Banner and Sutton help Neyland win top-three clash

 

Neyland (182 for 2) beat Cresselly (181 all out) by 8 wickets

 
Umpires: Steve Blowes & Trefor Evans
Scorers: John Laugharne & Tegan Cartwright
 
Neyland bounced back from their first defeat the night before with this big eight-wicket success over top-three opponents Cresselly at The Athletic Ground, showing their batting strength as they chased down Cresselly’s challenging final tally for the loss of only two wickets and with 6.4 overs still in hand.
 
Their margin of victory was all the more remarkable because they lost Patrick Bellerby (9) and Nick Koomen (3) respectively to Ryan Lewis (1 for 20) and Tom Murphy (1 for 39) to stand precariously at 14 for 2 before Nathan Banner and Ashley Sutton shared an unbroken stand of 168 where both showed their full array of batting skills to seal a very important success.
 
Earlier in the day Cresselly had also looked in a bit of bother at 94 for 6 as only Matthew Morgan (11), Neilson Cole (10) and Dan James (before he was superbly caught by Geraint Rees, diving low to his left and pouching the ball one-handed) gave assistance to Simon ‘Snowy’ Cole, who looked in fine fettle.
 
Cole eventually stroked his way to 73 in 106 balls (nine fours) and shared a stand of 77 with Ryan Lewis, also looking sharp until he departed for 47 in 35 deliveries (seven fours).

Nathan Banner (3 for 24) led the Neyland bowling attack alongside Patrick Hannon (1 for 36), Ross Hardy (1 for 39), Jack John (2 for 49) and Koomen (2 for 18) – and then showed why he is now one of the top all-rounders in the county as he struck nine fours and two sixes in his splendid 89 not out from 111 balls, whilst Sutton supported with eight fours and a six in his unbeaten 66 (101 balls) so that Neyland could extend their lead at the top of the table.
 
 

Saundersfoot slam weakened Tish

 

Saundersfoot (109 for 1) beat St Ishmaels (108 all out) by 9 wickets

 
Umpires: Arthur Brady & Gareth Brace
Scorers: Adge John & Wendy Bradshaw
 
St Ishmaels travelled to Saundersfoot with a weakened side and paid the inevitable price as The Seasiders bowled and fielded well to restrict Tish to 108 all out and then lost only one wicket in chasing down a less than challenging tally for the loss of just one wicket in only 21.5 overs.
 
Jack Nicholas topped the Tish batting chart with 36 (five fours and a six), supported by second team skipper Robbie Thomas (four boundaries in his 20), Brennan Devonald (14) and Andrew Pawlett (17 in only eight balls) but no-one was able to stay long enough to build a bigger score as Sam Franklyn caused them all sorts of problems with a match-winning 6 for 22 haul.
 
John Mansbridge (1 for 30), Tudor Hurle (1 for 41) and Neil Powling (as accurate as ever in his 2 for 11 analysis) were the other Saundersfoot wicket-takers, assisted by good ground fielding and well-taken catches.
 
Tom Mansbridge departed for 27 when he was caught by Ieuan Hawkins off Thomas in his 1 for 20 spell but Danny Caine marked his return to action with a blistering 60 not out that contained six fours and three sixes – and Franklyn completed a good individual performance with 10 not out at the finish to help The Seasiders climb out of the bottom two at the expense of their rivals here.
 
 

Narberth gain day’s biggest success against basement boys Llechryd

 

Narberth (282 for 6) beat Llechryd (145 all out) by 137 runs

 
Umpires: Chris Stapleton & Allan Hansen
Scorer: Gwyneth Cole (Narberth)
 
Narberth gained victory by the widest margin of the day in division one as they smashed a daunting 282 runs for 8 wickets in their 45 overs – and then dismissed the opposition in the 32^nd over as only John Curran and David Dunfee ever stayed long.
 
Leading the way for Narberth was new recruit Jamie McCormack, who joined them this season and has already shown his potential before this cracking innings of 96 (11 fours and five sixes- - and looked a certainty for three figures but then holed out to Andrew Fletcher off Johnny Lewis’s bowling.
 
Opening bat Richard Adams was a solid as ever with his 66 (eight fours and a six) and also in the runs were Loui Davies (42), Ben Hughes (25), Jordan Howell (21) and Ben Quartermaine (14) as Lewis ended up with 5 for 45 and found a measure of support from Dunfee (2 for 54) and Graham Keen (1 for 39).
 
John Curran had to end his bowling stint through injury after conceding 15 runs in his six overs but he was still able to bat well enough to top score for Llechryd with 53 (8 fours and a six), with runs also coming from Dunfee (34), Keen (13) and Daf Davies (22 not out).
 
For Narberth, the principal wicket-takers were Loui Davies (3 for 21) and David Johns (3 for 30), ably assisted by Ben Quartermaine (2 for 26) and skipper Ben Hughes (2 for 41) as Narberth kept pace in the table but leaving Llechryd even further rooted to the foot of the table.
 


 

Thomas tames The Town in welcome Whitland win

 

Whitland (208 for 6) beat Haverfordwest (188 all out) by 20 runs

 
Umpires: Dave Brandon & Neil Thomas
Scorers: Ann-Marie Jenkins & Jayne Cole
 
Whitland won their second game from three starts alongside being unlucky to have had five matches abandoned, with skipper Jonathan Thomas leading the way to victory over Haverfordwest as he stroked a cracking unbeaten century.
 
Thomas had 13 fours and three sixes in his excellent innings of 110 not out, with support coming from Kevin Pearce (28), Jacob Owen (14), Scott Newton (15) and Gwion Howell 11) against The Town bowling of Johnny White (1 for 33), Ashley James (1 for 45), Clive Tucker (1 for 18), Jake Merry (1 for 28), Dai Davies (1 for 35) and Simon Williams (1 for 39).
 
For most of their innings Haverfordwest were in contention as the Field brothers, Dan and Ben, led their scoring with respective knocks of 39 and 37, followed by Dan Potter (35) and Dai Davies (14) – and Ashley James weighed in with a late 34 not out.
 
But Whitland kept chipping away via Gethin Scourfield (2 for 28), Connor Bowen (2 for 38), Scott Newton (2 for 32), Luc Owen (2 for 48), Thomas (1 for 25) and Geraint Jones (1 for 13) – and in the final analysis were good value for victory!