After their undefeated run came to an end last Saturday, Phil Roche’s men took a pit stop in the week, refuelled and changed their tyres! And it was Cowbridge who suffered from their getting back on track!
Electing to field first after winning the toss at the picturesque Athletic Ground, our ‘A’ XI ensured that the home side never really got out of second gear as tight bowling restricted them to 128-8 at the interval. Rochey led the way with 4-29, whilst Kaps (1-20), 15 year old Luke Edwards (2-28) & 14 year old Mike Jarrett (1-16) provided solid back-up. Also worthy of commendation are 15 year old Alex Davies & 15 year old Adam Lewis-Williams who bowled 12 wicketless overs between them, conceding just 21 runs!
After tea, it was soon apparent that the result was never in doubt as MCC reached their target with over 10 overs to spare, and with the loss of just four wickets. John Courtney (27, 3 fours), Ian Hoskison (20, 3 fours), Adam (42, 4 fours) and 15 year old wicketkeeper Sean Davies (22, 3 fours) were the main men! A fine away win!
The wheels however well and truly came off at Marespool and Clydach!
At HQ, visitors Bridgend felt it was too warm to do anything but bat first against Ryan Aingworth’s 1st XI. All the home bowlers were put to the sword as Glamorgan’s Craig Meschede in particular made hay! His fine knock of 117 from 97 balls faced ensured that Bridgend’s eventual team score of 296-9 was going to take some getting.
Ryan must have thought at one stage that his boys were going to be staring at a run chase of around 350, having watched all his 6 bowlers get punished. Dropped catches once again did not help the cause although some of the catches held were, ironically, out of the top drawer! None more so than that of Rahul Shah! If you have not already seen Ben Stokes’ superb effort v South Africa on Thursday, do seek it out…and then dismiss it as a mere “dolly”, for Rahul’s catch over his head/running back at mid-off late on in Bridgend’s innings defied description!
After the six had had their go, Ryan threw the ball with some frustration to occasional trundler James Palmer…”no probs, skip” was JP’s reply as he somewhat stemmed the tide via his haul of 5-39!
Photos courtesy of Gareth Jones
After tea, our 1st XI were never in it, eventually being bowled out for 189 with over ten overs unused…only David Thomas (33), Dan Lewis-Williams (29), JP (25), Ryan (33) and Rahul (23no) turned in scores in excess of 20. At 133-8, things were looking even worse but, to be fair, the tail collectively collected an additional two batting bonus points before the death knell sounded.
Clydach similarly despatched Stuart Seaton’s 2nd XI at Waverly Park. Choosing to bat first, Seat’s Sons posted an ok score of 238-8 at the break. Chief suppliers of runs here were Harri Turner (85, 8 fours & 4 sixes), Conor Stone (37, 4 fours & 2 sixes), Steve Powell (28, 2 fours) and 14 year old Ben Lloyd (24, 2 fours). However, Clydach were in no mood to undo the hard work done by their bowlers earlier in the piece, and duly coasted to victory by seven wickets with over 9 overs left to play.
Next Saturday (8th), the 1st XI troop over to Cardiff CC, the 2nd XI entertain Gorseinon at Marespool whilst our ‘A’ XI are at Murton to welcome Llandysul to town.