Davies steers Whitland to safety (From Western Telegraph)

Davies steers Whitland to safety

Hook (196 for 9) drew with Whitland (178 for 7) Umpires: Ray Kane and Fred Hatton Scorers: Joy James and Rob Webb

A solid unbeaten half century by Paul Davies steered Whitland to a draw at Hook in a high scoring tussle where a late 50 not out by home all-rounder Gary Martin took them to 196 for 9 after they had struggled at 114 for 6.

Davies had seven fours and three sixes in his score and in the final analysis a draw was a fair result as Andrew Thomas was once again the pick of the Hook bowlers with 4 for 39 in 12 overs, ably supported by Gary Martin, Matthew Holder and Keith James.

Mark Lee gave Whitland a good start as he bowled Matthew Rowland for a duck and also broke up a developing second wicket stand by shifting Mick Haltam for 30. Jamie Phelps also scored a good 39 (four fours) but Whitland kept chipping away via Lee and Meyrick Rowlands until Martin showed his class with his undefeated half century as he and the ubiquitous Thomas put on 50 in a vital late stand after Mark Lee ended up with 3 for 34, Rowlands 2 for 48, Matthew Davies 1 for 28 and Paul Webb 1 for 31.

Whitland started well through skipper Webb and Dave Lee (27) until they departed respectively to Matthew Holder and Thomas, who also removed Daniel Griffiths, Rob Jones and Neil Davies as they looked likely to settle in.

But Paul Davies was untroubled at the other end and with Mark Lee, took Whitland to maximum draw points.