Wanderers stay top after digging in for fine victory

CARMARTHEN Wanderers 2nds continued their impressive start to the season in the West 2nd XI division of the South Wales Premier League with a nail-biting 10-run victory over an excellent Port Talbot Town side.

The Wanderers were put in to bat in difficult conditions due to the early afternoon light rain and found batting hard going against the experienced Port Talbot bowlers.

With the ball seaming around, the home side slipped to 30-4 but home skipper Ian Taylor (30) and young William Moore put together a fine partnership before Taylor departed in the 25th over.

Liam Rogers came to the crease and attacked the spin bowlers, scoring an excellent 49 in 10 overs, but both he and young Moore (23), who batted superbly, both fell within three balls, which swung the game in Port Talbo’ts favour.

The Wanderers lost their final five wickets for 25 runs in the 37th over, failing to bat the full 40 overs in a reduced overs game as the home side closed on 159 all out.

Port Talbot set about the chase in positive fashion, hitting loose balls to the boundaries and taking advantage of ill-disciplined bowling and three dropped catches by the Wanderers, despite a hostile spell from Moore.

Port Talbot seemed to be coasting to victory with 75 on the board without loss, but the reintroduction of Moore during his second spell changed the course of the game.

He bowled a quick spell the away side could not cope with, eventually ending with match-winning figures of 4-23 off eight overs, with replacement wicketkeeper Andrew Harley bagging two catches and youngster Eddie Byng taking a good catch at square leg.

This opened the door for Rogers to claim two wickets as the match reached its climax. Port Talbot required 10 runs off 12 balls with two wickets remaining, with spinner Steff Jones bowling the penultimate over.

Jones claimed a wicket with his second ball thanks to a fine diving catch at cover point by Giles Thomas, and next ball removed the final batsman bowled off his pads, much to the delight of everyone at the ground as Port Talbot fell 10 runs short, with Jones claiming three wickets in total.

Wanderers skipper Ian Taylor said: “That was an excellent victory for us against a very good Port Talbot side.

“We showed great character with both bat and ball to dig in and remain in the contest, which paid dividends as we got the win in a tight game.

“We had five U17s in the side, which made the victory even more pleasing. We remain top of the table but face another difficult game at Pontarddulais next week, a ground we have not done well at in recent times.”