Pembrokeshire Ladies have started their new campaign against the best regional teams along the M4 corridor in the Welsh Women’s Premier League, where they will also take on Briton Ferry Steel and Newport, plus the Cowbridge & Port Talbot Panthers home and away – and after a heavy defeat at Radyr with a relatively inexperienced set of players they bounced back with a morale-boosting victory against another veery experienced team from Cardiff at Kilgetty,  where they battled hard and showed their real capabilities.  

Radyr run riot as top players star

 

Radyr  (264 for 6) beat Pembrokeshire (84 all out) by 180 runs

 

Umpires: Mike Read & Manish Vyas
Scorer: Ian Milsom
 
Radyr were led by Lydia Clements, who is a member of the Glamorgan squad and her team to a big score with a quality innings of 78 runs, ably assisted by Molly Renolds, a highly-thought member of the Glamorgan Emerging Squad, and stroked her way to 48 runs – and both topped their bowling figures after tea Opener Sian Pyne (43) and Carys Griffiths (17) were the other main contributors to the home score.
 
The county’s bowling lacked its usual bite, other than Emilia Wilson’s superb figures of 3 for 27 in eight overs, three of them maidens, with Jemma Phillips and Amanda John the other wicket-takers, the latter making her county debut alongside Llanrhian team-mates Carrie Slack, Katy Jenkins and Gillian Robinson, who all will have gained a great deal at this higher level – but the County conceded a massive total of 54 extras which gave a real boost to the Radyr final tally.
 
The county’ reply got off to an awful start as Jemma, Katy and skipper Sam Rossiter were all back in the hutch as the scoreboard showed 11 for 3 – and again it was left to the outstanding Emilia to be the only batter to managed double figures as she stroked eight lovely boundaries in her 51 not out scored from 66 deliveries.
 
Lydia Clement (3 for 10) and Molly Reynolds (3 for 8) tore the heart out of the Pembrokeshire batting and were helped by Esther Woolley (1 for 19) and Lydia Bell (1 for 1 from her one over).

 

 

Pembrokeshire bounce back superbly to beat high-flying Cardiff

 

Cardiff (112 all out) lost to Pembrokeshire (115 for 4) by 6 wickets

 

Venue: Kingsmoor Sports Ground, Kilgetty
Umpires: Chris Stapleton & Rob Bellerby
 
Scorer: Peter Betteley
 
Pembrokeshire showed how resilient they are as they put Cardiff in to bat, bowled and fielded far better then the previous match, and showed their batting skills as they eased home against such an experienced team with six wickets and 11 overs still in hand.
 
A measure of the improvement shown was the fact that they conceded only 11 extras, with Ava Midgley back and  bowling two maidens  in her 2 for 24 in six overs, alongside other returnees in Meg Arthur (3 for 26 in 5 overs) and Rhiannon Morgan, back to grab 3 for 15, with a maiden thrown in, from her five-over stint. Fflur Davies claimed 1 for 19 and  finally, Emilia Wilson bowled so well, with little luck, that she had only seven scoring shots against her in six overs (2 maidens) – and figures of 1 for 19. Also pleasing was the fact that Pembs clung on well to seven catches!
 
For Cardiff, the runs were scored by Sanya Khurana (30), supported by Alex Williams (11), Izzy Mane (13), Heidi Davies (18) and Natalie Guinnett before their innings closed in the 27^th of their allotted 40 overs.
 

Early batting set-back soon overcome

 
Pembrokeshire suffered an early set-back when skipper Sam Rossiter was dismissed for a duck after facing 12 balls, but by then the score had reached 20 as co-opener Jemma Phillips batted really well for her 26 (four boundaries) and Meg Arthur chipped in with 15 before Emilia Wilson again showed her all-round prowess with top score of 35, including four fours and a sweetly-timed six before she fell with the winning post in sight to Natalie Guinnett, who grabbed 2 for 6.
 
There was also a wicket apiece for Alex Williams and Sonya Khurana but there were few alarms as Katy Griffiths and Ava Midgley were there at the finish  to round off an excellent all-round team performance.
 
Their next match is another home fixture at Kilgetty on 22^nd June, when they play host to another powerful team in Briton Ferry Steel with renewed confidence and hopes of a big, supportive crowd with renewed confidence after this excellent result.
 
**The Pembrokeshire Ladies would like to express their thanks to main sponsors Price & Kelway, plus Valero, and to coaches Nick Evans, Ian Milsom, John Davies and Andrew Scott-Davies for all their support in this challenging competition.