Ystradgynlais beat Ystalyfera by ten wickets

10:58am Wednesday 14th May 2008

A NEW-LOOK Ystrad first team continued their excellent start to the season with a convincing 10 wicket victory on Saturday.

Sadly the sun was the only heated moment of the day as the contest turned into a damp squib as the hosts overpowered their visitors from Ystalyfera.

Visiting skipper Wayne James won the toss and elected to bat first on a drying wicket after the overnight thunder storms.

However, opening bowlers Tom Jones and Luke Owen had other ideas forcing the Fera openers Huw Lewis and Ryland Doyle onto the back foot with a series of deliveries that reared up from just short of a length. Jones was slightly more wayward giving away a number of wides, while at the other end Owen did not concede in his first fours overs.

Eventually Lewis was the first to go when he tried to hook yet another short delivery but stumbled back onto his stumps and was out hit wicket.

Wickets continued to tumble as the Ystrad bowlers made inroads into the depleted opposition.

Jones was replaced at the Gurnos end by Bradley Williams who swung the ball with ease but was also occasionally wayward also conceding wides unnecessarily but did take the key wicket of skipper James with a beautiful in-swinging yorker.

The visitors teetered precariously on 45-9 when 13-year-old Ashley Parry came to the wicket and offered resolute resistance playing with a straighter bat than most of the recognised batsmen before him.

After the tea interval, Ystrad shuffled their usual batting order in an attempt to give their batsmen some time in the middle. The experimental opening partnership of Daniel Holsgrove and Matthew Phillips took strike and after a slow start made light work of chasing down the total as both punished a succession of wayward deliveries and reached 50 without any scares.

When the score was on 57 Phillips attempted an ambitious hook shot off Mike Penhale and the ball careered straight off his glove and into his face, resulting in some minor damage to his nose.

A comfortable victory for the hosts but there will be far sterner tests ahead and this cannot be considered to be an indication of whether the side will be in contention towards the end of the season.

*Ystrad 2nds beat Ystalyfera by 9 wickets.

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