The final round of of this season's cricket matches came to a close over the weekend. All three of the Dinas sides played and the report is below.

Already relegated Dinas 1sts finished their season with an away win at Barry Athletic. A delayed start meant the umpires reduced the match to 40 overs per side.

Having lost the toss, Barry batted first and cruised to 134/1 off 30 overs.

Dinas captain Stuart Jones then struck with 5 wickets in a 7 over spell of 5/25. Bryn Fogden took a wicket and held a remarkable one handed catch as Barry finished on 210/6, opener Lee Morgan top scoring with 85.

Dinas openers Gordon Hannah and Lloyd Dimauro got off to a good start, adding 71 for the 1st wicket before Dimauro played on for 28.

A couple of big overs took the score to 109/1 at drinks after 20 overs, when Dinas looked to be well on top.

However, Hannah departed soon after for 75 and further wickets fell, leaving Dinas needing 58 off the last 10 overs with 5 wickets in hand. Barry captain Ashley Baker held 2 fine diving catches to keep up the pressure, but Jason Harries controlled the run chase with assistance from Alex Vowles and Fogden.

Harries reached his 50 with consecutive 4s in the penultimate over, taking Dinas to an exciting 3 wicket win.

Four months of blood, sweat and far more tears came to an end for Dinas Powys Second XI on Saturday with the visit of Penarth IIIs to Bryn-y-Don.

Miraculously, the game started on time after a mid-morning deluge had threatened to delay, if not cancel proceedings altogether, and you would not have known it had rained at all when Dinas won the toss and elected to bat first.

But that decision had looked to have backfired when the quick wickets of three of Dinas' senior batsmen left the home side reeling on 40-3.

Enter James Hiscocks, promoted up the batting line-up on the back of two impressive lower order displays, who watchfully set about restoring stability to the Dinas innings.

Hiscocks and his junior partner Olly Hurley soon found their feet and looked comfortable against a wily Penarth attack fielding a number of familiar faces.

A thoroughly enjoyable 111-run partnership was the fruit of many years' coaching for some of the watching Dinas fraternity, only these two were hitting shots some of their seniors could only dream of playing.

Hiscocks' on-drive and Hurley's sweep found the boundary on numerous occasions and the partnership looked to be a potential match-winner on a particularly slow outfield.

When Hurley eventually fell LBW for a well-crafted 44, the returning Jack Houghton bludgeoned his way to a quick-fire 33 (courtesy of two huge sixes) in support of Hiscocks' 73no – a maiden half-century for the ever-improving youngster.

The Dinas innings closed on 216-5 after 40 overs, a challenging target given the conditions.

After another hearty Clogg tea, Penarth set off in pursuit of the Villagers' total with caution.

Opening bowlers Olly Coughtrey (8-0-34-1) and Richard Morgan (8-1-27-0), a reliable if not dynamic duo with the new ball, kept a now customary lid on the opposition, blunting any real hope of a rapid start.

But it was, perhaps, to be expected that man of the moment Hiscocks would make the biggest inroads into Penarth's experienced batting order, bowling with a control and intelligence that is seldom seen in the Second Team.

Figures of 8-2-13-3 were just rewards for a stellar spell that put the game well and truly out of reach of the opposition.

Both Olly and Andy Hurley were wicketless but without luck, and Houghton bowled a tidy 7 overs with a nice rhythm for the most part.

A catch and a smart run out for Nathan Bennett was the highlight of a solid day's work in the field, as Dinas ended comfortable winners by 45 runs.

The match, though, was all about Hiscocks who, at the tender age of 24, formally cemented himself as a fully-fledged all-rounder and gave future Dinas captains more than a little to think about.

The end result meant the Second XI finished the season in fourth place, with 10 wins and 5 defeats – a highly respectable haul given sporadic availability and inconsistency in selection.

But a last-day promotion tilt was effectively quashed two hours before play began, when third-placed Ton Pentre cancelled their home fixture against Barry Athletic for rain. A disappointing end to an enjoyable season played in the very best of spirits – aside for one or two mid-match tantrums.

The Seconds would like to thank their number one fan, Ian Richardson, for spending more time at Bryn-y-Don than the Common as the summer wore on.

Thanks are also owed to club Secretary Simon Hiscocks for documenting all timber rattling; and chief tea lady Ruth Clogg, her understudy Sammy Vowles, and all others who supported the team on and off the field this year.

The 3rds final league match of the season saw the Villagers who were already relegated take on a very strong Creigiau side on the common.

Batting first, the visitors visitors scored a massive 339-7 in the 40 overs.

Young Will Palmer was the pick of the bowlers with 4-42 whilst Nathan Waite picked up a couple of wickets. Creigau's total was never remotely likely to be challenged, and so it proved as they bowled out Dinas for just 87, with Palmer again being the star with 35 of those runs.

It's been a tough year for the 3's, but bar one weekend, they put a side out every week.

Although relegated, the new ladder structure should by next season be levelling out ability and preventing too many mismatched games like this on.

Thanks to High Motive and Ian Richardson for sponsoring balls for this weekend's matches.

A final bright spot to the season was Dinas Powys ending as the Glamorgan T20 bowl off champions.

During the intervals in Glamorgan's T20 matches clubs have been invited to take part in a "bowl off" with 4 players bowling at a set of stumps to see how many hits they can make in 1 minute.

On Bank Holiday Monday in the Glamorgan v Sussex match Dinas' four players bettered the existing total of 3 with 5 hits, and that proved to be the winning total for the season, with those that took part winning season tickets for next year's competition. Well done to James Hiscocks, Gareth Storey, Alex Vowles, Reuben Mitchel, and 'keeper Nathan Waite.