Pembroke County Cricket League
Division 2
Llechryd 252 for 4 (23) drew with Cresselly 2nds 208 for 8 (8)
Another excellent performance from Llechryd saw them move away from the drop zone but they have to back this up with another decent show against Haverfordwest 2nds this Saturday.
Once again it was the double act of John Curran and Rhys Beard who got the show on the road with number three bat Curran hitting 60 before he was out lbw and Beard driving and cutting powerfully for an excellent knock of 65. Others to shine were fellow left hander Steve Smith who returned to form with 38 and he was well backed up by opener Andrew Fletcher who made 37. Returning all rounder Mike Carter who opened with Fletcher also got amongst the runs and made 24 as Llechryd reached an impressive total of 252-4.
Sam Harts (1-43), Neil Gregory (2- 54) and Matthew Lewis (1 -67) were the wicket takers for Cresselly.
The visitors started well and openers Scott Arthur (21) and Phil Williams(47) gave their side a solid platform and were well supported by middle order batsmen Billy Kinear with 46 and Mike Venables with 24 ,but wickets fell at crucial times just as they appeared to be taking control and Cresselly were forced to hold on in the end and it was left to Neil Gregory (13 not out) to bat out for a losing draw with his team tottering on 208-8
Peter Betterley (2 for 33), Graham Keen (2 for 25), Curran (1 for 49), Mike Godfrey (2 for 57) and Andrew Fletcher (1 for 30) were the Llechryd wicket takers.
This result takes Llechryd 18 points clear of second from bottom Stackpole who are well ahead of basement side Whitland 2nds.
Division 3
Haverfordwest 3rds 142 for 4 (27) beat Llechryd 2nds 141 for 7 (6)
Llechryd 2nds were comfortably beaten by a very competitive Haverfordwest outfit despite the best efforts of skipper Ollie Roberts and all rounder Richard Connolly who batted very well.
The hosts won the toss and put Llechryd in and the visitors struggled against some accurate opening bowling by Owen Jones (9-24-2) who bowled two good spells which were very accurate and quite hostile at times. At the other end Ashley James ( 5-11-0) also bowled a good opening spell into the wind.
However some momentum was eventually regained by Ollie Roberts and Richard Connelly who shared a stand of 45 runs before Roberts was lbw for 34. Connelly also fell shortly afterwards for 26 but Peter Gregory came in and hit a typically aggressive 49 not out to boost the Llechryd total and was well supported by young Ben Mansfield (9) who shared a stand of 40 runs with Gregory. The promising young cricketer was effective at sneaking a single and getting the more experienced Gregory in on strike. The Llechryd innings eventually closing on 141-7.
Haverfordwest with a talented bowling line up had the luxury of a wide a variety of options including K. O’Connor’s spin efforts (9-44-0) and Kapila Nawarathane doing some damage with his difficult medium pace and he took two wickets for 24 runs. Filgi Varghese also bowled three very effective overs taking two wickets for just six runs.
Haverfordwest looked in trouble at 27-3 but Richard Davies and Filgi Varghese rose to the challenge, and they got their heads down and grafted to a position of safety before Davies was out to Gregory for 42 whilst Varghese was undefeated on 65.
For Llechryd Nick North bowled well and deserved more wickets, returning figures of 9-42-1 and Connelly with some extra pace took two wickets for 36.
Division 4
Hook 2nds 147 all out lost to Crymych 151-2.
Crymych bounced back from defeat with an eight wicket win over Hook 2nds following some excellent batting from their top order and a fine spell of bowling from both Andrew Thomas and Alistair Davies
The South Pembrokeshire side were rattled early on when Thomas took a couple of quick wickets with the score on twelve but opener Brennan Lay went after the bowlers and sent the fielders scurrying as he hit a swashbuckling half century that included ten 4’s and a six.
However Lay was eventually caught by Thomas after going for another big hit and there was very little resistance after this as Thomas with 4-41 and Davies with 4-18 cleaned up. Sam Kurtz and Ioan Davies also chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Crymych openers Richard Thorne and Rhodri Thomas made steady progress in reply before they started to mount an attack and Thorne cleared the boundary ropes regularly to complete a fine half century and his partner Thomas looked on course to do the same until he was out leg before on 34. Ioan Davies (16) and Kurtz ( 22) continued in a similar fashion until their side passed the target with wickets and overs in hand. Thorne carried his bat for an excellent knock of 64 which included eight 4’s and three 6’s.
