South Wales Premier League Cricket

Ammanford (190-3) beat Mumbles (189-9) by seven wickets

Ammanford enjoyed a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Mumbles at the Park on Saturday to ensure them remain fifth in a tightly fought Premier League.

Winning the toss, Alun Evans put Mumbles in to bat and immediately reaped the benefits when Tom Maynard had Aneurin Norman caught by Matthew Fisher with just four on the board.

There followed a solid stand of 89 between Tomas Davies and Dan Roberts, broken when Matthew Roberts removed Davies for 22.

Cameron Protheroe (31) stayed with Roberts as the latter accumulated 62 before a smart stumping by Gareth Slade off Fisher’s bowling sent him back to the pavilion.

This appeared to be the turning point of Mumbles’ innings as wickets began to fall regularly, the only lower order resistance coming from Dan Grace with an unbeaten 33.

Ammanford bowled tightly and compactly, Fisher in particular producing the creditable figures of four for nine from 10 overs, of which seven were maidens. Evans took 3-49.

Ammanford’s response began in similar vein to their opponents’, losing opener Hedd Jones with just two on the board.

Evans joined Rhys-Huw Davies to take the score to 44 before he was caught on the boundary for 22.

The departure of Davies for 28 brought together man-of-the-match Matthew Fisher (46no) and Jack Murphy (86no) who was playing his first match after injury.

The pair batted superbly through an unbroken stand of 124. With 12 runs needed for victory, and over 10 overs in which to get them, Murphy opted to finish gloriously with two sixes in consecutive balls.

Next week, Ammanford travel to picturesque St Fagans on Saturday, while on Sunday at 1.30pm they entertain Dafen in the SWCA T20.

As a footnote, Ammanford were due to play Whitland in the Welsh Cup last Sunday but the Pembrokeshire side failed to raise a team.