Pwllheli Cricket Club News

Pwllheli claim the points at Gresford

Leaving Pwllheli at 10.30 in the morning in pouring rain, we were certain that the game was not going to be played.  However, when we reached Gresford the sun was out and it was start of another tropical North Wales afternoon.

Skipper Gower lost the toss (again!) and not surprisingly was asked to bat on a green wicket that promised a lot for the bowlers.  The first ball of the innings to Ben Jones proved that assumption to be correct after swinging and moving off the pitch, however, without our normal pre match warm up, Jones was nowhere near the ball!

New batsman Robert Cooper opening with Jones was soon amongst the runs with a fantastic array of shots all around the park and the Gresford attack was soon changed from pace to spin.  A tight few overs pegged the inning back and claimed the wickets of Jones and Aziz.  Cooper was still enjoying himself at the other end, passing his 50 before also falling to the bowling of Bell.

Rehman and Chris Moore continued the good work with a flurry of huge shots and some text book drives which pleased the head coach no end!  Then the rain came and we were off!

30 minutes later we were back on having lost a total of 8 overs.  The instructions to the batsmen were clear - reach 180 and we will declare!  Rehman and Moore however had different plans and when Rehman was finally run out we needed 18 runs from 3 overs to reach the magical 200 runs - unheard of this season!  Chris Moore was finally out for a fine 52 which meant that we needed 5 from 5 balls.  Skipper Gower managed to miss every ball before being out with 1 ball left - meaning it was time for the head coach (Neil Williams) to walk to the middle  1 ball - 5 needed and the head coach hits a huge 6!!!

So there we are, 201 for 6 declared to claim the maximum 10 batting points.  The skipper was happy, the head coach was happy and tea was good!

Quick wickets were needed when we bowled and Ben Jones didnt let us down, claiming a wicket in the 4th over,  Simon Owen proved to be a real handful on a wicket that still offering plenty to the bowlers, eventually bowling his 13 overs for only 28 runs and grabbing a couple of wickets in the process.  The Gresford opener Bell however was playing as if he had 5 days to bat showing little ambition to score runs and despite never loooking truely in, continued to torment the Pwlhelli bowlers.

In a last ditch attempt to claim a surprise break through, skipper Gower turned to the great tour bowler Griffiths and encouraged him to get the wicket we needed.  Looking somewhat uncomfortable from a shortened run up (no doubt chosen to conserve energy should he be required to bowl his full 13 overs) he was soon getting the ball to swing - unfortunately, the batsman were also swinging and after 2 overs, it was time for Adam Williams to have a go.  What an inspired decision this proved to be - Williams claiming 4 wickets.

Despite being run out by a good yard earlier in the game, opener Bell was still there and was detirmined not to get out.  Some great fielding - including some smart footballing skills from the head coach (surely NOT in the coaching manual!) was not enough to grab the final 3 wickets and the game was a draw. 

Pwllheli went home with 19 points and finally moved out of the bottom 2 in the table.

In the bar afterwards, skipper Gower: "I'm very happy with todays performance.  For the first time this season we looked, and more importantly, played like a team.  Its good news that we now have the services of Rob Cooper who will help us no end in the batting.  The bowling and fielding was excellent and hopefully, this is the start of a more positive approach to the second half of the season.  Next week will be tough - we have a number of players missing due to Wakestock and I have this niggly problem with my groin!  Now, as last week, exactly who is going to buy the skipper a beer!"