North East Wales U12s (206 for 4) beat Pembrokeshire U12s (203 for 9) by 6 wickets

Adrian Sussex was the toast of his teammates as he hit an unbeaten century to take North East Wales to a six-wicket victory in a run fest at Connahs Quay CC.

The Pembrokeshire boys had made the long journey and at tea time were in confident mood having posted an impressive 203 for 9 from 40 overs.

The match started well with Owen Phelps (14), Lewis Miller (12) and Dom Asson (10) all looking set before getting out but a good foundation had been set at 54 for 3 from 10 overs.

Lucas Davies (30) and Jacob Owen (60 not out) then batted really well in a partnership of 65 with good running and some excellent boundaries. After Owen retired at 50 (to return later in the innings) Davies and Harry Fuller (9) took the score to 141 for 4 from 32 overs. Spinner Jack Williams (5 for 49) then caused some panic in the Pembrokeshire ranks with a treble wicket maiden, the score lurching to 148 for 8.

But Pembrokeshire showed real fight to push on. Seth Willington (33 not out) with some powerful hitting and support from Joe Phillips (11) and the returning Owen helped his team plunder 60 runs from the final six overs to set a challenging total. For the hosts Williams was well supported by Suria Kanan (1 for 24), Dewi Jones (1 for 27) and Ifan Tudor-Jones (1 for 34).

But after tea it was the turn of Sussex (100 not out) to make his mark on the match after the opening attack of Jake Thomas (2 for 29) and Joe Phillips (1 for 18) had reduced their opponents to 16 for 2. But then Sussex was joined by Wes Evans (40) in the pivotal partnership of the match as this pair put on 136 for the third wicket with some superb batting, peppering the boundary with a stream of powerful strokes.

The match quickly slipped away from Pembrokeshire, the crucial period being between 10 and 20 overs, when Sussex and Evans scored 70 runs. Miller (1 for 22) before Willington stemmed the runs for a short period but when Williams (22 not out) replaced Evans his clean hitting took his team to victory.

Pembrokeshire will reflect on a bowling performance where an inability to consistently bowl a good length cost them dear. Sussex and Evans were able to play off the back foot too often and took full advantage. Conceding 39 extras was also to prove costly.

Nevertheless coach Andrew Miller remained upbeat with a number of positives to take from the match which saw some excellent batting performances that bode well for the season ahead.