Bersham (288 for 9) beat Dolgellau (133) by 155 runs

AFTER two maximum points wins, Dolgellau came down to earth with a bang, with a defeat by 155 runs at Bersham.

It was the hosts who gained the maximum points this time, as they totalled 288 for 9, thanks in the main to openers Nuwan Amarakoon and skipper Suresh Koswaththage, who started the innings with an great partnership of 187 from 35 overs.

Nuwan struck 104 and Suresh 80 and included 8 sixes and 20 fours between them.

Dolgellau surrendered to 133 all out in the 32nd over to lose by 155 runs, with Amith Thilakarathne producing an impressive spell of bowling to rip the heart out of the innings, claiming 4 for 23.

Dolgellau’s captain Mark Edmondson won the toss on an overcast day and he invited Bersham to bat first on a wicket that was still wet from Friday’s rain.

The first over of the day, bowled by Edmondson, went for 11 runs, and from then on Suresh and Nuwan didn’t look back.

They smashed the ball to all parts of the surrounding farmland, with some of the Dolgellau fielders spending more time in the adjacent fields than on the pitch!

Some sloppy fielding didn’t help matters, added to the fact that Dolgellau only had ten on the pitch for 55 minutes, as one of their leading players arrived late.

To be fair, bowling conditions were not easy, being wet and slippy underfoot.

Suresh was the first to reach his fifty from 51 deliveries, while Nuwan, who is the leading run scorer in the division, stroked his way to fifty from 75 balls.

The breakthrough for the visitors came in the 35th over, bowled by Phil Leeds, who was not allowed to come on until 110 minutes of the match had elapsed.

In his third over Leeds found the edge of Suresh’s bat to be caught by keeper Rob Humphreys, but not before he had hit eleven fours and a six in his knock of 80.

Nuwan added another 18 runs with Rishan Fernando, reaching a very good century with his 7th six. With the total on 205 Nuwan was eventually dismissed in the 38th over for 104 which contained 9 fours to go with his 7 sixes, caught by Jason Weaver in Sam Williams’ 11th over.

Rishan and Amith had a stand of 64 for the third wicket, until Rishan was bowled by Weaver for 36 with 3 sixes and the same amount of fours, 269 for 3.

Bersham lost 6 more wickets in the dash for extra runs as the overs ran out.

Junaid Ali was bowled by Leeds, Amith caught by Marcus Cheyne off Weaver for 19, Hilmi Assanarakath bowled by Leeds, Tim Jones caught Gareth Lanagan bowled Leeds, Jonath David bowled by Weaver and Nilanka De Silva run out by Jaco Oosthuizen, leaving Lewis Derwent as the not out batsman. At the end of the 50 overs, Dolgellau had donated 26 wides, and Bersham stood at a daunting 288 for 9, of which 172 came in boundaries.

Leeds’ bowling efforts returned figures of 4 for 25 from 10 overs, while Weaver claimed 3 for 38 from 5 overs and Sam Williams 1 for 83 from 12. Edmondson had 12 overs for 47 runs, Oosthuizen 5 overs for 38 and Cheyne 3 overs for 30.

In reply, Dolgellau could not match the forceful strokeplay of the Bersham openers and struggled throughout. The total was on 29 when the first wicket went down, that of Oosthuizen for 14 with 3 fours, caught by Nuwan, off Tim Jones.

The introduction of medium pacer Amith into the attack caused immediate problems for the visitors. In the space of 7 runs Dolgellau were reduced to 54 for 4 in the 11th over. At 47, Leeds played on to Amith, and at 53 Lanagan was bowled, with both batsmen being undone by deliveries that deviated sharply into them.

Amith took a third wicket bowling opener Tom Kistruck for 26 which turned out to be the visitors top score. Kistruck had struck 4 boundaries. Edmondson and Humphreys took it to 73, but in the 15th over Edmondson became Amith’s 4th victim caught via his helmet by the wicket-keeper Rishan for 15 with 3 fours.

Humphreys made 11, caught by Nuwan at deep mid-on off spinner Nilanka and Williams was caught behind off Suresh.

From 83 for 7, the later batsmen managed to add another 50 between them before the innings finished on 133, with still 17.2 overs left. Dave Jenkins was dismissed lbw to Suresh, before Cheyne and Weaver put on 29 for the 9th wicket.

Cheyne hit 2 fours in his 21 from 32 balls until he was bowled by Jones to be last out, and Weaver scored 18 with 4 boundaries from 18 deliveries, before being lbw to Jones. Stuart Evans was the not out batsman as Dolgellau lost by 155 runs.

Amith had 4 wickets for 23 from 9 overs, Jones 3 for 36 off 5.4 overs, Suresh 2 for 5 from 3 and Nilanka 1 for 46 from 10 .