National Village Cup – last 16:

Cresselly (205 for 9) lost to Langtons (Leicestershire) 247 all out

Cresselly’s hopes of making progress in the national Village Cup competition, and a final appearance at Lord’s, were brought to an abrupt halt as they entertained a strong Langtons CC team which plays in the top echelon of the Leicestershire & Rutland League, and found it hard going at the start of each innings.

Firstly the visitors enjoyed an opening partnership of 158 in only 20 overs and after tea Cresselly were reduced to 28 for 2 as they lost key run-getters Phil Williams and Adam Chandler for next to nothing.

It says much for Cresselly’s never-say-die spirit that they fought back on both occasions, limiting Langton’s to only 89 runs as they lost all ten wickets, and enjoying success with an 83 run stand between Iwan Izzard and Simon Cole, but on both occasions the damage was done.

Mubarak Patel scored 75 for Langtons (nine fours and three sixes) before he was adjudged lbw to Mike Shaw, whilst co-opener Zarfraz Boriyhwal contributed 97 (four fours and seven sixes) before he fell to Simon Cole by the same method of dismissal.

Cole was the pick of the Cresselly bowlers with 4 for 28 whilst ‘spin twin’ Mike Shaw chipped in with 2 for 24 as Sam Harts (2 for 54) and Sion Jenkins (1 for 57) were the other wicket takers.

Cresselly also took some excellent catches, led by skipper Ryan Lewis’s one-handed boundary effort amongst three he took alongside Adam Chandler (2), Phil Williams and Mike Shaw.

Cresselly needed a good start but useful pace bowling by Langton’s attack dented the homesters’ hoped before Iwan Izzard (eight fours and a six) was stumped by Langton’s skipper Mark Ward for a cracking 77 – and Simon Cole had seven boundaries in his excellent 43 before both became victims of Zubar Patel in a 5 for 42 spell that turned the game dramatically against Cresselly.

From then only skipper Neilson Cole (12) and last man Sion Jenkins (two fours and a six in his 16 not out) managed double figures as Cresselly’s dream ended – but they had battled hard in front of a large, appreciative crowd who had turned up to cheer them on!

SCORECARD:

Langtons (best scores):

Mubarak Patel lbw b Simon Cole 75

Zafraz Boriyhwal lbw b Mike Shaw

Sadiq Ducanwala ct Ryan Lewis b Sam Harts 22

Extras 24

Total (all out in 39 overs) 247

Cresselly Bowling:

Tom Arthur 4-0-37-0; Sam Harts 8-0-54-2; Sion Jenkins 8-1-57-1; Ryan Lewis 6-0-43-0;

Mike Shaw 6-0-24-2; Simon Cole 7-1-24-2

Cresselly Batting:

Phil Williams ct Mubarak Patel b Sadiq Ducanwala 5

Adam Chandler b Asif Mai 3

Iwan Izzard st Mark Ward b Zubar Patel 77

Simon Cole b Zubar Patel 43

Alex Bailey run out 2

Mike Shaw b Mubarak Patel 8

Ryan Lewis b Zubar Patel 4

Neilson Cole b Zubar Patel 12

Sam Harts ct Talhar Badabai b Zubar Patel 8

Tom Arthur not out 2

Sion Jenkins not out 16

Extras 25

Total (9 wickets) 205

Langtons Bowling:

Asif Mai 7-1-34-1; Sajeed Patel 3-0-21-0; Sadiq Ducanwala 9-1-40-1; Zubar Patel 8-0-42-5; Mubarak Patel 6-0-34-1

Scorer: Teagan Cartwright.