Cresselly crush holders (From Western Telegraph)

Cresselly crush holders

Harrison-Allen Bowl cricket - quarter-finals Haverfordwest (134 for 8) lost to Cresselly (158 for 7)

Cresselly gained ample revenge for their Bowl final defeat last season as they proved too good on the night for holders Haverfordwest.

They took the initiative from the outset as skipper Lyn Richards won the toss and elected to bat. And Richards certainly earned the man of the match tag as he top scored with an aggressive 57 and claimed three wickets.

But this was an all-round team display by Cresselly. They batted, bowled and fielded better than The Town, who struggled in the bowling stakes with Simon Williams and Adrian Griffiths carrying injuries.

The holders lacked conviction in the field and rarely looked likely to reach Cresselly's challenge to score 159 runs in 22 overs.

A measure of Cresselly's dominance in the field can be gauged from the fact that they struck 13 fours and two sixes while Haverfordwest could muster only six boundaries, four of them to Karl Rhead.

A large crowd watched a fascinating contest on The Racecourse as Haverfordwest attempted to hold onto their proud undefeated record since May last season.

However, Julian Arthur and Richards set Cresselly off with a bang as Arthur thumped three fours and a six in his 20 from 17 balls before he was out, with Richards taking on the mantle of principal run-gatherer with support from Simon Cole, Adam Chandler, Ryan Lewis and Steve Thomas.

All of them helped make sure that the run-rate was way above seven per over throughout the innings.

The only time that The Town fought back was when they dismissed Cole to a catch at deep midwicket and managed to build a little pressure.

Although Damian Arthur was run out after facing just one ball, the home bowlers were never able to wrest the initiative away from Cresselly.

Haverfordwest lost Danny Potter as he looked to be getting into his stride and they suffered a major blow when Phil Kirkby was run out by a direct hit from Chandler.

Karl Rhead looked strong as he scored 44 from 43 balls but no-one else was able to lift the tempo and good catching enabled Cresselly to keep well on top.

They were also strong with their ground fielding as Simon Cole, Matthew Lewis and Chandler led the way.

Ryan Lewis rounded off a good day with two wickets alongside steady spells from Richard Harris and Phil James, bowling better than ever, and Richards helping Cresselly gain a thoroughly merited verdict over a Town side which could have no complaints about defeat on the night.

CRESSELLY J. Arthur st H. Scriven b S. Phillips 20 L. Richards b C. Tucker 57 S. Cole ct S. Phillips b M. Johns 19 D. Arthur run out 0 A. Chandler ct D. Potter b M. Johns 2 R. Lewis b S. Williams 23 S. Thomas run out 14 M. Lewis not out 0 Extras 23 Total (for 7 wkts) 158 Bowling: C. Tucker 6-0-37-1; S. Williams 5-0-36-1; S. Phillips 4-0-29-1; M. Johns 6-0-35-2; A. Griffiths 1-0-9-0.

HAVERFORDWEST K. Rhead b R. Lewis 44 D. Potter ct L. Richards b P. James 11 P. Kirkby run out 3 S. Phillips ct S. Cole b L. Richards 20 D. Davies not out 11 H. Scriven ct S. Cole b R. Harris 13 A. Phillips ct S. Thomas b L. Richards 2 M. Johns b L. Richards 9 A. Griffiths b R. Lewis 1 C. Tucker not out 1 Extras 19 Total (for eight wkts) 134 Bowling: P. James 6-1-21-1; L. Richards 6-0-40-3; R. Lewis 6-0-33-2; R. Harris 4-0-27-1.

Umpires: Huw Davies and Trefor Evans Scorers: Jayne Cole and Lois Howlett-Dyer