Hawarden Park (129) lost to Dolgellau (222 for 9) by 93 runs

DOLGELLAU continued their good start to the season in North Wales division one when they travelled to Hawarden Park and returned victorious by 93 runs.

Visiting skipper Rob Humphreys opted to bat first on a good batting surface, his team making 222 for 9 on the completion of their 50 overs. Hawarden were then bowled out for 129 in the 40th over.

After the dismissal of opener Greg Smithies, with the total on 12, when bowled by Mike Wootton, Sion Francis and number three bat Jonathan Lloyd, batted sensibly, adding 23 in the face of good bowling by Wootton and Campbell Marr. Both were out in the space of 7 runs, to make it 42 for 3 from 13 overs.

Francis was caught by Jo Robinson off Wootton for 15, with Lloyd also going to Wootton, caught by Jamie Brailsford. Phil Leeds and Gareth Lanagan put on 40 in 10 overs, with Leeds going for 15, when dismissed lbw to Ian Martin.

There followed a fine stand of 61 between Lanagan and Robbie Lee to put things back on track. Lanagan scored 32, before he was caught by Brailsford off skipper Adam Cross in the 40th over.

He was joined back in the pavilion by Lee, who hit 4 boundaries, also notching 32, before caught and bowled by Marr from the first ball of his second spell.

It was now 146 for 6 with 9 overs remaining. Tom Kistruck and Mark Edmondson shared a stand of 45 in 6 overs, until Kistruck was bowled giving Wootton his 4th wicket of the afternoon.

Edmondson continued to attack the bowlers, losing Jaco Osthuizen with the total on 209, caught Cross, a fifth wicket for Wootton who was in his second spell.

Edmondson and Sam Williams saw out the last few overs, the latter being run out by keeper Jo Forde on the final ball of the innings. They took it on to 222 for 9, with Edmondson top scoring on 39 not out, which included 4 boundaries.

Pace bowler Wootton had the excellent figures of 12 overs 4 maidens, 5 for 44, while 3 bowlers had a wicket apiece.

Marr 1 for 43, Martin 1 for 31 and Cross 1 for 62. The Dolgellau total was boosted by a generous donation of 68 extras, which included 5 penalty points when the ball made contact with a helmet on the ground behind the stumps.

Hawarden Park lost an early wicket when in the second over Marr was bowled by Oosthuizen. They then lost another two batsmen with the score on 29, Jamie MacDonald was unlucky to be out hit wicket to Edmondson when he stepped on the stumps and James Rowlands was bowled by Edmondson.

Opener Brailsford and Steve Bliss restored some sort of order with a stand of 45 for the 4th wicket until the former advanced down the wicket only to be bowled by spinner Sam Williams for 32.

Six overs and 26 runs later Steve Bliss was run out by a combination of keeper Humphreys and bowler Williams, having struck 36 with 7 fours, which left it at 100 for 5 in the 29th over.

The hosts could only manage another 29 runs from 10 overs as they fell for 129 to the penultimate ball of the 40th over.

Cross was bowled by Leeds for 16, Martin caught by Leeds off Williams for 12, Robinson bowled Leeds, Bala Subramanian also bowled by Leeds and finally Forde bowled by Francis to give Dolgellau a 93 run victory. Wootton 5 not out.

Leeds sent down 5 overs, 3 for 15, Williams claimed 2 for 33 from 11 overs, Edmondson 2 for 30 from 9, Oosthuizen 1 for 16 from 7 and Francis 1 for 26 from 7.5 overs. Saturday’s match balls were sponsored by Rhian James Lanagan and Gruffydd James Lanagan.

Marchwiel & Wrexham 2nds (21 lost to Dolgellau 2nds (123) by 102 runs.

HOSTS Marchwiel and Wrexham Seconds were shot out for a meagre 21 runs in division four after Dolgellau Seconds had set a total of 123 in 33.1 overs.

There were five ducks in the Marchwiel total as only 11 runs came off the bat, with the innings lasting just 12.5 overs.

Dolgellau’s bowling destroyers were Marcus Cheyne with 4 for 9, Iwan Parry 2 for 5 and youngster Morgan Yorke 3 for 3, the other wicket being a run out by James Bradbury-Willis, who also took a catch as did keeper Stuart Evans. Six batsmen were bowled and one lbw in response to the visitors’ 123 all out.

Opening bat Stuart Evans top scored with 22, and there were five other double figure scores. Skipper Richard Rees made 10, Cheyne 14, Jamie Tomkins also 14, Aled Owen 10, and Morgan Yorke 13 not out, having made an excellent 95 not out for Eryri Under 13s in the 80 run win against North East Wales at Llandudno.

For the home team Paul Baines took 4 for 30 and Ted Probin 2 for 9, as Dolgellau went from 56 for 2 to 56 for 6, before late order runs gave the innings some respectability. Dolgellau take the maximum 15 points for their 102 run success.

In other news Dolgellau Cricket Club was featured on the S4C topical news programme Heno last week. The Heno team were at the Marian to film the junior All Stars players and some of the Ladies Section. Club Chairman Gareth Lanagan and junior coach Richard Rees were interviewed for the television cameras as was ladies’ member, Gwawr Ifans.