Pembroke County Cricket
Division 2
Stackpole 176 for 8 (10) drew with Llechryd 205 for 6 (21)
Sporting all rounder Steve Smith rolled back the years to produce one of his best innings for some time with a splendid knock of 85 at Stackpole.
Smith who was a talented outfield footballer and goal keeper for many years with Cardigan FC celebrated his 50th birthday on the weekend and some of his pulls, drives and cuts to the boundary were timely champagne moments .
Llechryd welcomed a few key regulars back into the side on a damp track and the home team won the toss and put the opposition into bat. With the opening partnership of Drewy Davies (13) and Dewi Davies (10) settling quickly the Teifisiders made a decent start but both eventually fell early. This brought the talented duo of John Curran and Steve Smith to the crease and after seeing off the opening bowlers the pair looked to increase the run rate.
However the accurate first change bowling proved very tricky to get away and Curran eventually fell to youngster George Smith (2-52).
Left hander Smith then set about the home attack and joined by another birthday boy in Joe Mansfield who a few days earlier celebrated his 18th birthday and both batsmen put away the bad balls with aplomb and ran well between the wickets to accelerate the total. The Llechryd innings ended on 205-6 with Mansfield undefeated on 38 and Smith falling fifteen short of a century.
The visiting opening bowlers looked to make inroads to pick up a few early wickets which would really have put the pressure on but the opening pair of Rob Mathies (31) and Simon Bevan (80) seemed to be taking the game away from Llechryd.
With catches going down in the field and heads dropping and the score at 121-2 and plenty of overs to go, a home win looked a formality. However the Llechryd change bowlers rolled up their sleeves and medium pacer John Currans (4-39) started to pick up wickets and at the other end, occasional bowler Andrew Fletcher who represented a last throw of the dice began to do the same and finished with 4-46.
Within a few overs the Stackpole score stood at 153-8 following a mighty collapse and the visitors were now very much on top. From that point the home team changed tactics and batted out for a losing draw and finished their innings on 176-8. Simon Bevan top scored for Stackpole with 80 alongside 31 from Rob Mathias
Llechryd picked up the bulk of the points and as a result pulled away from the gap that is starting to appear at the foot of the table and with a bit more luck they could have sneaked a win thanks to the fine effort of Steve Smith.
Division 3
Llechryd 2nds 144 for 6 (7) drew with Lamphey 259 for 6 (28)
Llechryd seconds spent a torrid afternoon out in the field under the hot sun as the Lamphey batsmen made hay and whacked the ball all around the RDM Oval.
Opener Nick Johnson top scored with a very brisk 82 whilst number three David Blackwell didn’t hang around for his half century and walloped several huge sixes before he was eventually caught near the boundary ropes at deep mid wicket by Peter Gregory.
Peter McGilloway also got stuck into the likes of slow bowlers Ben Graham and all rounder Ollie Roberts before their innings closed at 259-6 and a score which looked like topping three hundred with six overs to go.
Reaching this target was always going to be a forlorn hope but full credit to Llechyrd for managing to bat out for a losing draw which was no mean feat against a strong Lamphey side and several hours out in the field chasing retrieving the ball from the trees and long grass!
The Llechryd response ended on 144-5 with Ollie Roberts leading by example and making an excellent total of 69, Peter Gregory also chipped in with 20 and Rob Mansfield made 21.
For Lamphey Hywel Gibbs took two wickets along with David Blackwell.
Division 4
Llanrhian 2nds 248 for 9 (30) beat Crymych 98 all out (7) by 150 runs
Crymych were another local side who spent several hours under a baking sun chasing the ball around as Llanrhian 2nds battered the Preselimen’s bowling attack. Russell Watkins led the way with a sparkling knock of 83 and all rounder Tom Clarke hit 52.
In reply Crymych struggled with the exception of all rounder Ioan Davies who made 35 to add to the three wickets that he took earlier.
Carl Davies was the pick of the Llanrhian attack and returned figures of 3-14.
