Pembrokeshire County Cricket
Division 2 and Division 4 round up
Division 2
Llanrhian 136 for 8 drew with Llechryd 212 for 6
Promotion chasers Llechryd go head to head with main rivals Narberth this Saturday at the RDM Oval and Drewy Davies and co will be keen to make amends for a heavy defeat early in the season.
The Teifisiders are now a much stronger team with the likes of John Curran and Steve Smith having come back into the squad and a win against the Otters would offer Llechryd a superb chance of gaining promotion up to Division 1.
They kept their hopes of promotion alive with a winning draw over Llanrhian on the weekend but their chances of catching runaway leaders Llangwm were all but thwarted by some dogged batting from the Llanrhian tail enders.
The Teifisiders looked set for a win and maximum points with their opponents in trouble with seven wickets down and well off the run rate required but a match saving knock by Richard Reed earned his team a draw.
Llechryd who welcomed big hitting John Curran back to the fold made a decent start with Curran hitting eight boundaries in his brisk knock of 55 and fellow all rounder Mike Carter added 32.
Leighton O Connor chipped in with another useful innings of 27 not out as did Ollie Roberts with 35 and James Betterley with 22 to reach a total of 212 -6.
Jack Jones was the pick of the Llanrhian bowlers with 5-72 and had excellent backing from Mathew Bennet with 1-47.
The hosts started positively in their run chase with Ben Jones hitting 20 and opening partner Jack Jones making 25 before wickets started to tumble with opening bowlers Graham Keen (2-47) and veteran Peter Betterley (3-23) finding excellent line and length and Llanrhian were soon in trouble.
However skipper Reed held the team together with a patient knock of 64 not out which included ten boundaries and despite the best efforts of medium pacer O Connor and Curran (3-22) the visitors were unable to nail the last two wickets they required for victory.
Llechryd remain in third place whilst leaders Llangwm pulled further away at the top of the table with a convincing local derby win over Burton by eight wickets. Second placed Narberth were held to a draw by Carew 2nds and they meet Llechryd this weekend at the RDM Oval.
Division 4
Llechryd 2nds 199 for 6 beat Narberth 2nds 197 for 4
Llechryd 2nds closed the gap on leaders Narberth 2nds after they completed a fine victory over the Otters with Josh Ward leading the way with a superb innings of 86, which included 13 boundaries.
The visitors who were well served by Emyr Jenkins who hit 69 not out and Llew Jones who carried his bat for 52 posted a total of 197 -4 for Llechryd to chase but the hosts who have been in superb form as a batting team in recent weeks managed to reach the target with overs to spare. Ward was the match winner and was unlucky not to reach three figures, Luke Palmer Davies added 28 and talented teen Joe Mansfield crafted a fine innings of 28 not out to help steer his team to victory at 199-6.
Nick North was the pick of the Llechryd bowlers with 2-35.
Crymych 41 for 1 beat Saundersfoot 2nds 38 all out
Sam Kurtz was the star of the show as Crymych cruised to a very comfortable win over Saundersfoot 2nds with a super knock of 31 not out and a fine bowling spell that rewarded him with a return of 4-18. The seasiders struggled from the outset with Kurtz, Rhodri Lewis 3-10 and Richard Davies 2-3 wreaking havoc and their innings ended at 38 all out.
Saundersfoot picked up an early wicket to offer them some hope of an upset but Kurtz swiftly knocked off the runs to complete an easy win.
