Welsh Cup – Second Round - Zone One Semi-Finals:

 

 
There was a great win for Neyland as they progressed into the third round at the expense of Ammanford, who play in Division One of the South Wales Premier League, where they are skippered by Alun Evans, former Glamorgan player, and ex-Pembrokeshire player with Dinas – but Pembroke went down to disappointing defeat at Treleet to Aberystwyth University Commoners.




 

Neyland ease through at Ammanford with another great team performance

 

Ammanford (131 for 8) lost to Neyland (132 for 4) by 6 wickets

 
Umpires: Mike Turner & Alistair Reason
Scorers: Gary Phillips & John Laugharne
 
Neyland showed why they are such a formidable team in Pembrokeshire as they followed last week’s splendid win in the National Village Cup at Milford Hall (Staffordshire) with this even more impressive away victory – gaining revenge for a narrow defeat when Sean Hannon’s side lost to Ammanford in the final at Sophia Gardens in 2018.





 

Neyland superb in restricting Ammanford to a relatively lowly score

 
Neyland fielded really well after inviting the home side to bat first and with Brad McDermott-Jenkins spear-heading their bowling with 4 for 16 from seven overs, one of which was a maiden, supported by Nathan Banner (2 for 34), Ross Hardy (1 for 14, including three maidens in his eight overs), Andrew Miller (1 for 16). Henry Durrant and Nick Koomen didn’t manage a wicket but also kept things tight so that Ammanford were restricted 20 131 for 8 in their allotted 40 overs.
 
Joe Joseph (40) and Matt Fisher (38) led the home batting as Tom Sparrow (11) and Alun Evans (10 not out) were the only other Ammanford batsmen to muster double figures.
 

Great start through Koomen and Bellerby, before Banner and Miller applied the coup de grace

 
Neyland then showed their batting strength as everyone chipped in with runs, other than ace run-maker Ross Hardy – but by then it mattered little because they were home and dry after Nick Koomen and Patrick Bellerby put on 59 for the first wicket in only nine overs.
 
Koomen had 28 (five fours) and Bellerby 42 (seven fours and a six), with Ashley Sutton also smashing a six in his speedy double figures before Nathan Banner and Andrew Miller saw them home with respective scores of 35 not out six fours and a six) and 11 not out.
 
Matt Fisher grabbed 3 for 23 and Alun Evans finished with 1 for 23, whilst teenager Owen Davies looked sharp in his short stint - but Neyland needed only 29.1 overs to claim a victory which sees them now meeting Aberystwyth Commoners in the Zone Final, the Mid Wales team having travelled to Pembroke to ease through against the Treleet-based club.
 
Neyland Scorecard:
Nick Koomen c Chris Maloney b Matt Fisher 28
Patrick Bellerby b Matt Fisher 42
Ashley Sutton lbw b Matt Fisher 10
Nathan Banner not out 35
Ross Hardy ct M Richards b Alun Evans 1
Andrew Miller not out 11
Extras 5
Total (4 wickets) 132
Ammanford Bowling:
Matt Fisher 7-3-23-1; Matt Fisher 8-0-19-3; Owen Davies 5-1-28-0
 

Pembroke find it hard going against The Commoners

 

Pembroke (113 all out) lost to Aberystwyth University Commoners (114 for 2) by 8 wickets

 
Scorer: Josh Davies
 
Pembroke were unable to make home advantage pay off at Treleet as Aberystwyth University Commoners made the long journey down from Mid Wales and returned with a Zone Final tussle against Neyland, venue still to be decided.
 
The Commoners are challenging at the top of the West Wales Conference table and showed their bowling strength in restricting Pembroke to 113 all out in 36 overs as only Sam Davies (23), Jamie Kaijaks (18), Jack Harries (14) and Charlie Perkins (14) managed double figures.

For The Commoners the wickets were claimed by Mustapha Ahmed (3 for 6), Faysal Shahzad (2 for 12), Ian Lawton (2 for 7), Chris Ward (1 for 17), Bill Somerfield (1 for 11) and Umar Aslam (1 for 29).
 

Plain sailing for Commoners’ batting

 
Then Ravi Mander (49) and Arshad Sher (44) led the Commoners’ response as only Rob Smythe (1 for 14) and teenager Aaron O’Neil (1 for 29) claimed wickets for Pembroke so that the visitors needed only 18 overs to reach their target with eight wickets still in hand.