North Wales Cricket Round Up

Another glorious day of weather provided the backdrop for some important matches across the region. Contrast this to the corresponding weekend last season, where over half the fixtures were wiped out due to torrential rain.

In the Premier Division, Mold were the visitors to Brymbo who were looking to build on last week’s victory. Mold would have been pleased to win the toss with conditions perfect for batting. However, Ben Roberts struck early to remove the dangerous Russell Wiseman. Contributions from Usman Butt (23) and James Griffiths (44) took Mold to 62-1 as they looked to build a big total, but from that point on wicket’s began to fall regularly. Matthew Turner was the catalyst, removing Griffiths, Johannes van Aswegen and Stewart Roberts on his way to figures of 3-15 from 7 overs. Benjamin Hilliard then made short work of the lower order taking 3-29 as Mold declared on 152-9.

In reply, Brymbo reached their target without losing a wicket. This was thanks to Joss Roberts (70 not out) and Greg King (66 not out) who passed the Mold total in the 45th over. Brymbo will be delighted with the victory which has eased their relegation fears and will now be setting their sights on the top half of the table.

There was some important matches at the top end of the table in Division One. Going in to the day’s play just two points separated the top 4 clubs. Two of these clubs, Gresford and Pwllheli, met at Clappers Lane in a what is traditionally a high scoring encounter. Pwllheli will have had last year’s successful chase of 269, against Gresford, in mind as they asked the hosts to bat first. This decision paid off instantly as 14 year old Morgan Murray-Williams removed Alex Ellwood with the 2nd ball of the match. Gresford, who have been in excellent form with the bat, rebuilt through Arthur Thomas (80), Joe Benson (65) and Chris Ellwood (49) to post a total of 265/7. Gresford batted on to 50 overs, wary of giving Pwllheli 55 overs to chase their score.

This set up an interesting run chase for Pwllheli, who looked well set with skipper Rob Cooper and Overseas batsmen Nadeem Rehman nearing 50. However, Simon Perry (3-39) removed both Rehman and Australian Mitch Daly and with it went the away team’s chance of winning. Cooper finished unbeaten on 90 as Pwlhelli held out for a draw.

With Gresford taking just 11 points and Pwllheli 8 from their match, this gave the winners of the Llay and Marchwiel-Wrexham game to move into the promotion places. Marchwiel-Wrexham, who last beat Llay in 2009, elected to bat first at the idyllic Marchwiel Hall. The home side suffered an early setback as Dan Parry snook through the defenses of opposing captain Mike Forgrave. Marchwiel hit back with an excellent partnership of 128 between Danish Kalu (64) and Anthony Morris (47) who took his tally for the season to 344 runs. Llay, however, never let the run rate spiral out of control and fought back thanks to an inspired spell from Dave Phennah. Phennah took 5-31 with his leg spin, removing both Morris and Kalu in the process. Marchwiel lost 8 wickets for 40 runs and declared on 168 for 9.

Llay set about the total in their usual attacking manner. Michael Palletta set the tone with a whirlwind 27 from 14 balls. This was followed by Jamie Beale who hit 12 boundaries on the way to an unbeaten 63 and Damian Bryan who hit 12 fours and 2 sixes in his 67 not out. Llay reached the target of 172 in just 26.1 overs for the loss of 2 wickets and move 11 points clear of 3rd placed Gresford with a game in hand. Marchwiel-Wrexham remain in 5th having won half of their 8 games this season.

The division’s other Wrexham side, Chirk, lost out narrowly in their clash at Bodedern. Batting First Chirk reached 190 for 9 declared from 43 overs. A number of Chirk batsmen got starts, but failed to go on and post a significant total. Shaun Walker top scored with 45. Ian Skinner also hit 37 and Andrew Swarbrick 33 for Chirk. Chirk will have felt confident after removing Matthew Jackson without scoring but they ran into an in form Gareth Thomas who hit 109 not out. Thomas began to run out of partners as Nick Flack (3-43), Jonathon Phillips (2-38) and Andrew Swarbrick (2-31) made inroads. However, Bodedern clung on for the victory, hitting the winning runs in the 52nd over.

In Division Two, Gwersyllt Park visited the traditionally high scoring venue of Connah’s Quay. After winning the toss, captain Darren Jones had no hesitation on making first use of the surface. Unfortunately, Jones was bowled by Scott Adams early on but would’ve been pleased with the efforts of Jake James, who hit a majestic 76. He was well supported by the ever consistent Ian Pearson who struck 58. Connah’s Quay’s Luke Bennett returned figures of 3-23 from 10.1 overs as he kept the away side in check. Gwersyllt finished on 238 all out to set up an interesting run chase. Gwersyllt struck three early blows as they removed the Quay’s top 3 cheaply. However, Paul Bartlett innings of 99 changed the game . The next 5 batsmen each contributed innings of more than 20 as the Flintshire side hit the winning runs off the final ball of the match. James capped a fine all round performance with 3-51 from 12 overs.

A match winning spell from Gareth Pugh saw Bersham record a 3 wicket victory in a low scoring encounter. The former Brymbo spinner took 6-24 in just 5 overs and along with Gareth Evans (2-13) made light work of opponents Bethesda who could only muster 89 all out in 26 overs. Pugh wasn’t finished there as he struck 42 in his sides reply. This proved crucial as Bersham suffered a collapse of their own. No less than 6 Bersham batsmen were removed for single figures, but Randheer Bandara and John Mann saw the Wrexham side over the line with 3 wickets to spare.

Gresford 2nds will look to use their full allocation of overs in future as a frenetic innings gave Llangollen 59 overs in which to chase down 187. Gresford were bowled out in 30.4 overs, George Morris top scored with a quickfire 96. He was well supported by Matt Daulby (36) and Chris Mullock (21). However, no other Gresford batsmen made double figures thanks to Luke Gardner and Gareth Rigden who shared 8 wickets. Llangollen recovered from 17-2 to chase down the total in the 52nd over, Nick Austin top scoring for Llangollen. Nicky Clare the pick of the Gresford bowlers with 2-39. Elsewhere in Division Three Llay Welfare suffered a heavy defeat to Mynydd Isa.

In Division Four, Marchwiel and Wrexham 2nds made the short trip to Hope to face Castell Alun. After being asked to bowl, Marchwiel and Wrexham produced a tight bowling display led by captain Darren Bettis who recorded figures of 2-38 from 12 overs. He was well supported by Paul Baines who conceded just 32 runs from his 12. Neal Wellens (3-21) and Mohamed Fahad (2-19) also helped to restrict the home side to 171-8. In reply, Marchwiel lost Paul Ankers, Jerry Wellens and Neal Wellens after getting starts and with the loss of Mohammed Asim for 26 collapsed to 115 all out.

A feature of 2nd team cricket this year has been the Wrexham club’s giving players from their youth teams the chance to play senior cricket. This continued as both Gwersyllt 2nds and Chirk 2nds selected a number of youngsters in their line ups. Chirk hosted 8 man Dolgellau 2nds and made 158/6 thanks to 55 from opener David Andrews and 55 from skipper Ian Hall. The 8 man Dolgellau team made a decent fist of the run chase, reaching 106 all out from 24 overs. John Swarbrick (3-23), Mike Vickers (2-28) and youngster Holly Walker (1-32) impressing with the ball for Chirk. Gwersyllt entertained Halkyn and toiled as the away side made 337/4. However, 13 year old Jack Watkins took 1/22 off his 7 overs and 13 year old Nathan Watkins took 2 wickets for the home side. In reply, Gwersyllt score 125 all out with Jack Watkins making 35.