Thrilling finish sees Porthcawl defeat visitors Landore
CRICKET
ing a shower, the visitors were handily place on 140-3 with seven overs remaining.
But tight bowling by skipper Jack Tuck and off spinner Nick Morgan put pressure on the batsmen and panic set in. Wickets tumbled and with four overs left, Landore had slumped to 153-6.
Going into the final over, bowled by Tuck, the visitors required six runs with two wickets in hand but that reduced to three runs needed with three balls to bowl and one wicket remaining. One scrambled run meant just one run to tie the result but Tuck remained calm and a dot ball was followed by a caught behind by keeper Steve Doherty and the signal for wild celebrations.
It was the Seasiders fifth win in their last six matches and they are now comfortably placed with six matches to play.
Inserted, in tricky batting conditions, Steve Richmond (14) and Mark Dixon put on 41 for the first wicket before Dixon departed for a hard hitting 33 which included two sixes and four boundaries.
But the total of 173-6 was spearheaded by Rob Jones who played with great authority to make 66, a six and seven ropefinders highlighting the knock.
Good support came from Steve Doherty, who was unbeaten on 16, together with Nick Morgan (15) and Tim Richards (11). For Landore, evergreen Paul Sibbery took 2-19 in 10 overs while there was also two wickets apiece for Jay Copp and Ahmed.
Porthcawl encouraged the visitors’ victory charge by spilling three catches and fluffing a run out and with Dave Burrows in great form, victory seemed unlikely for the home side. But when he fell for 65, with one six and eight fours, Tuck’s side sniffed victory.
They were held up by Carl Lawrence (28) and Chris Grey (25), who was brilliantly caught by Dixon, but the remaining batsmen were undone by the pressure. Tuck produced his best figures of the campaign - 5-43 from nine overs, four wickets coming in his final three overs - Morgan took 2-36, Jones 1-43 and Blair Driscoll, who usually plies his bowling trade in the second eleven, took 1-30, his first first-team wicket since 1989.