22nd May 2013
| Mallory Gray
Action from the 2012 Final
Mercifully, Sunday 19th of May proved to be dry and, even better, sunny, allowing the Second Round of the Gwalia Welsh Cup to be completed in one go. We are now down to last 32 and the next round of ties is scheduled to be played on Sunday June 9th.
As one might expect, there were some outstanding individual performances – mainly leading to wins for the individual’s team, but occasionally there were valiant efforts in a lost cause. Such is cricket!
The highest score of the day was the 307-3 by Mumbles over Carmarthenshire village side, Llanwrda, with Ben Francis scoring 127, the highest reported individual score of the day. Barry Athletic also posted a high score, 267-6 as they overwhelmed St. Fagans (no details available) and Skewen notched up 255 in their defeat of Clydach. Other centurions were: Gabriel Warwick of Usk (101*) in their win over Pentwyn; Scott Bailey, skipper of Chepstow (100*) against Monmouth who narrowly lost (Josh Grey 97); Michael Samuel (100) in Port Talbot’s victory over Bridgend. Swansea, winners for the last two years, scored a comfortable 98-run victory over Carmarthen Wanderers.
There were some excellent bowling performances as well – the beaten finalists of the past two years, Llandudno, overwhelmed Menai Bridge to dismiss them for 75. Following his score of 68, Abergele’s Dave Moulson took 4-10 in 8 overs to hasten Bethesda’s defeat. Another obvious contender for Man-of-the Match was Carwyn Jones of Panteg who followed up his 4-11 against Monkswood to score 31* in a comfortable 8 wickets victory. Ynystawe can thank Tom Davies for his contribution with the ball (7-0-22-4) as they defeated Neath by 74 runs.
Undoubtedly the match of the day was the one between Brymbo and Hawarden Park. Both teams scored 171 but Hawarden Park go through as they lost fewer wickets. Tom Ducker made 52 of Hawarden’s total and also took 3-17 – congratulations to him!
On a less happy note, six clubs conceded their ties to their opponents: at least two of them (Cresselly and Llandysul) opted to play in the National Village Competition, while others (Ebbw Vale, Maesteg Celtic, Llantwit Major Cavaliers and Swansea Civil Service) were also unable to fulfil the fixtures. The fall in numbers of clubs (and, of course, their players) willing to play twice in the weekend is of continuing concern at a time when the number of clubs in Wales is declining annually.
For the full results and details please follow the
Play Cricket link.