The spectators flooded in to the picturesque Monmouthshire ground and consequently the match sponsored by Premier Forest Products, iStadia Solutions and HSBC Bank was the most successful of the 3 events to date.
Having beaten Usk in the two previous encounters, the Dragons took this year’s match very seriously taking part in numerous sessions during pre-season training at their Ystrad Mynach base and also arrived early to take advantage of the practice nets to warm up. The Dragons team was vastly different from previous years with outside half, Jason Tovey, picking up the Captains armband due to an injury to centre Pat Leach.
After winning the toss, the home side were initially pegged back though some superb bowling by Rynard Landman backed up by some athletic fielding by the Dragons. Usk’s opening bat Iain Clayton commented that it was the best bowling he’d faced all season! With wickets taken by Landman, Brok Harris, Angus O’Brien, Luc Jones and two each from Cory Hill and Blaina CC player Geraint Rhys Jones, Usk finished up 182-9 from their 20 overs with Clayton retiring on 32. Captain Henry Lewis out for 28 and veteran Owen Watkins keeping the spectators on their guard with some hard hit shots.
In reply, with a mix up between Luc Jones, last years 6 hitting match winner Tovey was run out with only 6 runs on the board only for a charitable donation to keep him at the crease. Maybe Usk should have outbid to get him off the field as the following over he hit three consecutive 6’s to retire on 32 with Luc Jones following, retiring on 35.
Some great batting saw the Dragons on 84 after six overs. On 15, Landman was clean bowled by Tom Robinson however the neutrality of the umpires came into question as they both donated money to the Charities to keep him at the crease! He went on to also retire on 32. An error of judgement resulted in Geraint Rhys Jones being run out bringing Matthew Screech to the crease. His innings was short and sweet as he was cleanly bowled by Ben Jones.
Angus O’Brien added to Usk’s woes retiring on 32, a great catch on the boundary sent Cory Hill back to the Pavilion scoring 7 and James Thomas soon followed on 9. But the late flurry of wickets came all to late for Usk as the Dragons unbeaten run continued with James Benjamin hitting the winning run with three overs to spare for the loss of just 5 wickets
Following the match many spectators remained to soak up the sun and enjoy the live music kindly provided free by local Usk duo Silurian long into the evening.
The event was in aid of Usk’s two chosen charities St David’s’ Foundation Hospice Care and the Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl Society. Early indications are that in excess of £4,500 has been raised easily surpassing last year's total, with over £10,000 raised from the 3 years.
Usk's Chairman Mike Kear commented: "This was an amazing day with fantastic numbers of spectators supporting the event. The standard of cricket being played has got better and better and we need to up our game next year if we are have any chance of beating the Dragons! We are extremely grateful for all the Dragons' players for making this event happen, and especially Dragons Commercial Director, Pete Grzonka. Also thanks goes to Usk's Darron Jones for organising the whole day and to our event sponsors.”
