Carew hold out for dour draw (From Western Telegraph)

Carew hold out for dour draw

Carew (92 for 7) drew with Cresselly (134 all out) Umpires: Les Hastings and Trefor Evans Scorers: Dave Sefton and Tony Scourfield (Carew) with Dave Richards (Cresselly)

The local derby clash between Carew and Cresselly was regarded as the top match in the league on Saturday - and it became the only game in the entire county to be played in defiance of the expected awful weather.

That it went on was due to the dedication of the Carew ground staff in covering the wicket on Thursday morning, ably led by Gerald Hicks and assisted by Derek Lloyd, but their players weren't quite able to match their performance because after bowling out their near neighbours in less than 44 overs they were forced to hold on for the draw in the 46 overs at their disposal.

It was a hard-fought tussle and in view of the damp conditions there were some excellent catches to go with useful bowling performances.

Leading the way for Cresselly was skipper Richard Harris, who lost the toss and was asked to bat first by opposite number Darren Thomas.

He scored 41 runs, took a diving catch and put in a tight bowling spell - and generally marshalled his troops effectively throughout. He joined the in-form Julian Arthur in an opening stand of 28 before Arthur tried to go for a second six-hit and could only loft a catch to Phil Jones at mid-wicket off Thomas, having raced to 21.

Simon Cole also looked in good nick before he was well caught in the slips by Simon Wood to give Thomas his second victim - and Damian Arthur also reached double figures before he launched himself at the first ball from spinner Johnnie Canton and was caught at fine leg by Rob Scourfield.

But Harris remained in control at the other end despite seeing his first lieutenant Lyn Richards run out by a throw from Thomas after a mix-up in the calling - and when he was eventually out to a catch by Phil Jones at extra cover, off Simon Wood, he had five boundaries in his 41 runs.

Wood caused all sorts of problems to the other Cresselly batsman, with former Carew all-rounder Adam Chandler departing first ball to another catch for Phil Jones, Ryan Lewis departing to a Canton catch, Phil Williams nudging a ball to Darren Thomas in the slips and Stefan Jenkins giving a catch to keeper Barry Ansell.

It left Wood with a 5 for 5 analysis from five overs and Cresselly were dismissed after 43.2 overs when Steve Ive returned to trap Neilson Cole lbw.

Carew needed a solid start to chase such a total in the conditions but they suffered an early set-back against tight bowling from Phil James and Jenkins, with an Adam Chandler throw running out anchor man Nick Scourfield by miles with just a run to his name.

Cresselly suffered a mishap when James hurt his leg and was unable to carry on bowling after conceding only five runs in as many overs. But worse was to follow for Carew after Ian Sefton and Simon Wood looked to have steadied the ship.

Sefton adjudged 'leg before' to Jenkins and Wood caught at extra cover by Lewis off Chandler. Tim Hicks also fell to a diving catch by the ubiquitous Harris off Lyn Richards so that Carew were teetering at 36 for 4.

From there on it became a battle for survival as all the Cresselly bowlers produced good spells - and although Phil Jones was out lbw to Lewis, and Damian Arthur took fine catches at slip and third man respectively off Richards and Chandler to get rid of Brian Hall and Barry Ansell, Carew were able to hold on via the battling Rob Scourfield.

Such was the difficulty that they faced in building an innings it was 'Mr Extras' who topped the scoring with 25 runs that included no fewer than 17 wides, an interesting statistic which shows that it was the only area in which Carew dominated, since they had only conceded three extras in a disciplined fielding display.