Division One:

 

Two-horse race as Cresselly and Carew still battle it out

 
The race for the silverware in the first division continued unabated yesterday as near-neighbours Cresselly and Carew are hot favourites, with the penultimate match of the season seeing The Doves entertain The Rooks before both face tough tussles on the final Saturday.

 
Saundersfoot and Herbrandston are looking to battle it out for third spot since they are now too far adrift to mount a serious challenge – and with current champions Neyland having to fight for fifth place as they are in a transitional period, having lost a number of key players.

 
At the other end of the table Llangwm are already doomed to make the ‘dreaded drop’ and able to begin their rebuilding process after losing a number of key players, with Haverfordwest looking likely to join them but with Whitland still looking nervously over their shoulders and Burton now safe after a huge win against Herbie!










 
WHITLAND were asked to bat first at CRESSELLY and were dismissed for 131 as only Jonathan Thomas (50) stayed very long and Charlie Arthur was the pick of the home bowlers with a 4 for16 haul.

Then Phil Williams and Tom Murphy got the league leaders off to a solid start and  Charlie Arthur produced a cameo at just the right time to earn a welcome six-wicket win in just 14.2 overs.














 
It was a similar story at The Racecourse as CAREW invited HAVERFORDWEST to bat first as both teams were without key players and The Rooks conceding 40 extra certainly didn’t help as The Town reached 177 all out with just two balls left, thanks to a very good innings by Ben Field (10 fours in his 62) and a late 34 by Jac Peters against the ultra-enthusiastic Sam Harts (2 for 34), Joel Read and Barry Evans.
Then Tim Hicks hit an important 76 (11 fours and a six), with cameos from Adam Chandler and Noah Davies as Carew eased hone with seven wickets and almost five overs still in hand.


 











SAUNDERSFOOT inevitably enjoyed the biggest win of the day at home to LLANGWM, who were forced to endure another hammering but did so with typical battling spirit for such a weakened team.

The Seasiders openers Tom Mansbridge and Gareth Edwards, pushed up from the middle order to inject raw power into their search for a quick large total, soon contributed a stand of 182 with Mansbridge stroking  15 boundaries and three sixes en route to 104, and Edwards blitzing 12 fours and four sixes in his 110 before he retired.

That left Scott Helmich and Paul Mansbridge to round things off with a little cameo to show his sons there is still cricketing life alongside his groundsman’s role before The Seasiders declared after 35 overs!
 
Joe Newton and Mike Terry batted well for Llangwm but  Tom Mansbridge grabbed four wickets and Sam Franklin claimed three before Neil Powling’s burst at the end saw him with 2 for 2 as the visitors were shot out for 64 runs.







 
BURTON produced one of their best performances of the season to knock HERBRANDSTON off their top-three perch, batting first and building up a huge score before dismissing the home side for one of their lowest scores of an excellent campaign.

A Joseph Kiff century and 52 from Toby Hayman alongside cameos from Martin James, skipper Luke Hayman and Gavin Campbell (plus 35 extras) was the end-product, despite  3 for 46 from home skipper Robbie Hood and two wickets each for Nathan Banner and Dean John.

Harry Nicholas and Dean John hit 20s for Herbie but no-one stayed long against Johnny Scale, Luke Hayman, Gavin Campbell alongside their support bowlers so that Herbie were shot out I only 24.4 overs.
 
**The other match between NEYLAND and LAWRENNY was sadly postponed because of a tragic bereavement in the latter club, with a minute’s silence observed at grounds around the county as a mark of respect, and the match will be played in the near future. Our thoughts at PembrokeshireSport.co,uk are with the family and club at this awful time.



 

Division Two:

 



ST ISHMAELS  travelled to LLECHRYD and came away with maximum points as they did well to dismiss a strong home batting line-up for 127 and reached their target, albeit with a few minor scares along the way, before reaching their target with four wickets and five overs still intact.
 
John Curran (34) and Kevin Evans (25) got Llechryd off well with a 61 stand for the first wicket but there were only minor batting roles thereafter as Andrew Pawlett grabbed another four wickets and his spin twin Lewis Rhead and skipper Jonathan Pawlett picked up two each.
James Henniker (4 for  27 led the Llechryd attack well but solid innings from Rhead, peter Bradshaw and Owain Thomes  were enough to keep Tish on top.









 NARBERTH also enjoyed a maximum-point victory at PEMBROKE which keeps them only seven points behind Tish after they had comprehensively beaten the Treleet Team which at one stage looked possible promotion candidates.
 
Lewis Hough (61), Loui Davies (37), and Ben Quartermaine (48) made significant scores before Ben Hughes and Harry Phillips were still there at the end as Billy Wood, Richard Pullman, Sam Davies and Ceri Brace all claimed two wickets – but then Bens Hughes and Quartermaine bowled well and Matthew Johns mopped up the tail with 3 for 1 as Phil hay topped the home batting with just 19 runs!












 
HOOK beat LLANRHIAN to stand in the wings, just nine points behind and having to face the top two in the next two weeks so cannot yet be discounted on this form, albeit against a team fighting their own battle at the other end of the table. Hook built their sizeable total of 223 for 6 on the batting of Liam Miller, Rhys Phelps, George James and especially Aled Phillips (52) and Jacob Lay (36 not out) as Gwyn Watson was the pick of the Llanrhian bowling.

Callum James staked his claim for the man of the match with splendid figures of 6 for 9 that broke the bac of the Llanrhian batting as only Russell Watkins reached 20 and there were double figures for Simon Batchelor and Dom Harty as Brennan Martin, Jack Phillips and Rhys Phelps all gave Callum support in his bowling exploits.








 



There was a tight finish in a hugely entertaining game between BURTON SECONDS and JOHNSTON which the latter won by a single wicket having used only 24 of their overs.
 
Dan Griffiths topped the Burton batting with mini-cameos from others as spinner Nick Davies (4 for 23) and lee Summons (3 for 37) led the way.

Steve Mills claimed 1 for 3 and then decimated the Burton bowling with a quick-fire  77 not out that edged The Glebelands Gang to victory as Gary James was their only other batsman in double figures.
 












The eagerly-awaited local derby between the second strings of CAREW and CRESSELLY ended with Cresselly taking the honours despite Scott Richards (73) and Simon Wood (45) putting on 110 together before both old-timers were run out very close together. Logan Hall and Gareth Lewis also reached 20 in a final tally of 225 for 6.
 
Bit Iwan Izzard marked his first match of the season for Cresselly with  103 not out in only 99 balls, including 13 boundaries and three sixes. He found support from Charlie Arthur (46) and Lewis Mason and veteran Stefan Jenkins, who was with Izzard at the end with an unbeaten 23 as Cresselly reached their target with 4.3 overs still in hand.