MARSH SHINES WITH FIRST TON
AMMANFORD secured a muchneeded and deserved seven-wicket victory over Neath in a rain-affected South Wales Premier League match at The Gnoll.
The start was delayed by 40 minutes, but that didn’t stop Neath openers Tom Cullen (52) and Scott Matthews (31) giving their side an excellent start with an opening stand of 85 in 22 overs.
From there, though, the Ammanford bowlers and fielders took control and wickets fell steadily as runs were effectively curtailed. But Neath still managed to reach 204-7 in their 44 overs.
All the Ammanford bowlers performed well. Saihaj Jaspal, Josef Davies and Alun Evans took a couple of wickets each, with the other being picked up by Matthew Davies.
Despite losing opener Josef Davies with the score on 41, Ammanford’s batters never looked in any doubt that the match was theirs to win.
Daniel Roberts joined opener Kurtis Marsh at the crease and these two fashioned a match-winning partnership of 104 from 116 deliveries.
When Roberts fell for 44 there was still work to do, but Xavier Clarke (29no) dispelled any fear of a collapse as he and Marsh added a further 58 from 50 balls.
Marsh reached a superb maiden century before he was dismissed with just a couple of runs needed, but Callum Croft finished matters in style with a six from his first ball.
The result moved Ammanford up to sixth place in Premier 1, and it also proved how capable they are of closing out victories and moving further up the table.
They welcome Cardiff to the Park on Saturday.
Iestyn Scourfield was the star of the show as Carmarthen Wanderers beat Gorseinon in impressive fashion in South Wales Premier Cricket League 2.
Scourfield claimed the excellent figures of 4-30 as the Wanderers ran out winners by 98 runs at the Welfare Ground.
Set a target of 212 for victory, Gorseinon were dismissed for 113 as
Scourfield found excellent support from Chris Turrell and Owain Binding, who both took two wickets. Gafyn Donald scored 36 for the home side.
The Wanderers had earlier made 211-8 in their 50 overs. Opener Ifan Knott scored 57 – an innings that featured nine boundaries – and tailender Liam Rogers made 30.
Robbie Crawford (28) and Daniel Jones (26 not out) also added valuable runs.
John Mann, Matthew Roberts and Kieran Howells all took two wickets.
Llanelli produced their best performance of the season as they beat Cowbridge by nine wickets at Stradey Park.
It was a victory built on a superb spell by David Richards, who returned the excellent figures of 6-21 as the visitors crumbled from 93-3 to 103-9.
Opener Tom Williams top-scored with 42, but only some late-order hitting from Nicholas Wood (25 not out) helped Cowbridge to 144 all out.
Steve Devonald took 3-30.
The Cowbridge total never looked like being enough and Llanelli opener Iwan Rees guided his side home with a run-a-ball 91 not out. Owain Baxter made 35.
Back in the top flight, St Fagans remain the team to catch as the reigning champions eased to victory at Pontarddulais.
The seven-wicket win was the Cardiff side’s seventh in a row and they are 11 points clear of second-placed Swansea at the summit.
Bont reached 224-9 after being put into bat, with former Glamorgan allrounder Richard Grant top-scoring with 51.
Lukas Carey added 40.
But a spell of 4-21 from Rory Prentice put the brakes on the home side’s innings, while Ollie Sherwood chipped in with three wickets.
Callum Nicholls was the star of the show in the St Fagans reply as he reached a fluent century, his 107 coming off just 115 balls.
Ruaidhri Smith added 38 as the visitors claimed victory with eight overs to spare.