At Penarth yesterday (18th), Aneurin “Noddy” Norman led his 1st XI to an emphatic 112 victory over our hosts.
After winning the toss, our guys were in control from the start. Noddy (89, 8 fours & 3 sixes) and Luke Smith (96, 12 4s) reigned supreme as they added 202 before our captain was stumped, chasing yet another straight six! Richard Gibby (32, 1 four & 2 maximums) then joined Luke to add a rapid 51 runs..253 – 2 in the 38th over!
Luke fell soon after (255 – 3), thereby denied a maiden ton for his new Club – only a matter of time, one thinks! Following a further quick wicket, MCC were 269 – 4. However, Ed Moger (29, 3 fours) and Max Phillips (28no) then combined well to take Noddy’s Men to 327 – 5 at the close.
After rain got involved, the home side required a revised total of 288 to win from 39 overs.
Penarth never really got going. A couple of scores of 40 odd was not going to be enough, when requiring a run rate of over 7 an over from the off. All six MCC bowlers kept things tight, restricting the home side to 175-5 at the close. Kaeshanth Vigneswaran, Max, Jack Straw and Sam Harris each claimed a scalp whist Dr Gibby added a run out.
At Drefach, our ‘A’ XI also weighed in with a comfortable win.
After being asked to bat first, our lads and lass duly rattled up 204-8 from their 40 overs, recovering well from being 31 – 2 in the 11th.
Alan Harris (74) top scored, with strong support from James Harris (31), 14 year old Daniel Board (21) and 17 year old Macsen Denman (37), who joined us from Gorseinon pre-season.
In reply, our hosts never really left the blocks as our lads & lass bowled so well. Hannah Thompson-Radford led the way, as she took 5 – 12 on her senior debut for the Club! Nice one, Hannah! Alan (2 – 6), Macsen (1 – 18) and 14 year old Tom Phillips (2 – 4) took the other wickets.
Now, to the 2nd XI game v Neath at Marespool! Can’t say I have known tension like it..and I wasn’t even there!
Rain meant there was an early finish, so the Duckworth/Lewis method of determining the result came into play. Without appointed league umpires on duty, the scores were sent to the league’s adjudicator for confirmation asap. The result was duly confirmed at 10.24am this morning!
Batting first, Stuart Seaton’s XI did well to notch 196 – 8 from their full allocation of 45 overs. 13 – 3 became 54 – 4 when 14 year old ‘keeper Tom Ludman was out for 18 (2 fours) – cool work, Tom!
Veteran Ben Jones was at the crease and his score of 53 from 40 balls faced (4 fours) proved to be invaluable: he was out with the board reading 131 – 4. Seats (31, 1 four), Joe Holland (13, 1 four), Eoghan Mckeegan (10, 2 fours), Rhys Davies (12no) and Eurig Morgan (12no) did the rest.
After the break, Neath reached 126 – 6 from 27.1 overs when Ronnie Rain streaked across the ground, ensuring that the game was over!
The five home bowlers used to that point had done even better than they realised, as MCC came out winners..by 8 runs!!
Rhys (2), Eoghan (2), Siraj Salim and Elliott Oates took the wickets to fall.
Today (19th), our 1st XI defeated Swansea Warriors at home in R1 of the Welsh Cup whilst the ‘A’ XI saw off Gorseinon at Murton in the SWCA Intermediate Cup.
Five competitive wins on a weekend has to be some sort of Club record!!
Next Saturday (25th), the 1st XI play Ynystawe at Marespool, our 2nd XI travel to Ammanford and the ‘A’ XI play host to Pontarddulais at Murton.