Connahs Quay (186 for 3) beat Pwllheli (185 all out) by 7 wickets

ROCKED by unavailability and late-withdrawals, the weakened Pen Lleyn side finally left for Connahs Quay with a full quota of 11 players, after last-minute combing of the streets of Pwllheli early on Saturday morning to produce a team.

Electing to bat first, Pwllheli made a steady start with contributions from the top four batsmen of Owen Reilly with 34, Craig Edwards with 28, Morgan Murray-Williams 39 and Jason Underwood 35.

At 148 for four down, there was always the danger that the inexperienced tail would be exposed, and so it was as the fit-again Quay quickie Matt Redinger feasted on the lower order to take 5 wickets in quick time, conceding just 33 runs.

Fellow home opening bowler Darren Leach provided back up with 3 victims for 44 runs. Pwllheli number seven Sean Reilly tried gallantly to hold the innings together, smiting two huge straight sixes in his unbeaten 21 runs as the innings folded on 185 with still 8 overs left.

An hour later, the Quay batsmen were on 86 for 1 down - after just 12 overs.

Hard-hitting Martin Burger struck 11 fours and one six, before he mistimed one from Sean Reilly to be well caught for 56 by a diving Syed Aslam at mid-on.

From there on, Quay cruised to a comfortable victory, with Geoff Evans hitting 39 and Darren Jones an unbeaten 54 to reach their target with 14 overs to spare.

Connahs Quay are all-but relegated after Gresford’s big win at Denbigh, but this result shows that you just cannot take any Premier League team for granted.

Pwllheli are going to finish in mid-table safety, but with five hard games left they are in danger of letting their season fizzle out in a whimper. Next up are two home games against top three opponents in St. Asaph and Llandudno. They will have to put the last two disappointing results behind them and return to winning ways at what has been fortress Parc Bodegoes.

Pwllheli’s match ball was sponsored last weekend by CK Tools, Pwllheli.

Last weekend’s results: North Wales League Premier Division: Denbigh (160-7) lost to Gresford (161-4) by 6 wkts; Hawarden Park (156) lost to Bangor (159-3) by 7 wkts; Llandudno (177-8) beat Menai Bridge (80) by 97 runs; Northop (197) lost to Brymbo (165-4) by 6 wkts D/L;St Asaph (97-3) beat Chirk (94) by 3 wkts.