Neath hammered
struggling Maesteg Celtic by 115 runs to continue their dominant start to the
season in SWCA Division One.
In a fixture affected by the inclement weather, the league
leaders were put into bat and reached 255-5 with Adrian Shaw amassing 99 and
Keiron Thomas hitting 96 before being run out. Lee Hicks was the best bowler
with figures of 2-50.
Celtic were dismissed for 140 in the 40th over despite Tom
Morgan knocking 60 off just 64 balls. Kieron Bull took 5-46 off 15 overs and
Matthew Pearce 3-27.
Carmarthen Wanderers continued their impressive return to
the top flight to keep the heat on Neath with a more than comfortable
six-wicket beating of basement club Llangennech.
The weather struck there too, with the match reduced to 37 overs.
Llangennech reached 130-9 in their allotted overs with Gethin Long’s 38 and Atif
Hameed’s 37 the best totals. Andrew Edwards bowled well for 3-18 off eight
overs, with Owain Binding taking 3-21.
The Wanderers reached their total for the loss of just four
wickets to collect 25 points. A 50-run stand for the first wicket by Daniel
Jones (34) and Giles Thomas (23) set them on their way before Owain Davies
added 23 and Gareth Grant an unbeaten 23 to see them win for the sixth time in
eight matches.
Ynystawe overtook Tata Steel when they overcame them by two
wickets. Batting first, Tata were bowled out for a mediocre 108 with Owen
Davies reaching 31 and Nathan Ferrell adding 16. Andrew Beasley took 5-25 in
10.3 overs.
The Swansea Valley side lost eight wickets on their way to
victory, Tom Blake scoring 23 and Rowan Evans 18.
Elsewhere, Gowerton soared to their second win of the season
when they overcame Cowbridge by 95 runs.
Electing to bat, they scored 200-5 in their 50 overs with
Paul Rees hitting a brilliant 101 and Rhys Thomas knocking a solid 27. Only Tom
Merilaht did any real damage with the ball for the Vale of Glamorgan side as he
took 2-49.
Cowbridge were never close to their target, dismissed for just
105 in the 40th over. Sam Wood top-scored with 31 for them, as hot Gowerton
prospect Will Jenkins, just 15, did most of the damage by taking 6-23 in 10
overs, two of which were maidens.
Clydach secured a winning draw with Dafen in a match between
two teams in the lower half of the table.
The second division saw the Aberdare-Llandysul fixture
abandoned with the visitors on 102-4 after it had been reduced to 30 overs each,
while Pontardawe-Gorseinon never got going.
The three fixtures that did play were draws, with Skewen
(193-9) extending their lead over Aberdare at the top with a winning draw at
lowly Swansea Civil Service (97-6).
Division Three also saw two games fall foul of the
conditions. Yet the weather was unable to halt Porthcawl, as the early season
pacesetters made it seven wins from eight with a three-wicket victory at
Margam.
The hosts were put in to bat and made a respectable 148-9
off their 50 overs, with Luke O’Connor’s 46 a big contribution and Elwyn Pugh
and John Wellington both contributing 24. Nick Lyddon took 2-32 for the league
leaders, with Tom Davies collecting 3-33.
It took Porthcawl until the 49th over to surpass Margam’s
total with 149-7, as Lyddon matched O’Connor with a 46 of his own and Steve
Doherty added 34. Margam’s Pugh had done his best to dent the batting order,
taking 4-59, but it was not enough.
Three of the four Division Four fixtures were played,
including leaders Pwll hammering Felinfoel by eight wickets.
Tom Jones knocked 59 as visitors Felinfoel were put in and
reached 143-9, with Rhodri Lewis taking 3-31 and Craig Howells 2-24 off seven
overs.
Pwll hit their target with the loss of just two wickets.
Howells again starred with a 67, including 11 fours, with Dean Thomas adding
38.
The Llantwit Major Cavaliers climbed above Baglan in to
second to keep up the heat on Pwll with a four wicket victory over their
victims.
They elected to bowl after winning the toss and it proved
the correct decision as Baglan were skittled for 95. Their bowling attack was
in imperious form. James Snelson took 4-36 in eight overs, with Adrian Ashton
taking 2-19 in 11 and Gareth Hughes 2-3 from five. Ben Jenkins finished Baglan
off by felling 2-17 in his eight overs.
In reply they passed the total in the 34th over, with little
of note in the batting figures other than a 15 for Sam Pickford.
0 comments:
Post a Comment