50 Not Out! Senior Men's Welsh Cup Final - Preview

31st August 2022 | Mallory Gray

By Steve Davies

The 50^th running of the Senior Welsh Cup has seen its most successful number of entrants in many a year with 89 Clubs entering.

These Clubs were divided into 4 Zones and eventually after 67 games two finalists have emerged – Port Talbot Town CC and the defending Champions from 2021 Swansea CC - they will contest the Final this Sunday 4th September at Pontarddulais CC.

Port Talbot Town CC - Path to Pontarddulais

Port Talbot have most certainly earned their right to be a finalist, having played 6 games to get there 

• Drawn against near rivals Neath for a Pre-Lim tie, Skipper Dan Rowe did the damage with the ball taking 5 for 27. Dean Morris (62no) and Joe Voke (64no) helped secure a 9 wkt win.
• In the 1^st Rnd a comfortable 54 run win was achieved against Maesteg, whilst a 2^nd Rnd ‘local derby’ at Tata Steel (84 ao) was a nervy affair with Port Talbot getting over the line 86 for 7!
• Ynysygerwn were the opposition in the 3^rd Rnd where a solid team performance earned a 51 run victory was the outcome - contributions from Liam Davies (71) & Barney Huxtable (52) whilst 5 bowlers took 2 wkts a piece.
• Next up in the Qtr Final was another SWPCL team in Cardiff who set a target of 196. In reply PTT knocked them off for just 4 wkts based around another Joe Voke half century (58no).
• The Semi-Final proved to be a most memorable game in which Newport were asked to chase down 300 to win (Liam Davies 119, Joe Voke 152 putting on 152 for the 2^nd wkt). Newport needed 4 to win with 2 balls left when the last wicket fell leaving PTT the victors – what a fantastic match!   

Swansea CC Road to the Final

Swansea, the defending Welsh Cup Champions have had a much more straight-forward journey to the final (4 games, 1 concede) but have had to travel some miles in doing so.

• Not required to play a Pre-Lim tie, Swansea were drawn to play near neighbours Swansea Civil Service CC in the 1^st This turned out to be a run-fest with 3 centurions (Skipper Brad Wadlan 114, Cameron Hemp 102, Jake Roberts 72) in a Swansea total of 312/1. SWCA Divn 2 side Civil Service made a valiant attempt in chasing down the runs with Skipper Dan Hardman (a former Swansea player) obviously enjoying being back at St Helens by stroking an exquisite 129 in a total of 222 ao.   
• Next up should have been another local derby v Gowerton however they conceded allowing Swansea through to play Llangennech in the 3^rd Llan scored 218/2 off their allocated overs (James Taube 81, Matthew Jones 63), with Swansea steered home 220/3 by Hasan Hyatt (80) and Steffan Roberts (57)
• Cowbridge were the Qtr Final opponents who were set a target of 262 mainly based around a marvellous knock of 124 from Steffan Roberts. Salman Saeed (86) made a valiant attempt to chase the runs down but perished 36 runs short with Cameron Hemp taking 3/43.
• Semi Final opponents Colwyn Bay who’d beaten SWPCL Pontarddulais in the Qtr Final were skittled for 159, with Swansea making 162/5 based around a Jake Roberts knock of 69

Cricket Wales are delighted to take the Welsh Cup Final back to The Bont in 2022. They hosted a marvellous final last year and we are sure they’ll be excellent hosts once again.

Members of both Gorseinon CC and Neath CC teams, who participated in the very first Welsh Cup in 1972, will be present at this year’s game to help celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of this Cup Competition.

Please note, given a variable weather forecast for Sunday, the competition organisers have brought the start time forward to 11am.

To see the Roll of Honour of previous Men's Welsh Cup Winners, please visit the main competition page