Newtown to face old boy Smout

Newtown face Madeley this weekend in the Premier League knowing that former favourite Richard Smout will be plotting their downfall.

 

And they didn’t prepare for it in the best way last weekend, suffering a heavy defeat to Quatt after scoring a meagre 63 runs.

 

Laird, Putson, Foulkes and Cooke were all dismissed for single figures followed by a duck from captain Tony Springer to them in real trouble. Only Steve Davies (12) and John Anthony (11no) managed to get into double figures. Terry Hughes did the damage with 6-15.

In reply, a rain spruced up the pitch at lunch and a first ball wicket for David Anthony, and two quick wickets for Craig Davies, removing overseas pro Hitchcock and the prolific Adrian Evans, gave Newtown hope of causing a remarkable upset. This was soon extinguished by some steady batting from former Bridgenorth batsman Whitney (30) and the experience of Street (9no) who saw Quatt home with overs to spare.

Not an ideal build up to Saturday’s Smout reunion.