DOLGELLAU suffered their second successive defeat of the season in the North Wales League division one when they travelled to take on Mold on Saturday.

Dolgellau totalled an useful 229 for 9, thanks in the main to half-centuries from Gareth Lanagan and Jonathan Lloyd, but some sub-standard fielding by the visitors allowed Mold to reach a winning 230 for 4, as several catches were dropped.

Mold’s top scorers Usman Butt and Duane Williams were both dropped before they had scored, and they went on to make scores of 67 and 41 respectively.

Jaco Oosthuizen bowled well for Dolgellau, giving away just 15 runs from 7 overs, but very surprisingly he was not used again in the later stages of the match as other bowlers were punished.

The home side’s captain George Deniz opted for his side to field first, with Dolgellau advancing to 50 in 13 overs.

At 19 Stuart Evans was caught by Isaac Allen off the bowling of John Crane and at 35 opener Greg Smithies gave a return catch to Butt after scoring 25 with 5 fours.

Jonathan Lloyd was joined at the crease by Gareth Lanagan, and together they forged an excellent alliance of 120 runs.

Lloyd made it to 50 from 71 deliveries, until a misunderstanding led to him being run out by Wes Gillam, after striking 9 fours in his 56 runs from 77 balls.

Robbie Lee hit a six, but was then bowled by George Jones to leave it at 165 for 4. Meanwhile Lanagan had advanced to his half century from 81 balls faced, but when he was on 60 he was stumped by George Deniz off Gillam after also hitting 9 fours in Dolgellau’s top score of 60.

From 181 for 5 the visitors lost 4 more wickets as the later batsmen found runs hard to come by in the face of some good Mold bowling. They had to settle for 229 for 9 at the end of their 50 overs.

Mark Edmondson gave Gillam a second wicket, when caught by Kieron Coppack, Phil Leeds made a run a ball 20, before he was caught by Richard Crane off John Crane, Oosthuizen made 15 including a six, until caught by Wiliams from the bowling of Butt, and stand-in skipper Sam Wiliams was castled by John Crane.

Will Hannam and Marcus Cheyne were the not out batsmen as Dolgellau only managed to score 29 from the last 8 overs.

John Crane picked up 3 for 44 from his 12 overs, whilst Butt ended with figures of 2 for 34 from 9 overs, Gillam 2 for 39 from 8, and Jones 1 for 29 from 4 overs.

In their chase Mold lost their first wicket at 30 when Richard Deniz was adjudged lbw to Oosthuizen for 20 with 4 fours and Richard Crane was caught by Edmondson off Lee for 12 to make it 41 for 2.

Thereafter Dolgellau’s fielders failed to take their chances as Williams and Butt had a stand of 89 for the third wicket.

Williams had 7 fours in his 41 from 72 deliveries, before he was caught Hannam bowled Sam Williamsm - and it was 164 for 4 when Butt was dismissed, bowled by Leeds for 67, which included a six and 9 fours, scoring his 50 from 46 balls.

From there on Mold’s John Crane and Isaac Allen punished the visiting bowlers, scoring the 66 more runs required for their side’s 6 wicket victory with 4.4 overs to spare. Crane’s 34 not out contained 2 boundaries, while Allen struck 40 not out from 28 balls with 6 fours as Dolgellau’s bowling decisions became costly, with Mold getting to 230 for 4.

Oosthuizen took 1 for 15 from 7 overs at the start, but was not used again while Leeds claimed 1 for 55 from his full quota of 12 overs. Lee had 1 for 23 from 6 overs and Sam Williams 1 for 52 from 8 as Mold took 13 points and Dolgellau 2- the old adage “catches win matches” never being more appropriate for the visiting side.

Saturday’s match ball was sponsored by Plas Isa Guesthouse, Dolgellau.

• Dolgellau Seconds were left disappointed when last Saturday’s scheduled opponents at the Marian, Rhewl had to concede the game as they were unable to raise a team, while the scheduled Welsh Cup second round match at home to Llandudno on Sunday was rained off and will now be played this Sunday, 9 June.