbeaten century against Crickhowell earlier in the season.

With Joseph also running out Simpson with a direct hit, Luctonians found themselves reeling on 80 for 6. However, they proved their worth as champions elect, and the lower middle order battled through with Bendry in particular unlucky not to score a century being well caught in the deep by Lilley off the spin of Phill Bowker for 99.

Powell [33] and Dilshan [26] also chipped in to see Luctonians through to maximum batting points with a score of 228.

Crickhowell took maximum bowling points and did well to make Luctonians fight hard for their runs and few teams this year have actually bowled them out.

Joseph Bowker finished with excellent figures of 4 for 34, Ben 1 for 55 and father Phill, 3 for 49.

Stuart Beaty [1 for 54] also chipped in with the wicket of Powell but was unlucky to pull the short straw bowling from the town end with the very short boundary into the castle grounds difficult to defend.

At tea, Crickhowell were hoping for some improved batting form to make in-roads to the Luctonians total, and even if a win against the tight bowling of the league leaders was unlikely, at least the team could bat through and pick up some valuable batting points.

Crickhowell’s batting this season has been blowing hot and cold and unfortunately the dial on Saturday was stuck on freezing.

Only Cornock [21], Price [16] and Kerrison [13] managed double figures and with three other batsmen scoring ducks, the Luctonians target was never under threat and the hapless Crickhowell team were all out for 74 in just 23 overs.

On Sunday, Crickhowell were forced to play their home game in the T20 cup against Wormelow down at Cwrt-y-Gollen as the town ground was being used for a charity match.

Wormelow won the toss and batted first and Worsely made a creditable 38 before Francis, back from vacation, had him caught by Cornock.

Price [14] and Pur [14 not out] also made useful contributions for Wormelow, but none of the batsmen were able to get after the Crickhowell bowlers who all finished with good figures.

Francis finished with 3 for 13 of his 4 overs, Ben Bowker 0 for 26, and Phill Bowker had 3 for 17 thanks to a good catch in the deep from son Joseph and a sharp catch taken behind by the evergreen Wallace.

Joseph himself had 1 for 15 and Tim Price bowling much better today than against Luctonians the day before, had a good little spell of 1 for 18. A total of just 99 presented no fears for Crickhowell who had plenty of fire-power available with Francis returning and plenty of further ammunition down the order if required.

Having lost an early wicket, steady batting by Lilley [39] and Kerrison [31] saw the team through to the 90s before both were out caught in the deep off Worsely adding a very good bowling performance [2 for 11] to his earlier good batting.

Francis then came in to hit the seven runs required with an over and a half to spare to see his side through to finals day on Sunday September 4, where the two semi-finals and the final will all be played out on the same day at Eastnor Cricket Ground.