The 1st XI’s 8 wicket triumph at Gorseinon this afternoon (17th) was somewhat straightforward, it has to be said.
Fine batter Kieran Howells won the toss for the home side and asked Aneurin Norman’s Lads to fry first – please let’s not have a huge total to chase after the break, after the heat of a possible 50 overs chasing leather!
Well, wish granted! Our bowlers (a) got Kieran out for zero from the fourth ball of the game, (b) were miserly throughout despite a very fast outfield and (c) took 10 wickets between them in 48 0vers!
Aneurin & Soorya Selvakumar continued their excellent partnership as opening bowlers, reducing our hosts to 16-4 from 9 overs. Two partnerships sort of effected mini revivals as the scoreboard showed scores of 55 & 98 when the 5th & 6th wickets fell. After that, the remaining wickets fell regularly. Soorya finished with 4-24 from his 10 overs, Aneurin took 2-8 from 8 (his shoulder did not allow him to bowl out), Jacko Straw claimed 1-31, Greg Thomas left with 2-24 and there was a runout. Sam Harris also did a great job as he conceded just 25 runs from his 10 overs of off-spin.
In reply, MCC looked good throughout the chase, which was successful inside 26 overs. Both openers had been dismissed with 34 on the board but there was not to be any panic as Greg (56 no, 12 classy fours) & Harri Turner (30no, 3 fours) calmy produced the goods with an unbroken winning partnership of 103.
Great viewing, good cricket, fine win lads!
At Murton, our ‘A’ XI also pulled off an emphatic win, when they defeated Morriston by 117 runs.
MCC 284-6 from 40 overs, MCC (if you follow me!) 167 all out in the 32nd over.
Batting first, Tony Dowrick (54), 13 year old Thomas Ludman (45), Luke Brown (48, Matty Jovic (50n0), Stuart Seaton (31), Dave Martin (13) & Edgar Extraz (34) were the main contributors to our impressive total!
After the break, our visitors never got going in the face of good bowling and fielding. Seamer Dave Martin led the way with 4-26, with great support from Kapilan Radhakrishnan (1-23), Bob Stiddard (1-38), Dhiraj Shetty (1-31), 14 year old Sam Martin (1-27) & Dave Phillips (2-4).
Well done, men!
Finally, at Marespool, our 2nd XI were defeated by Gorseinon, who were in no trouble chasing MCC’s total of 213 all out in the penultimate over of 45 before tea.
There were a number of decent batting contributions from our young side, including 15 year old opener Ben Marks (46), 16 year old Joe Board (25) and 14 year old Macs Holland (19) who, along with Jon Brearley (33), all batted in the first six. Later on, Mandar Khash (21) & 16 year old Tom Chivers (15) each chipped in.
Despite the effects of fielding in the heat beforehand, “Gors” raced to their 7 wicket triumph with seven overs to spare. MCC skipper Phil Roche tried 8 bowlers in a determined effort to halt our opponents progress but to no avail. Tom (2-27) & 16 year old Gethin Morgan (1-45) took the only wickets to fall.
Next Saturday (24th), our league-leading 1st XI taken on second placed club, Usk, in the final game of the first half of season, the 2nd XI travel to Dafen and our ‘A’ XI travel to The Recreation Ground, Pontardawe, where they shall play Llandarcy.