Pembroke County Cricket League
Division 2
Cresselly 2nds 220 for 9 lost to Llechryd 224 for 5 by 5 wickets
Division leaders Llechryd kept their championship race on course with another impressive performance and more importantly another win to keep them ahead of title challengers Narberth.
John Curran and his men were far too hot for Cresselly 2nds on the day despite their opponents posting a decent total that required a solid foundation and a calm approach.
The south Pembrokeshire village side batted first and reached 220-9 in 50 overs with Iwan Izzard (52) ,Richard Harries (36) and Julian Arthur (57) providing the bulk of the runs for the home team who would have ideally been looking for at least another thirty runs against a team in such good form. Skipper Curran picked up three wickets as did Rhys Beard with the latter returning figures of 3-43.
In the Llechryd reply openers Curran (47) and James Betterley (26) made a very solid start to set up the foundation that was required and the fine work was carried on by big hitter Rhys Beard who scored all round the wicket in making 69 not out and fellow all rounder Graham Keen chipped in with 34 as the visitors raced to the total required and they picked up 29 points in the process. All rounder Harries was the pick of the Cresselly bowlers.
With four games remaining John Curran and team-mates are 20 points ahead of Narberth, who have a game in hand and 86 in front of third-placed Hook who are now all but out of the race for promotion.
Llechryd host third from bottom Haverfordwest 2nds this weekend and then visit fourth in the table Pembroke the following Saturday. However the crunch comes on August 24th with a title decider against Narberth at the RDM Oval
Division 4
Llechryd 2nds 76 all out (3) lost to St Ishmaels 2nds 80 for 5 (29) by 5 wkts
Llechryd seconds fell to their second successive defeat when they went down by five wickets to St Ishmaels Seconds.
The Teifisiders who had been enjoying a rich vein of form in recent months were missing a few regulars and this showed as they were bowled out for a modest total of 76 with Llewellyn Ladd the top scorer with 20 as visiting medium-pacer Daniel Flynn caused havoc and snapped up four wickets for 24 runs. He was well served at the other end by Kevin Bowen who returned figures of 2-10 and all rounder Stuart Carpenter with 2-16.
Tish lost a few wickets along the way but they were soon past the run chase with Carpenter making 33 and Rob Thomas 16 as they strolled to victory despite the best efforts of Mike Dunkeld (2-22) Ifan Dow (2-21) and Peter Gregory (1-19).
St Ishmaels bagged the runs for the loss of five wickets thanks mainly to Stuart Carpenter (33) and Robbie Thomas (16).
Llanrhian 2nds 102 for 0 (30) beat Crymych 99 all out (3) by 10 wkts
There was no joy for Crymych in the same division as they went down to a heavy defeat against third placed Llanrhian Seconds. The Preselimen were dismissed for just 99 with Richard Thorne (22) once again one of the few batsmen to make any impression but several managed to do the hard work and get themselves set, in the shape of Ioan Davies 16, Rhydian Thomas 19, Rhodri Lewis 14, and Hedd Nicholas 12 but they were not in for long. In reply Llanrhian coasted to victory with openers Mike Lawrence (40) and Julian Harries carrying their bats and team to victory.
