Once again this weekend (6th), our 1st XI, 2nd XI and ‘A’ XIs each pulled off a fine win!
At Stradey, stand-in skipper Jack Straw led the 1st XI to victory by 5 wickets, whilst the 2nd XI chased down 181 to stroll home by 8 wickets at Marespool, also v Llanelli!
To complete the hat-trick, our ‘A’ XI defeated Llandarcy across town by 10 runs!
Jack won the toss and chose to bowl first. Llanelli got off to a positive start, scoring 25 in decent time before Mike Jarrett (1-29) clean bowled opener Owain Baxter in the seventh over.
At the other end, Jamie Sheldon, back on board after a hand injury resulted in his missing the last three league matches, was keeping things tight..0-29 from his 10 overs in one spell. Then came two superb direct hit run-outs by Adam Frangakis-Williams and Greg Thomas to reduce the home side to 72-3 from 18 overs!
Veteran opening bat Iwan Rees fought hard for his 52, before Adam combined with ‘keeper Sean Davies to get him out..91-4, which soon became 111-7!
There followed a flurry of boundaries from Rhydian Morgan (20) but it was too little/too late in the event, as our hosts were bowled out for 139 in the 37th over. AFW (3-35), Jack (3-36) and Greg (1-7) took the other wickets snapped up by the bowlers.
In reply, MCC were in a spot of bovver at 15-2 in the 6th over. Greg (29, 6 fours) and opener Elliott Oates worked well together to take the score to 65 before the former was lbw to Iwan in the 16th. Joe Phillips (11) contributed to a stand of 25 before he left the scene..90-4 soon became 95-5, however!
Some “old head” was now required..enter Stuart Seaton, living in West Cross/working in Llanelli! His undefeated 19 (1 four & a lot of patient singles) did the trick as he & Elliott saw their boys home with 12 overs to spare. Elliott had batted really well from the off, to finish with an invaluable score of 52no (4 fours & even more singles).
At Marespool, we had a very interesting game to watch!
Acting 2nd XI Captain Phil “Rochey” Roche lost the toss to Llanelli and had to lead his men out to field first. “No probs” said Alex and Rhys Davies (no relation), as they reduced our guests to 4-2 within the time taken to butter a sandwich! That soon became 44-4, as Rhys nipped in again alongside Joe Holland’s runout!
However, a contemplative Josh Weeds had just come in at this point. When he watched the 5th wicket fall, the scoreboard was showing a total of 96.
Now, Josh’s game has always been “positive” shall we say so he decided enough was enough. Whilst he was at the crease, the total rose from 43-3 to 173-8..130 runs difference. Well, helping himself to 11 fours & 7 sixes, Josh was 8th out..for 97! Great hitting indeed! His mother, scoring with your scribe at Stradey Park, was well chuffed!
Soon, Llanelli were bowled out for 181 in the 30th over. Rhys (2-44), Alex (1-45), Joe (2-23), Mo Shawkat (1-43), Ben Jones (2-13) & Gethin Morgan (1-5) shared the scalps claimed by the bowlers.
After the latest Harris/Straw extravaganza of a tea, Harri Turner and Jaden Patel strode purposefully to the middle to start MCC’s road to victory. Now, Harri had had a return of good form in the week, with a fine ton against our friends from Carsons and Mangotsfield CC, on tour from Bristol. What mood was he in today?!
A good one, as it turned out! He and Jaden wasted little time in adding 131 for the first wicket in good time, before Jaden went for 40 (3 fours). Harri carried on his way, adding 50 with Luke Edwards (2)..181-2, 1 run required!
Harri finished 108no (16 fours & 2 sixes) as his men clinched their well deserved 8 wicket win after batting for a mere 27 overs! Edgar Extras also chipped in (31).
At The Recreation Ground in Pontardawe, Eurig Morgan’s ‘A’ XI came out on top after a closer affair against Llandarcy.
With MCC choosing to bat first, Rob Steele & Dave Phillips (4, 1 four) opened up with a stand of 30, followed by one of 38 between “Steelo” & Jon Brearley when the opener left with 31 to his name (4 fours)..68-2.
Jon went on to complete a good knock of 53 (7 fours), with Tony Dowrick (12, 1 four), Macs Holland (19, 2 fours) and Dad Dave (17, 2 fours) plus Ernie Extras (23) also contributing to the final team score of 178-9 at the break.
Enough on a good day for batting? Well, as we know, it was..in the end!
Llandarcy opened up with an excellent stand of 81 in 21 overs, with 65 coming from the blade of Chris Williams..a great platform! However, the board soon read 105-4 as our lads took back the initiative. Wickets continued to fall steadily until the home side was finally bowled out for 168 at the end of the penultimate over.
All the bowlers deserve credit – Vineet Sabharwal (3-26) broke the opening partnership by bowling Chris, followed by fine work by Macs Holland (1-19), Tony (1-32), Kapilan Radhakrishnan (1-33) and Dave Phillips (3-38) plus a Tom Hannant run out to account for the remaining 9 wickets. Also, the press corps will get into major trouble if mention is not made of Steelo conceding just 13 runs from his 8 wicketless overs!
Great work everyone – nice one!
Next Saturday (13th), the 1st XI host Penarth at Marespool, the 2nd XI venture over to Port Talbot and the ‘A’ XI take on Maesteg Celtic at Murton.