LLANELLI ARE IN TITLE CONTROL
LLANELLI reign supreme at the top of division one of the South Wales Cricket Association after an excellent win at title rivals Llandysul.
Llandysul chose to bat but struggled against Llanelli’s opening bowlers Steve Devonald and Alex Symmons and fell to 46-3.
But an 85-run partnership between Gary Williams (51) and skipper Ben Edkins (36) brought the home side back into contention, but their dismissals saw Llandysul slump from 131-3 to 155-8.
Devonald ended with 4-20 and Symmons 2-18.
Devonald completed a fine afternoon’s work with an unbeaten 55 after opener Iwan Rees (20) and Owain Baxter (37) had given the reply a solid start.
Rhidian Morgan chipped in with 23 not out as Llanelli reached 157-2 in 36.4 overs.
Llandysul dropped to third as a result of their defeat.
Dafen are second after a narrow win against local rivals Llangennech.
Dafen made 180-6 in their 50 overs, opener Simon Holliday (54) and Scott Phillips (56) their mainstays.
Michael Jones took 2-51, and Owain Phillips’s 10 overs only went
for 21 runs.
Llangennech were always in with a chance as long as opener Nathan Richards (79) stayed in, but when he was out to leave Llan on 162-9 they were unable to get over the finish line and fell to 164 all out in 47.1 overs for a 16-run defeat. Josh Simmons took 3-29 and Scott Phillips 2-32.
Gowerton got back to winning ways with a nine-wicket win at bottom-but-one Maesteg Celtic.
The visitors asked Celtic to bat and on a slow wicket that helped spin throughout they restricted Celtic to 161-6.
The backbone of the innings was Morgan Griffiths’s composed 43, and he was well supported by Ian Herbert (33) and 13-year-old Aron Bird, who batted with maturity to score 27 not out from 37 balls.
Gowerton’s spinners claimed all the wickets, with captain Matthew Mason (3-21), Tom Clarke (1-33) and Jack Davies (1-35) a handful for the hosts.
In reply, Gowerton lost an early wicket, but an unbroken secondwicket partnership between Mason (65no) and Bevan Daniels (62no) saw them over the line with more than 20 overs in hand.