PANTEG captain Ian Bird hailed the character of his teammate for bouncing back from promotion heartbreak to lift the Macey Shield, writes Chris Kirwan.

After being pipped to the South Wales Premier Cricket League, Division Two title by Penarth on Saturday, they beat Newport by 11 runs in a close-fought final on Sunday.

Panteg were put into bat by the Spytty Park side and posted 180-5 with Tom Smith smashing a 40-ball 80 from number three, ably supported by opener Jon Glover (50).

Newport, fresh from winning the Premier League title, were looking dangerous when Imran Hassan and Michael Clayden formed an impressive partnership for the second wicket to move to 114-1 but Smith once again proved to be the key man.

He snared Hassan to end his fine innings at 82 from 37 balls while captain Clayden was unbeaten on a run-a-ball 57 as the visitors fell 11 runs short. Smith's four over went for just 18.

"It was a really good win after being bitterly disappointed on the Saturday when we put in a very poor performance at Penarth," said Bird.

"A few people let themselves down when we weren't at the races at Penarth but congratulations to them, they beat us twice this year and we wish them all the best in Division One.

"To bounce back the way that we did against Newport was a really good effort and that shows that we are good enough to be at the top table.

"When we met up on Sunday lunchtime I said to just park the disappointment of Saturday; that was difficult but we put a few of the wrongs right."