Cadfael's class shines through for victorious Llanrhian (From Western Telegraph)

Cadfael's class shines through for victorious Llanrhian

Llanrhian (103 for 4) and (70 for 4) Beat Whitland (62 for 6) and (110 for 8) Umpires: Bob Flute and Rob Bellerby Scorers: Richard Merriman and Fraser Watson

For many cricketers in the county, playing in the Ormond Youth Cup final has proved to be a defining moment in their careers and on Sunday a new crop of youngsters will be able to look back in the future with fondness as Llanrhian lifted the coveted trophy for the first time in their history.

They overcame the might of Whitland, a team used to playing in this two innings event as they have appeared in this final on no less than three occasions in the past five years, winning it once.

Both clubs pride themselves on having a thriving junior set up and therefore it was no surprise to see them plying their trade in front of a sizeable crowd on yet another day made for cricket.

Batting first on a green wicket tailor made for seam bowling, Whitland found the going tough against and accurate Llanrhian attack.

They lost first team regular Edward John with just three to his name and from there on in, the going was always on the slow side.

Patrick Bowles and Matthew Bennett displayed great accuracy with their respective left and right handed seamers taking one wicket apiece.

Gavin Robb, coming on as first change bowler also took a wicket but it was left arm spinner Gareth 'Cadfael' Davies who ended up with the best first innings figures with 3 for 21.

Davies, who would have had a trial with Surrey if not prevented from doing so by injury was a star in previous rounds, taking 9 for 7 against Stackpole and he was assisted by Ben Jones who stumped two of his victims.

Despite being on the slow side, four Whitland batsmen got into double figures as Jon Davies scored 16, Nick Davies 11, Rhys Bowen 10 and fast bowler Huw Devonald was unbeaten at the end with 13, however, posting a total of 62 was always going to be hard to defend.

Llanrhian passed this total with ease as openers Davies, and Adam Raymond looked in fine touch scoring 27 and 23 respectfully. There was a slight glitch in their plans when skipper Geraint Morris was dismissed for three but Ben Jones made sure that they had a healthy lead at the break with a sparkling 32 not out.

Overcoming a deficit of 41 was never going to be easy but the Whitland batsmen acquitted themselves very well after the break.

They looked to be in trouble when they lost their first four batsmen with just 30 on the board but then they regrouped to post a healthy score of 110, leaving Llanrhian a tricky 70 to win.

Edward John attuned for his first innings disappointment with a stylish 29 while Rhys Bowen was the star of the innings with a quickfire 34 not out. Gavin Robb was Llanrhian's best bowler with 3 for 36 while Pat Bowles took 2 for 21.

With such a small target to defend Whitland were always going to be fired up and Huw Devonald certainly was as he steamed in to take three wickets including that of star man Davies for a duck.

Bowling with good pace and great accuracy he troubled all of the Llanrhian batsmen dismissing the first three batsmen in figures of 3 for 13.

The game demanded a captain's innings and Geraint Morris was just the man to deliver as he steered his troops to victory. Mixing a cautious approach with the odd lusty blow, Morris was undefeated with 33 at the end showing great application for a player his age under a certain degree of stress as the Whitland fielders were vociferous and enthusiastic in their approach right to the end of the game.

Gavin Rob was the other undefeated batsman with seven in a six wicket win for Morris' men as Llanrhian lifted the cup for the first time in their history with Davies being voted man of the match for his all-round contribution to the game.