Following their victory last week against Bryntawe, Gowerton headed in to this game full of confidence and a spring in their step.
Having lost the toss – Gowerton fielded first. Olchfa showed early class with and opening partnership stand of 36. Opening bowlers Lewis Roberts (3 overs 1-18) and Joe Barratt ( 2 overs 0-19) bowled well but on a kind batting track, were expertly played by the opening pair – both of which play country cricket.
The breakthrough came with the introduction of a Year 7 leg spinner. Sanjay Pradepan bowled a 3 over masterclass which included a wicket maiden – ending on (3 overs 1-2). His wicket led to a degree of panic and was shortly followed up by the fall of the second opening batsman – a great delivery from Nino Romanello (3 overs 1-8) was superbly caught by Sam Terry.
An excellent bowling display by the home side which ended with Jake Riodan (2 overs 0-4), J Terry (1 over 0-8) and Ethan Griffin (1 over 0-4) meant they’d restricted a very strong batting outfit to just 69-3 from their 15 overs – a competitive target, but made Gowerton favourites.
Jake Riodan and Andrew Clifford opened the batting for Gowerton. Excellent running between the wickets kept the scoreboard ticking despite some early Olchfa pressure with the ball. Andrew hit the only boundary of the game with an exquisite leg sweep before attempting it a second time in the same over – this time being clean bowled. An opening partnership of 37 from 7 overs send Gowerton well on their way to victory.
Vice-Captain Joe Richards came in at 3. Having played some high quality shots without scoring, he played a fine late cut passed backward point but ran himself out returning for a 2nd run. 2 overs later and having only added 4 more runs to their total, 45-2 from 9 overs looked far less flattering and showed they had work to do.
Stephen Button came to the crease and ran well, Jake Riodan still there to lead the running between the wickets before he too, ran himself out, but not before leading Gowerton to 59-3 and only needing 11 to win from 4 overs.
It was Lewis Robert and Joe Barratt again who were to lead Gowerton over the line with 10 balls to spare.
This was their best performance of the season to date, beating a very strong outfit who more than half their side playing country cricket. The togetherness, etiquette and hunger to succeed is making the side stronger with every training session and fixture they play – this promises to be a very positive season for a very talented group of players.
Well played year 8. It sounds like an impressive team performance and an excellent win.
Thanks for the report Mr Hughes.
Well done year 8. Great win you should all be very proud.