PHOTO:
Cresselly line-up before their National Village Cup defeat at home against Elvaston

National Village Cup:

 

Cresselly (166 all out) lost to Elvaston (167 for 1)

 
Cresselly Cricket Club had played well to reach the zone play-offs in the National Cricket Cup but bowed out at the first hurdle against a club from outside Wales as they took on Elvaston CC from the Derbyshire Premier and County Cricket Leagues and went down by nine wickets.
 

Gave it their best shot

 
“We gave it our best shot but they were a very powerful all-round team,” admitted skipper Phil Williams, “and we had no complaints because they were stronger than us in every department.”
 
It was a view endorsed by fast bowler Stefan Jenkins as he told us,
“Their spin bowlers had us in trouble and weren’t able to score enough runs to set them a real challenge – they fielded well and their opening batsmen played some superb shots all round the ground.
 

Cole leads the Cresselly batting

 
Leading the way for Cresselly in the batting stakes after they had been asked to bat first by opposing skipper Gareth Charlesworth were Simon Cole and Iwan Izzard, who shared a fourth wicket partnership of 70 after Cresselly had reached 56 for 3 wickets (Phil Williams 11 and Harry Thomas 20). Cole had seven boundaries in his top score of 56 whilst Izzard supported with 33.
 
No-one else managed double figures as Charlesworth claimed 2 for 11 and fellow spinner Jake Harrold grabbed 3 for 26. The other Elvaston bowlers also toiled hard with success for Simon Lillee (1 for 21), Matthew Clarke (1 for 22), player/coach Kashif Hussein (1 for 23) and Steve Bull 1-54.
 

Opening pair pace their innings well

 
Elvaston opened their innings with Nick Briers and Elliott Lawley and this pair were soon building a productive partnership which built steadily to 50 and then flew past the three-figure mark.
 
It seemed that they would win by ten wickets as Lawley moved smoothly to 101 not out (21 boundaries) and Nick Briers stood on 45 with only three runs needed but the latter tried to move to his held century with a six off Steffan Jenkins but only managed to loft a catch into the deep which Sam Harts caught to give Jenkins figures of 1 for 35.
 
Lawley hit a boundary to take Elvaston home to Derbyshire with a nine-wicket win tucked neatly under their belts despite Cresselly’s yeoman attempts to stop them.