LEADERS’ FIRST DEFEAT
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AMMANFORD registered their second win of the season in the South Wales Premier League with a fourwicket victory at Clydach.
Ammanford won the toss and invited Clydach to bat, and it proved to be a good decision.
Fine bowling and fielding from the visitors ensured a steady fall of wickets, with only Jonathan Hubschmid (31), Kazi Szymanski (28no) and Steffan Davies (22) providing any real resistance.
Ammanford took 46 overs to remove all Clydach’s wickets for a total of 135.
Josef Davies took 3-20, while Dan Roberts and Matthew Fisher bagged a couple of wickets each.
In response, Ammanford got off to a poor start, falling to 42-4 as the hosts threatened to take control. But then Marchant de Lange combined with Rhys Davies for a match-winning partnership of 71.
Glamorgan star de Lange was out for an aggressive 43, but Davies stayed to the close as he made an excellent half-century to help win the game inside 28 overs.
Ammanford leapfrogged Clydach in the table and are now only one point behind seventh-placed Bridgend.
Meanwhile, Ammanford Thirds secured a fine seven-wicket victory over Porthcawl Seconds in division six of the South Wales Association.
Porthcawl were restricted to 165-6 in their 40 overs, mainly thanks to an unbeaten half-century from Paul Mason.
Llyr Morgan picked up a couple of wickets for Ammanford, while Sam Potter, Iestyn Jones, Eirian Morgan and Oliver Pallot took one each.
A superb opening stand of 83 from Guto Llywelyn (67no) and Adam Lyons (37) provided the ideal platform for Eirian Morgan (20) and Tiaan Sparrow (14no) to secure a straightforward victory for Ammanford.
They remain in touch with the leaders in third place in the table ahead of their visit to Clydach Thirds this weekend.