Ken Morris Cup Final:
Haverfordwest 3rds (136 for 3 & 119 all out) beat Cresselly 3rds (142 for 8 & 75 all out)
Umpires: Huw Davies & Peter Perry
Scorers: Alison Sanders & Des Brace
Venue: Lewis Lloyd Ground, Narberth
Man of the Match Adjudicator: Gwynne Phillips (Whitland)
Man of the Match: Josh Hicks (Haverfordwest)
Haverfordwest Third XI trailed by six runs at tea-time in an absorbing Ken Morris Cup Final clash against their counterparts from Cresselly but battled hard and were rewarded with victory by 38 runs.
The game was played in a great spirit throughout and Cresselly skipper Steve Wilkins was quick to pra
ise his opposite number John Tooze for ‘walking’ from a very faint edge, and Nigel Jenkins for admitting that he hadn’t caught Wilkins when the Cresselly captain was on his way back to the pavilion in the belief that he was out.There was also plenty of support for both teams and the whole playing area looked a picture after the hard work of groundsmen Chris Richards and Wyn Phillips.
Haverfordwest First Innings - 136 for 3
Haverfordwest lost Josh Hicks and Jasper Holmes early but their fortunes were revived by a superb innings of 75 not out from Matthew Thomas which contained eight fours and a six. Town skipper John Tooze provided excellent support with 35 not out (three fours) in a productive partnership of 89 as Sion Jenkins (1 for 18) and Phil James (1 for 36) were the Cresselly wicket-takers.
Cresselly First Innings – 142 for 8
Cresselly made steady progress via Steve Wilkins (10), Ashley Smith (11). Joe Kinnear (10) and George Wilkins (18) but it was only the arrival of Luke Cole at No 8 in the batting order which provided an explosive boost to the Cresselly total.Cole lashed three sixes and a four as he scored 32 in only 13 deliveries and with 21 extras to add in, Cresselly took a six-run lead into tea, which certainly seemed unlikely for much of their innings. For Haverfordwest, the wicket-takers were Josh Hicks (1for 25), Kieran O’Connor (2 for 13), Matthew Vaughan (3 for 32) and Lalindra Weerasena (1 for 37).
Haverfordwest Second Innings – 119 all out
Phil James produced an inspired spell of bowling for Cresselly as Haverfordwest lost early wickets, finishing with the first four wickets for only 18 runs in his five overs. Megan Jenkins also bowled well for her 3 for 25 haul but useful contributions by Hicks (10), W
eerasena (13), Max Rodriguez (13) and Tooze (14) kept Haverfordwest inching towards a reasonable total which was reached thanks to 29 from Nigel Jenkins and another 19 runs from ‘Mr Extras’.Cresselly Second Innings – 75 all out
Cresselly started slowly in their quest to score 114 for victory and excellent bowling from Haverfordwest, assisted by good fielding that was typified by 14 year old wicket-keeper Mark Stobbs, put them under real pressure. Steve Wilkins (14), Kinnear (14) and Johnny Palmer (15) were the only batsmen to manage double figures against Hicks (3 for 12), Vaughan (1 for 20), Weerasena (3 for 11) and another talented Town youngster in off-spinner Kieran O’Connor (3 for 22).It left Cresselly 39 runs short of victory but perhaps cricket was the winner as the game was played in a very competitive but sporting manner from both camps, with umpires Huw Davies and Peter Perry doing a good job in the middle. The excellent trophies were presented by Shelley Morris, on behalf of the Morris family.