After a truly great game at Marespool this afternoon (31st), the Club eventually defeated Connah’s Quay by 26 runs to win through to The Welsh Cup Final v Penarth at The Gnoll, Neath CC on Sunday, 21st August!
The Club were dealt a blow on Saturday as cup captain Ryan Aingworth badly sprained an ankle whilst fielding against Cardiff, so Phil Roche answered the call to arms.
Acting captain Rhodri Evans won the toss and elected to bat first. Just after he padded up to open, his team were 0-1! Good decision, Evs! Well, it was a GREAT decision as, after that early blip, Evs’ Men marched to an impressive score of 234-9 from their 40 overs! A lot of guys chipped in..Evs himself (47, 8 fours) led the way as he did the day before, Scott De Weymarn (62, 4 fours & a six), Dan Lewis-Williams (51, 5 fours & a six), Chris Nelson (22, 4 fours) & Ieuan Rosser (10 at the end, 1 four) plus 29 extras were the main contributors before tea.
In reply, our visitors lost an early wicket (29-1) when Phil Roche struck…and a second fell when Captain Evs (remember the name!) came on to bowl, 68-2. A good recovery by Connah’s Quay saw the score climb to 132-2 when Martin Burger (42, 5 fours) was clean bowled by off-spinner Max Phillips. 102 needed from 14 overs, 7 wickets in hand! At this point, David Fox was looking alarmingly comfortable at the other end.
With the help of Darren Jones (32), David took the score to 186-3….5 overs remaining, 50 runs needed, still 7 wickets in hand! The tension around the ground was as thick as the smoke from the barbie…
THEN, Max removed the dangerous Fox..caught by sub fielder Ben Jones for an excellent 68 (6 fours & a six)..186-4!! So, in true quiz fashion, what happened next?
DLW nicked a wicket but it was the day’s home skipper who then caused havoc! 186-4 rapidly became 209 all out in the 40th over as wickets tumbled during the final chase for the line by Connah’s Quay! Evs took 5 of the final 6 wickets to fall, finishing with 6-27!! He had led the Club in quite brilliant fashion to their first ever Welsh Cup Final! Although the stats suggest that the 25 run win was “comfortable”, it was far from that as Connah’s Quay were themselves on the brink of what would have been a quite different “remarkable victory”! A great game, played in a fine spirit throughout…as the umpires were quick to point out afterwards!
A truly memorable performance by our lads to cap a most productive weekend!