Pembrokeshire County Youth (300 for 1) beat Wales XL - Forty Club (212 for 7) by 88 runs
Venue: Herbrandston CC
Umpires: Rob Bellerby & Jonathan Twigg
Scorer: Clarissa Lewis
Opening partners Finley and Tomos Lewis both hit brilliant unbeaten centuries to lay the platform for Pembrokeshire County Youth to record a resounding victory over Wales XL (Forty Club), writes Jon Willington.In an excellent day of high quality cricket Neil Harris (61) and Nick Morgan (55) showed their class with the bat for the XL Club but on the day it was not enough to topple a delighted youth team.
A sun-bathed Herbrandston CC was the venue for the County Youth’s second fixture of the season with an excellent pitch and rapid outfield ensuring everyone was treated to a high-scoring encounter. Thanks must go to Herbrandston for doing such a great job of hosting the fixture and to club scorer Clarissa Lewis for scoring the fixture on behalf of both teams.
Finley and Tomos set a high standard
Umpires Rob Bellerby and Jonathan Twigg oversaw the toss which saw Youth skipper Charlie Arthur prevail and opt to bat first in ideal conditions. Finley and Tomos Lewis settled quickly into a pattern of rotating the strike and punishing anything loose. Whilst the XL bowlers generally maintained a good line they had no answer to the positivity of the openers as the run rate quickly rose to six runs per over.
Finley and Tomos Lewis maintained their relentless scoring to bring up the 100 run partnership in the 15th over. Finley was first to his half-century with a string of classy boundaries with Tomos not far behind as he brought up his 50 with an exquisite cover drive.
The XL could find no way through as neither batter gave a chance, the Youth reaching the drinks break on 143 without loss.
Drinks bring little relief for the XL
The momentum continued after drinks as Finley in particular looked to up the rate against a tired-looking XL unit. He raced on and reached a brilliant chanceless century off 83 balls including 17 boundaries, at which point he retired undefeated.
Tomos Lewis was joined by Arthur who looked to be aggressive from ball one and these two continued to punish the beleaguered XL. Arthur struck four boundaries and two sixes in a quick-fire 37 from 29 balls before he was removed by Ian Milsom, which proved the only success for the XL.
Tomos Lewis was joined by Jack Badham and began to open up hitting two big sixes and nine boundaries to reach 96. There was a huge sigh of relief as a tough catch went down but Lewis composed himself and moved on to a superb century from 101 balls, retiring undefeated.
Badham and Ethan Hall added late runs including a big six from Hall, these two scrambling a leg bye from the final ball of the innings to take the Youth to the 300 mark.
Harris and Morgan show their class
Following a delightful tea the XL set out to chase down 301 for victory. Opener Neil Harris batted with real quality against openers Arthur and Charlie Malloy, rotating the strike and punishing any loose deliveries. It was Malloy (1 for 16) though who made the breakthrough on his home turf, clean bowling Rob Saunders in another fluent spell of pace bowling.
Julian Arthur (11) threatened briefly before falling to a superb diving catch from son Charlie off the bowling of William Phillips (1 for 35) with Hundleton legend Jonathan ‘Taffy’ Williams following soon after, castled by Ethan Hall in a good 1 for 23 spell of bowling.
Harris finally fell for an attractive 61, including 11 boundaries, as he was clean bowled by Bowyn Clark (1 for 29) in the stand-out spell of the innings. Morgan (55) cracked eight boundaries but was losing partners at the other end as Rhys Daley (2 for 31) made a real impact with his leg spin. Morgan finally fell to Jack Badham (1 for 11) with Rob Nicholas (15) and Josh Hicks (26) adding some late gloss to the XL total.
And finally…..
Another victory for the County Youth team and one which was marked not only by two centurions but by an excellent all-round team performance. The spirit amongst the Youth team throughout the day was fantastic and a joy to behold. They now move on to their third fixture of the season with a sterner test awaiting as they face the South Wales Junior Cricket League Under 17s at Whitland CC on 3rd August.
Scorecards:
Pembrokeshire County Youth
Finley Lewis retired not out 100
Tomos Lewis retired not out 100
Charlie Arthur b Ian Milson 37
Jack Badham not out 20
Ethan Hall not out 8
Extras 35
Total 300 for 1
Bowling: F Khan 6-0-52-0 Mark Hicks 6-0-35-0 Jonathan Williams 6-0-50-0 Simon Holliday 6-0-35-0 Julian Arthur 5-0-29-0 Nick Morgan 6-0-54-0 Ian Milson 5-0-33-1
Wales XL
Neil Harris b Bowyn Clark 61
Rob Saunders b Charlie Malloy 3
Julian Arthur c Charlie Arthur b William Phillips 11
Jonathan Williams b Ethan Hall 6
Nick Morgan b Jack Badham 55
Dai Malloy c Tomos Lewis b Rhys Daley 3
Ian Milsom c Bowyn Clark b Rhys Daley 0
Rob Nicholas not out 15
Josh Hicks not out 26
Extras 32
Total 212 for 7
Bowling: Charlie Arthur 6-0-23-0 Charlie Malloy 4-1-16-1 William Phillips 5-0-35-1 Ethan Hall 6-0-23-1 Bowyn Clark 5-0-29-1 Rhys Daley 6-0-31-2 Corey Hall 6-1-30-0 Jack Badham 2-0-11-1
Pembrokeshire County Youth: Charlie Arthur (Cresselly)(c), Charlie Malloy (Herbrandston), William Phillips (Haverfordwest), Ethan Hall (Carew), Finley Lewis (Lawrenny), Rhys Daley (Pembroke Dock), Will Nicholas (Narberth), Tomos Lewis (Llechryd), Jack Badham (Kilgetty), Corey Hall (Carew), Bowyn Clark (Pembroke Dock).
Wales XL Forty Club: Ian Milsom, Simon Holliday, Neil Harris, Jonathan Williams, Nick Morgan, Mark Hicks, Rob Saunders, Julian Arthur, Rob Nicholas, Dai Malloy, F Khan, Josh Hicks.