LLANELLI STAY IN HOT PURSUIT
LLANELLI maintained their pursuit of runaway leaders Cowbridge in division one of the South Wales Cricket Association with an excellent ninewicket win at home to Briton Ferry Steel on Saturday.
Steel chose to bat first and made 186-8 in their 50 overs, skipper Jason Hughes their leading light with an unbeaten 67. Aled Gilley took 3-18, Jac Rees 2-26 and Iwan Rees 2-27.
Iwan Rees was then in imperious form with the bat as he stroked a superb undefeated 104 from 134 balls, His knock included 14 fours.
No. 3 Craig Howells gave valuable support with an unbeaten 53 as Llanelli eased to 187-1 in 42.3 overs.
The result leaves Llanelli in third place, 43 points behind Cowbridge and 17 behind second-placed Tata Steel.
Dafen are hovering uncomfortably close to the relegation zone and suffered their second defeat in a row when going down to a massive 184run loss at Gowerton.
Both Gowerton openers hit centuries as the hosts put on 230 for the first wicket. Tomas Davies made 143 not out off 158 balls and skipper Matthew Mason blasted 128 off just 103 balls, including nine fours and a whopping nine sixes.
The Victoria Road side finished on 329-2 off their 50 overs, Chris Hudson (2-70) the only bowler to taste success.
The writing was on the wall for Dafen as soon as they slumped to 0-2, and they fell to 145 all out in 39.4 overs. No. 8 Shaun Evans (41) and Matthew Donoghue (31) were their top scorers.
Unusually, every single Dafen batsman was caught out.
Christopher Mason led the bowling with 4-32. Lee Nicholas (2-23) and Mathew Mason (2-33) also chipped in with wickets.
The win lifted Gowerton off the bottom of the table, and they were replaced by Llangennech, who lost at home to Maesteg Celtic by 45 runs.
Celtic made 185-4 in their 50 overs, opener Gareth Hopkins left on 96 not out when the innings closed. Matthew Jones took 3-34.
In reply, extras of 29 was Llan’s top Kidwelly batsman Morgan Clarke goes down the ground against Gowerton Seconds. Picture: Phil Davies. scorer as they ended on 140-9. Richard Clement hit 27 and opener Matthew Jones 26 as Matthew Davies took 4-11 and Morgan Griffiths 4-13.
In division two there was a threewicket success for Drefach at Baglan, leaving the Gwendraeth side in fourth place.
The Port Talbot side made 195-9, thanks in the main to 80 not out by opener Jonathan Lewis. James Carter took 5-36 and Leigh Davies 3-37.
Openers Rob Seymour (48) and Harry McBryde (26) then gave Drefach’s reply a solid start, and despite the regular fall of wickets in mid-innings, further valuable knocks by Carter (35), Owen Donovan (38no) and Davies (30) ensured the visitors got to 196-7 with just three balls to spare.
In the same division, Felinfoel lost a low-scoring encounter at Landore by 24 runs.
Foel’s bowlers had the upper hand as the Swansea side were dismissed for 119 in 49 overs, Anthony Mathias taking 3-7 from 10 overs, Stuart Parmenter 2-13 from 10 and, at the end of the iniings, Rohan Nangalia 4-25.
But in reply the Llanelli batsmen also struggled and only opener Parmenter (14) and No. 4 Julian Griffiths (41) reached double figures as they were skittled out for 95 in 28.5 overs. Jay Copp took 4-12 for the hosts.
In division three, Dafen Seconds won by 75 runs at home to Porthcawl Firsts.
Andrew Randell top-scored with 43 as Dafen were all out for 182 in 49.3 overs, but Rhys Marchant (4-17), Matthew Thomas (3-23) and Chris Randell (2-6) then tore through the Porthcawl batting to dismiss the visitors for 107 in 35.5 overs.
Llanelli Seconds (92 all out) lost by 143 runs away to Briton Ferry Town Firsts (235-8), while Pontyberem Firsts won by 57 runs at home to Dyffryn Firsts.
Pontyberem were all out for 179, the bulk of their runs coming from their first three of Rhodri Evans (28), Jack Rogers (60) and Rhys Harris (37).
Harris then took 3-20, backed up by Alun Harris (2-18), as the Neath villagers were shot out for 122 in 43.1 overs.