South Wales Cricket Association
Division 1
The survival hopes of Llandysul took a big hit on the weekend when they went down at home to lowly Dafen Welfare following a middle order batting collapse -but heavy defeats suffered by relegation rivals Briton Ferry Steel and Merthyr have kept their slim chances alive.
The Ceredigion men had been hoping for another win after opening their account for the season last Saturday and now they will probably have to win at least two of their seven fixtures to stay in the top division.
The hosts won the toss and elected to field first and Dafen made steady progress early on through Matt Evans and Jeremy Dawes before the latter was out lbw for 18 with Iestyn Evans the bowler and the score on 26. Number three batsman Chris Randell was next to go edging a good ball from Evans into the hands of Ieuan Paske and soon after David Williams went for a duck with Evans once again doing the business with Barry Thomas claiming a decent catch and Dafen were three down with just 45 on the board and looking vulnerable.
However Evans managed to stop the rot and got his head down and took the score along to three figures before he was caught lbw by medium pacer Rhidian Harries. Next in was big hitting batsman David Dunfee and he hit 7 fours and 4 sixes on his way to a superb 73 before he was caught by Llewellyn Hughes off the bowling of Paske.
There was little resistance after this as wickets fell cheaply and Dafen were eventually all out for 167 with Paske with 3-18 off just five overs instrumental in keeping the runs down. Evans also took three wickets and was very economical and returned figures of 3-23 off his ten overs which included four maidens.
as he looked set
The Llandysul run chase started off very badly as opener Gary Williams was bowled by Dunfee after facing just two balls but Ben Edkins and opener Paske (42) steadied the ship and took the score along to 40 before Edkins fell lbw but the hosts made steady progress and at 79-3 they looked on for a welcome win with plenty of batting to come.
However a stream of cheap wickets followed with Rhidian Harries the only player to get in but he then got out for 19 just as he looked set for a decent knock and the home challenge gradually fizzled out as wickets tumbled and Llandysul were eventually all out for 107.
Jonathan Randell was the main cause of this mid order mayhem and he took 4-9 off just 7.3 overs with his removal of Harris a major turning point in the game.
This weekend Llandysul face another tough assignment as they travel to Aberdare, a side who beat them at Parc Tir Y Dref at the start of the season.
Llandysul Seconds secured their seventh win of the season to keep them in second place in division six. Chasing 142 to win the visitors achieved the target with ten overs to spare on 144-4.
