Bangor Cricket Club’s Owen Reilly set for Wales debut at the weekend

Bangor Cricket Club all-rounder Owen Reilly is set to make his championship debut for Wales this weekend.

The pace bowler and right-hand bat from Holyhead has been selected for the Wales National Counties side to take on Wiltshire over three days at Panteg.

Wales currently compete in National Cricket Counties Association Western Division Two, which comprises four other teams – Devon, Shropshire, Wiltshire and Cornwall.

Last week saw the Welsh lose to Shropshire, leaving Cymru second in the table after two outings and needing a positive result against Wiltshire (who have a game in hand) to maintain pressure at the top of the standings.

Only one team will achieve promotion to Division 1 of the Western Conference.

Reilly was a graduate of the Wales age groups a few years ago and has already made quite an impact in a prestigious fixture this season.

In April, the former Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi and Rydal Penrhos pupil played for a Cricket Wales Invitational XI against the MCC at Lord’s, taking a magnificent 5-31 from 9.3 overs.

Reilly began his senior cricket days at Holyhead/Anglesey Aluminium and went on to Pwllheli before joining Bangor in 2019.

He has also captained Rydal Penrhos and represented Wales Under-18’s.

This season, Owen has taken 23 wickets and scored 282 runs for Bangor in the North Wales League Premier Division.

Jason Foulkes of St Asaph, a regular for Wales this season, is unavailable for this weekend.

Play starts from 11 am on Sunday at Panteg Cricket Club in South Wales (NP4 5BE) and admittance is free for spectators.

Wales NC squad from: HLR Friend (Newport), CR Brown (Lansdown), BL Wadlan (Swansea), GM Smith (Penzance), MJ Bevans (Newport), CL Herring*+ (Pontarddulais), SJ Pearce (Bridgend/Warminster), AJ Norman (Mumbles), ORG Reilly (Bangor), TD Phillips (Cardiff), O Subhan (Cardiff), T Wilcox (Pentyrch).