Yesterday morning (18th), Alex Protheroe’s ‘A’ XI surely had a tough test on their hands at Ammanford after lunch. Overnight, fellow SWCA newcomers Ammanford were in pole position within Division 7 whilst the Club were close behind in second spot. Imagine the anguish therefore on Alex’s face mid morning when he was to lose all-rounder Will Turner to the 2nd XI following a late drop out from that team. Life had been hard enough for Alex (and dozens of others!) at the Club on Thursday afternoon, having to tolerate the biggest of big smiles on Laura Aingworth’s emotional face, after it had taken three lions to slay one dragon!
Who then would fill Will’s boots at this late stage?
Alex had no option but to draft 14 year old Blyth Johnnies into the side, reassuring the lad that there was “no pressure & that he should just enjoy the experience”. Off the ‘A’ XI go, for their Match of The Season so far..how will this turn out now?
The home side batted first. At the end of their innings (40 overs), Ammanford had been left in tatters…73-8! Adam Frangakis Wiiliams (1-12), Kaps (1-12) and Jac Greenwood (1-9) had done their bit but, in truth, they were just the support act yesterday! Young off spinner Blyth Johnnies had come on first change, rattled through his permitted 8 overs…and took 5 – 5! He caught one off his own bowling, whilst two were snaffled by wicket keeper Roger Jones! This latter fact does rather lend itself to an interesting sporting trivia question, but we’ll leave that to the Club’s Quiz Night on Friday, 29th July!
In reply, and with a reputation for fierce hitting to keep, Rhuman Mohammad set about Ammanford’s bowlers with gusto. The game was done ‘n dusted in the 10th over, after Rhuman had hammered the opposition attack to all parts…of the 74 runs scored to clinch victory by 8 wickets, Rhuman had scored 56no, with 6 fours & 4 huge sixes! Well done, lads!
At Marespool, in a match reduced to 38 overs per side, Aneurin Norman lost the toss on a rain affected wicket for the second game on the trot. That was bad luck but there was no luck in the way that the Port Talbot 1st XI bowlers applied themselves to take full advantage of very tricky conditions for batting. Noddy’s 1st XI were bowled out for 96 in the final over. Only Max Phillips (28, 5 fours) and the captain (29no, 2 fours & 2 sixes) reached double figures.
It was remarkable that the game started at all, as the scene at Marespool mid Friday afternoon was more akin to The Evergaldes in Florida, rather than Mumbles on Gower! So, with conditions still difficult for batsmen, what could MCC pull off after tea, even without Dan Roberts on board? Left arm seamer Dan Lewis-Williams was keen to “let rip” having missed five weeks through injury…and, in reply, at the end of over one after tea, Port Talbot were 1 – 2! DLW was back!
Port Talbot skipper & man of the match Sean Griffiths came in &, along with ex Glamorgan opener Gareth Rees, steadied things somewhat. Also, Noddy’s boys were bowling wides. Sean, dropped early on, made 51 to go with his 4 wickets, and this was enough to set up victory for his team. MCC bowlers did share 6 wickets before the end but Port Talbot won comfortably with 12 overs to spare, and 23 wides amidst their winning score of 99-6. Port Talbot edged into 4th position in the Premier League, with MCC in 5th spot…a mere 18 points behind leaders, Newport.
At Port Talbot, our hosts also won well against Stuart Seaton’s 2nd XI. Winning the toss, Seats chose to bat first. Opener Baggers Baglow led the way, scoring 61 (7 fours) before he thought it was time to give somebody else a go. The middle order responded with Joe Phillips (19, 1 four), the swashbuckling Luke Brown (28, 1 four & 2 sixes), Seats himself (45, four fours and many suicidal singles & twos) and the Turner Boys (21 between them) seeing to it that the team reached a respectable 208-8 at tea.
Thereafter, however, it was one way traffic just off the M4 as Port Talbot went into cruise control. Never in any apparent difficulty, they reached their goal in the 38th over for the loss of just four wickets, shared by Messrs Sheldon, Shah, Brown & Straw. Despite this blip, the Club remains current leaders of the 2nd XI division.
Next Saturday (25th), the 1st XI entertain Ammanford at Marespool whilst the 2nd XI travel to Ammanford Park for their game. The unbeaten ‘A’ XI have a bye.
On Sunday, the Club has two Cup games, both away from home. The 1st XI go to Ammanford for Round 3 of the Welsh Cup whilst the ‘A’ XI visit Ynystawe for the rearranged SWCA T20 Shield match..more rain saw an early cancellation of their scheduled tie at Marespool today (19th) .