Town take title and first double (From Western Telegraph)

Town take title and first double

Pembrokeshire County Cricket - Division One Lawrenny (155 all out) lost to Haverfordwest (156 for 3) Haverfordwest made sure of the Division One champion-ship with a week still to go as they beat Lawrenny by seven wickets - surviving a few scares en route.

It's their first-ever double of league and Harrison-Allen Bowl, a success that has been even more creditable since they have played a game less than closest rivals Cresselly and Carew.

Already 44 points ahead of Cresselly, they grabbed another maximum points haul, and have the only unbeaten record in the league, as they restricted Lawrenny to 155 as Matthew Johns claimed 6 for 45 to move past the 50 wicket-mark for his best-ever campaign - and then a mighty unbeaten 80 from Phil Kirkby, supported by a cracking half century from Karl Rhead, eased them home in 40.1 overs.

Kirkby reached his 1,000 runs for the season when he reached 73 and he and Rhead showed why they are regarded as two of the top batsmen in the league as they took the score to 141 after The Town had looked precarious at 5 for 2, with Kirkby lashing 11 fours and a six and Rhead stroking six fours and a six in his 59 before he was caught in the deep by Steve Lewis off the first ball bowled by very occasional slow merchant, Adi Harries.

Put in to bat, Lawrenny had useful contributions from Andrew Cole (senior), Steve Lewis (18) and James Buckle (24 not out) with the real impetus provided as Andrew Cole (junior) smashed 42 from 13 balls, including six huge sixes, five of them in one over from Steve Phillips.

But he fell to Johns and Haverfordwest faced a target of 156 which quickly assumed mountainous proportions as Rob Williams trapped Danny Potter lbw from the first ball of the innings and Andrew Phillips followed in similar fashion for a single in a fiery opening spell by the Lawrenny skipper.

Kirkby and Rhead started cautiously but soon built a momentum which saw them add 136 runs together - and Dai Davies joined Kirkby in seeing off the runs needed to secure a satisfying double for Adrian Griffiths and his team.

Umpires: Les Hastings and Terry Sandy Scorers: Malcolm Thomas and Jayne Cole

LAWRENNY A. Harries ct P. Kirkby b S. Williams 10 A. Cole (S) ct + b M. Johns 31 S. Cole b A. Griffiths 7 C. Phillips st H. Scriven b C. Tucker 10 S. Lewis ct H. Scriven b M. Johns 18 J. Buckle not out 24 C. Buckle st H. Scriven b S. Phillips 0 A. Cole (J) b M. Johns 42 R. Williams ct S. Phillips b M. Johns 7 S. Rees st H. Scriven b M. Johns 1 D. McBean b M. Johns 0 Extras 5 Total (for 10 wkts) 155 Bowling: S. Williams 12-5-20-1; A. Griffiths 12-5-23-1; C. Tucker 6-2-31-1; S. Phillips 5-0-43-1; M. Johns 9.5-0-35-6.

HAVERFORDWEST D. Potter lbw b R. Williams 0 A. Phillips lbw b R. Williams 1 P. Kirkby not out 80 K. Rhead ct S. Lewis b A. Harries 59 D. Davies not out 7 Extras 9 Total (for three wkts) 156 Bowling: R. Williams 10-5-20-2; S. Rees 9-2-43-0; S. Lewis 7-1-30-0; J. Buckle 9-1-41-0; A. Harries 2-0-9-1; S. Cole 3.1-2-5-0.