With our 1st XI not even starting their match at Ynysygerwn this afternoon after heavy overnight rain had had its say, it was left to the 2nd XI of Stuart Seaton (aka Seats) and the ‘A’ XI of Kapilan Radhakrishnan (aka Kaps) to “do the business” on behalf of the Club today (10th) .
Well, one guy who needed no prompting whatsoever to have fun in the sun that did eventually arrive was Seats’ senior opening batter, Gareth “Baggers” Baglow!
With the 2nd XI start delayed until 2pm owing to said rain, the match against Cowbridge was reduced to 35 overs per side. Given that, Baggers simply sacrificed any time to get his eye in as he went for gold from the gun! And this despite losing his fellow opener early in the 3rd over: 12-1! Elliott Oates came in at three, scored 7 (1 four) in 8 overs, before he was run out: 76-2 in the 11th over!! Get the picture?!
Gareth was eventually dismissed in the 23rd over for a majestic knock of 112 from 70 balls faced, having smashed 11 fours & 4 sixes en route! Our total at the fall of Baggers’ wicket was 148-4!
Macsen Denman (37, 2 fours) and Jaden Patel (17, 2 fours) were the other two to reach double figures, as a flurry of wickets fell late on: MCC 210-9 at tea!
After the interval, there was a fine exhibition of teamwork by Seats’ People, with all six bowlers contributing well, backed up by their colleagues in the field!
Cowbridge got off to a steady start but the pressure was already building by the time the first wicket fell in the 15th over: 68-1 as soon as Jaden Patel (1-24) came on, with Harry Owens claiming his first of two stumpings!143 runs required from 20 overs!
The score reached 93-2 when the crucial wicket of opener Ollie Beveridge (34) was taken, run out by Steve Maddock! By this time Elliott was working his way through his allocation of 7 overs. He had taken the second wicket to fall, and followed this up with two more: 102-5, Elliott Oates 3-28!! Following his spell, up stepped Steve (1-19) and Eurig Morgan whose 3-24 dealt with the tail!
Cowbridge finished on 167-9 , handing victory by 43 runs to Seats’ 2nd XI who had put together a very impressive all-round showing!
At Briton Ferry Town, our ‘A’ XI were defeated by 37 runs.
Put into bat by Captain Kaps, our hosts notched a total of 180 all out in the penultimate over of their allotted 40. All credit to our bowlers who, apart from taking maximum bonus points, prevented 5 home batters from scoring more than their twenties. The wicket takers were Dan Board (2-41), Macs Holland (4-16), Hannah Thompson-Radford (the only bowler to bowl her maximum of 8 overs, taking 2-30) and Tom Phillips (1-26).
In reply, MCC openers Tom Ludman (32, 3 fours & a six) & Ed Harris (29, 2 fours) fought hard early on, whilst James “Slacky” Slack (28, 2 fours) & Malachi Williams (17) followed up their efforts in the middle order. However, BFT’s bowlers gave little away as Kaps’ team ended on 143-9 at the close.
Next Saturday (17th), our 1st XI take on Clydach at Marespool, the 2nd XI wander over to St Helen’s and the ‘A’ XI welcome Aberdare to Murton.