Jones jolts Whitland hopes (From Western Telegraph)

Jones jolts Whitland hopes

Narberth (128 for 8) beat Whitland (126 for 7) Umpires: David Loosemore and Fred Hatton Scorer: Idwal Vincent

Narberth maintained their top-four place with a narrow win against neighbours Whitland, who are now well and truly sucked into the relegation dogfight.

It was clearly a day when runs were at a premium but Whitland were in with a shot at victory as Narberth stood at 81 for 7 in pursuit of their 126 for 7 - only for bowler Ceri Jones to arrive at the crease at No 8 and blitz a lightning-quick 34 which swung the game back into Narberth's favour.

Paul Davies led the Whitland batting line-up with 48 before he was bowled by Ian Hughes having scored just three boundaries. Meyrick Rowlands had opened with 15 runs and there was an innings of 19 from Daniel Griffiths - but in general it was the bowlers who held the edge as Wayne Howells picked up 3 for 26 in 12 accurate overs and Ian Hughes grabbed two for 20 in ten overs.

No-one was quite able to raise the tempo and a final tally of 126 for 7 showed how hard Narberth had worked to keep the run-rate down in the field. But the home side were soon in trouble after teas as Kristian Richards removed Daniel Hughes for a duck, Mike Scale departed to a good ball from Huw Devonald - and Matthew 'Titch' Davies grabbed four wickets in quick succession.

Throughout all this, Wayne Howells had moved steadily to 37 but was then removed by Dave Lee with the aid of a Griffiths' catch.

Lee also bowled the dangerous Marc Hughes but then Ceri Jones showed what an asset he can be with bat as well as ball with some mighty swipes that saw him speed to 32 as Greg Williams and Ian Hughes gave winning support at the other end.