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Delighted champions Haverfordwest
Holliday helps The Town retain championship silverware
Lawrenny (136 all out) lost to Haverfordwest (140 for 2) by 8 wickets
Umpires: Dave Brandon & Denis Chiffi
Scorers: Malcolm Thomas & Jayne Cole
Haverfordwest completed the coveted double of Harrison-Allen Bowl and league championship winners as the beat Lawrenny by eight wickets to round off a fairy-tale ending to their league programme in the final month after trailing previous leaders Neyland by 52 points.
Lawrenny elected to bat first but despite a solid 42 from opening bat Steve Lewis (three fours and a six) they were soon in a bit of bother against Adam James, who claimed four wickets as Lawrenny limped to 75 for 5.
The home side eventually reached 136 all out as Simon Cole (29), James Buckle (28) and skipper Brad McDermott-Jenkins (14) made minor contributions, with James showing why he is rightly regarded as the top fast bowler in the league with an impressive 5 for 22 haul from his 8.4 overs.
Gareth Davies’s slow stuff caused problems at the other end as he picked up 4 for 55 whilst Sion Holliday was the other wicket-taker with 1 for 30 in six overs.
Simon Holliday was again the rock of The Town’s innings as he remained undefeated on 69 (nine fours and a six) after sharing a productive opening partnership with 15 year old Nikhil Mathias (37).
Dai Davies departed for only three runs but club vice-captain Ben Field helped Holliday take their side to the silverware with 34 not out (three fours and a six), despite a wicket apiece from Rob Williams and Brad McDermott-Jenkins, before skipper Danny Potter was presented with the James Morris Memorial Cup by county club chairman Tony Scourfield as reward for The Town’s dogged resistance.
Simon Holliday strokes a boundary
Picture by Brian McKehon
Matthew Webb scored 51 in 46 balls
Neyland win well but just miss out in title race
Cresselly (237 for 9) lost to Neyland (241 for 7) by 3 wickets
Umpires: Trefor Evans & Richard Merriman
Scorers: Casey and Teagan Cartwright (Cresselly) & John Laugharne
Neyland produced an excellent all-round performance to win at Cresselly in a typically high-scoring battle but missed out by just single point to tie in the title race with Haverfordwest by dint of the fact that they were unable to claim the home club’s last wicket!After being invited to bat first Cresselly looked settled from the outset thanks to Iwan Izzard (53, including eight fours), Alex Bailey (49, with five fours and a six made at a run a ball), Phil Williams (14) and Neal Williams (18).
But the major impetus was then provided by Matthew Webb (51 in 46 balls, including five fours and two sixes) and especially by Ryan Lewis, who belted a lightning-quick 41 in 17 deliveries that included five big sixes.
Veteran slow bowler Gary Lloyd was the main bowler for Neyland with excellent figures of 6 for 54 alongside Andrew Miller (2 for 41) and Geraint Rees (1 for 23).
Neyland’s reply was led by a typically belligerent 81 from Nick Koomen (five fours and five sixes), assisted by Gregg Miller (14), Steve Murray (a promising 50 that contained seven fours and three sixes), Henry Durrant (25), Geraint Rees (27 not out) and skipper Sean Hannon (13 not out) against Sam Harts (1 for 64), Tom Arthur (1 for 40), Ryan Lewis (3 for 65), Simon Jenkins (1 for 31) and Mike Shaw (1 for 32).
But hard as Neyland tried they were that vital one point adrift of a play-off against Haverfordwest in one of the closest finishes to the title race for many a year!
Gary Lloyd - six-wicket haul for Neyland veteran
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Steve Mills guides Johnston to victory with a superb innings of 93
Narberth go down as Johnston ‘big guns’ fire again
Narberth (181 all out) lost to Johnston (182 for 1) by 9 wickets
Umpires: John Williams & Allan Hansen
Scorers: Gary Hughes Natalie Thomas
For the second week in succession Johnston chased down a large target for the loss of only one wicket and as a result retain their coveted division one status for next season whilst Narberth’s revival from some recent poor form wasn’t enough and defeat in this ‘winner takes all’ contest sees them suffer the indignity of relegation.
Narberth’s innings reflected the nervous tension around the ground as they started out with an 80-run opening partnership by Richard Adams (35) and skipper Ben Quartermaine (33) before they lurched to 111 for 5 as Lee Summons claimed three wickets and found support from Chris Phillips, who eventually finished with respective figures of 3 for 42 and 3 for 45.
But then Kyle Quartermaine blitzed seven fours in his 47 as Lewis Hough (15) gave valuable support so that Narberth moved to a reasonable final tally of 181 all out as Chris Fitzpatrick (1 for 12) and Jack Mills (2 for 15) were the other successful Johnston bowlers.
Narberth’s hopes of victory received a speedy boost after tea as Ben Quartermaine shifted Mikey Jones for a duck with the score on 7 – but then Dan Sutton was joined by Steve Mills as they built steadily to 46 in 15 overs before starting to increase the tempo with a string of boundaries.
Sutton adopted the anchor rule to a degree, holding his back his natural attacking flair in the club’s cause but still managing to rap nine fours and two sixes en route to his 72 not out, whilst Mills was at a his attacking best with ten fours and four big sixes that took him to an undefeated 93.
Spreadbury’s power-hitting helps Whitland home
Whitland (224 for 5) beat St Ishmaels (223 for 7) by 5 wickets
Umpires: Robert Ridge & Tony Pasternak
Scorers: Ann-Marie Jenkins & Wendy Bradshaw
A smashing opening stand of 130 by Will Spreadbury and Jack Bowen helped Whitland to a comfortable home win over a St Ishmaels’ side where they reached their sizeable target in only 37.1 overs.
Phil Cockburn maintained his run of good form as he again top scored for St Ishmaels, stroking seven fours and three sixes en route to 79, whilst Peter Bradshaw (28) helped his team to 112 for 4 before Andrew Williams (36), Andrew Palmer (19) and Brennan Devonald (18) helped Tish to a healthy 223 for 7.
For Whitland, the wicket-takers were Ben Harvey (2 for 38), Jonathan Thomas (2 for 55), Wayne Howells (1 for 33) and Scott Newton (1 for 54).
Then Spreadbury lashed six fours and four sixes in his top score of 77 for Whitland, ably assisted by Bowen’s 60 (six fours and three sixes), before Kevin Pearce (21) and Paul Davies (40 not out) took Whitland into the top half of the table as Brennan Devonald (2 for 36), Andrew Williams (1 for 29) and Dan Howells (1 for 4) claimed the wickets for Tish.
Carew in cruise mode as Llanrhian bow out
Llanrhian (59 all out) lost to Carew (60 for 3) by 7 wickets
Umpires: Tony Waldeis & Mervyn John
Scorer: Julie Davies (Carew)
Carew cruised to a comfortable seven-wicket success at Llandigige Fawr as home side Llanrhian finished their spell in division one very much on a down-beat note as they could only muster 59 in 22 overs before the visitors won in only 7.4 overs, despite tinkering with their batting order.Llanrhian won the toss and elected to bat but only Matthew Bennett (12) and Ben Jones (12 not out) managed double figures against impressive bowling by Sean Whitfield (5 for 19) and James Hinchliffe (4 for 23) in their ten-over stints, both with four maidens before Tom Davies wrapped things up in his figures of 1 for 6.
Carew lost Chris Cole and Iori Hicks (10) to Matthew Bennett (2 for 24) before Tom Scourfield blasted 17 from only nine deliveries and Whitfield was even quicker to round off a fine all-round personal performance with 31 in 13 balls, including three fours and three big sixes as Rhodri Owen (1 for 30) was the only other Llanrhian wicket-taker.