Pwllheli Cricket Club News

Promotion hopefuls (not Pwllheli !) humbled

Turning up at Parc Bodegroes, skipper Gower was delighted to see a wonderful looking wicket and even more delighted by an unchanged team of cripples and various injuries!  These included (but were not limited to) himself (ankle), second head coach Williams (pretty much everything), Rehman (ankle) and Ben Jones (ribs).  Winning the toss (2 out of 4 now!) after much deliberation and soul searching, Gower followed the advice of various team members and, against his better judgment, decided to have a bat.

After 5 overs and the loss of two wickets for not very many, this decision looked as if it would come back to haunt him.  However, the in-form Jones was unleashing a wonderful display of shots to all parts of the ground and with the almost in form Rehman providing good support at the other end, runs started to amass.  Nadeem was finally out for 19 after mistiming one to point but this only appeared to encourage Jones to take the attack to the bowlers – using all the old tricks including the favourite of being clean bowled from a no ball – he passed his 50 with the very much in form Chris Moore swiping the ball to all corners at the other end.

Jones was finally out for 69 and the large crowd rose to their feet in appreciation.  This dismissal brought the enigma that is Nadeem Mohammed to the wicket.  5 runs later he was carried from the pitch after seriously twisting / pulling something in his leg – good wishes for a speedy recovery go out to him.  This retirement then brought the enigma that is Nabeel Mansoori to the wicket!  A few hefty blows, Chris Moore being dismissed and then Nabeel being bowled meant it was down to the enigma that is Adam Williams and the very much out of form Gower to press on with the scoring.

Some stylish shots from Williams and some very poor ones from Gower meant that the skipper was able to declare after 45 overs on 204 to gain the maximum 10 batting points. 

Fielding warm up was cut short as the Wrexham batsmen were keen to get going – so the regular Pwllheli opening attack of Owens and Jones were soon running in on what was still a nice warm afternoon and it wasn’t long before the bag of tricks that is Simon Owens had struck with an almost unplayable delivery to remove the dangerous opener Ward.

A tidy spell from Jones and it was time for the introduction of the almost in form Rehman, who struck in his first over, and at regular intervals throughout his 13 over spell to end up with the impressive figures of 13 overs, 5 for 15 – couple that with a great direct throw run out and its safe to say he was the star of the fielding.  Or, should we count Robert Cooper in that heady position?  Not having a lot of luck with the bat currently, the Pwllheli opener looked almost as amazed as the rest of the team when asked by skipper Gower to have a bowl – 5 balls later and he bagged a plumb LBW to certainly ensure his chances of a bowl next week!

Try as they could, the Pwllheli bowlers could not shift the stubborn Tim Newhouse (who ended up 53 not out) who guided his team to a possibly undeserved loosing draw with the points 20 to 7 in Pwllheli favour.

In the bar afterwards, a disappointed skipper Gower looked back on the game: “Another great performance from the whole team.  The batting display today was exceptional and was certainly equally matched by our bowling.  When you think that before last week Wrexham were top of the league – it just asks the same old question of how exactly are we in the position that we are in?  Still, we have played like a winning team for the last 4 games now which promises much for the remainder of the season.  Kebabs all round is it Neil?”