With the St Helen’s Ground on Air Show duty and our 1st XI taking up all the room at Marespool, there was no 2nd XI game today..therefore, the Club takes on Swansea’s 2nd XI at home tomorrow (7th).
That left two fixtures to enjoy…AND TWO WINS TO SAVOUR!
At HQ, current Premier League leaders St Fagan’s won the toss and decided to bat first. After a month on the sidelines with a dislocated shoulder, all-rounder Dan Lewis-Williams made a welcome return to the 1st XI..and took a wicket with his first delivery back! St Fag’s 3-1 in the second over!
From that point on, our visitors were never really allowed to get going by acting Captain Max Phillips’ side. All five bowlers “hit their straps” whilst the ground fielding was far sharper than of late…it was a pleasure to watch! Aneurin Norman (1-20 from his 10 overs), DLW (3-38), Jacko Straw (2-37), Max (1-25) and Phil Roche (3-28) wallowed in the plaudits during the tea interval as St Fagan’s contemplated their below par total of 151 all out.
After the break, however, the home crowd and match sponsors Swansea Building Society & the Swansea 41 Club were quickly reminded that this chase was not going to be without drama…MCC also 3-1 in no time! Various attractive but short-lived partnerships took the total to 114-4 from 35 overs, with Gavin Williams (36, 5 fours), Ieuan Rosser (22, 2 fours) and DLW (32, 2 fours & 2 sixes) the main men. The ship was sailing out of potential rough waters, the battery powering the incessant boring chirping from behind the stumps was going flat and there remained plenty of time to notch the 38 runs required for victory.
Wait a sec, though…St Fagan’s were finding some late energy as 114-4 soon became 129-7!! Surely not? Not the remotest possibility of an MCCesque slide to defeat? After all, with no league win since May, confidence within the batting ranks might understandably be in short supply?
Fear not, devoted reader that you are, “Noddy” Norman and ‘keeper David Thomas had other ideas! Together, they saw the lads home as they added the required 23 runs from just 18 balls faced! With respective undefeated scores of 14 (2 fours) and 13 (3 fours), a very welcome and undeniably deserved win by three wickets for Max’s Men was secured with six overs to spare!
Phew!
At Felinfoel, acting ‘A’ XI skipper Paul Kenealy marched his troops to a decisive win by eight wickets!
Batting first, the home team surrendered meekly to the accurate MCC attack…89 all out in the 33rd over. “PK” led the way with 4-6, well supported by Rahul Shah (3-23), George Lloyd (2-30) and Ricky Runout (1)! After tea, our boys lost two quick wickets in reply but the captain (48no, 7 fours) and fellow cricketing legend Tony Dowrick (30no, 6 fours) saw to it that there were to be no more scares, scoring the winning run in just the 19th over!
PK & TD, courtesy of TD Selfies Inc
Next Saturday, the 1st XI nip up the M4 to Newport, the 2nd XI take on Ynysygerwn at Marespool whilst the ‘A’ XI welcome Llandarcy to Murton.