AMMANFORD’S DISMAL START
AMMANFORD began their 2019 South Wales Premier League campaign with a disappointing 33-run defeat against Neath at The Gnoll.
Captain Matthew Fisher invited Neath to bat and the Ammanford bowlers managed early on to keep a tight rein on the Neath batsmen.
The mainstay of the Neath innings was Sean Griffiths with 84 patient runs as Neath reached 207-9 in their 50 overs.
Matthew Davies bowled well for Ammanford, picking up two wickets for 28. Matthew Fisher and Daniel Roberts also picked up a couple each.
Ammanford began their reply in commanding fashion with a solid opening stand of 68 between Rhodri Huw Davies (41) and Elis Richards (20).
Three wickets, including both openers, then fell during a single catastrophic over and Ammanford had to start over instead of building on such a promising start.
The remainder of the innings became a fairly typical opening-match batting display, with errors often gifting wickets to the Gnoll side.
Nobody managed to establish a dominant presence, and a stand of nearly 40 between Matthew Roberts (28no) and Gareth Slade (11) was too little too late as Ammanford were all out for 174 with four overs left.
Neath’s main wicket-taker was Gregory Thomas with 4-35.
This Saturday Ammanford entertain St Fagans at the Park.
In the Premier League West 2nd XI championship, Ammanford 2nds were well beaten by visiting Neath 2nds in their opening league match at the Park.
Batting first, Ammanford could only manage 118, being bowled out inside 34 overs. Batting at three, Osian Jones provided the only real resistance with 39 runs.
Ammanford’s total presented little difficulty to the Neath batsmen, who overtook it for the loss of just four wickets. Neath’s wickets were shared between Arfon Davies (2-15) and Steffan Phillips (2-27).