Swansea took an early lead to head the South Wales Division One table thanks to a winning draw over Tata Steel at St Helens.
The hosts, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, were put into bat first and made 169-9 with Gareth Hayden (45) and Ed Smith (41) putting on 59 for the sixth wicket, after they were struggling at 70-5. Michael Jones (3-30) and Nathan Ferrell were the best with the ball for the Steelmen.
Tata in reply were on 127-9 when their overs ran out, despite being in a commanding position of 103-3 at one stage, but they consistently lost wickets. Rohan Herbert was the best with the bat for the visitors, while Josh Tobin took an impressive 4-24, and Johnny Hubschmid and Adam Wright both captured 2-23.
Defending Champions Dafen got their campaign off to a successful start thanks to a four wicket victory at Pontardawe.
Pontardawe batted first but were skittled out for just 82, mainly due to the scintillating bowling performance from Steven Devonald who took 5-33. Dafen, whose scheduled opening match last week fell foul of the weather, comfortably made their target carding 85-6, with Jamie Mansell’s unbeaten 25 the highlight of the innings.
Ynystawe also kicked off their campaign with a win thanks to a convincing seven wicket triumph over Clydach in a local derby.
Clydach put in to bat and made just 77, with Ieaun Davies (37) and Jason Davies (20) the most notable scorers, but they faced a fierce attack with all bowlers in fine form. Paul Discombe took 3-30, Alex Fletcher captured 3-25, while Rhys Palmer and Ben Northey also chipped in with 2-9 and 2-10 respectively.
Guided by captain Andrew Beasley's top score of 47, Ynystawe easily reached their target hitting 78-8, including one 6 and three fours from the captain.
Meanwhile Neath, who will be aiming to build on their third placed finish of last season, kicked off with a six wicket home win over Llangennech.
Llangennech were put in to bat and could only muster 96 thanks to an impressive display of bowling by Nathan Aubrey who captured 5-20 from 15 overs. In reply, the hosts reached their goal for the loss of just four wickets with Adrian Shaw (32) and Joe Parkhouse (17) both finishing unbeaten.
Elsewhere, Maesteg Celtic are still waiting to kick off their campaign, after their pitch was deemed unplayable for their match against Gowerton.
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