North Wales League Division Four – Pwllheli Cricket Club on path back to glory
Pwllheli are the 2023 North Wales Cricket League Division Four champions.
The Llŷn Peninsula club chose to drop three levels this season after finishing next to bottom of the Premier Division in 2022, but the road back to the top has begun in earnest.
Pwllheli, who have won all of the league’s divisions between 1 and 5 in their proud history, ensured they topped this year’s D4 table by beating Halkyn 2nd XI on Saturday.
Second-place Halkyn, already assured of promotion along with Pwll, were put into bat and bowled out for 127 in 39.4 overs.
Two Pwllheli bowlers did the main damage, Daniel Pigott taking 5-8 off 7.4 overs and Kartik Bhardwaj 4-10 from eight.
In reply, Pwllheli eased to 128-2 in 27 overs to seal a 14-1 points success.
Openers Ben Cowper and Ioan Jones both scored 40, while captain Craig Edwards finished 31 not out.
Cowper and Jones put on 93 for the first wicket. Mason Andrews took 2-26 for Halkyn.
Over the season, Pwllheli won 13, lost 1 and had 4 games either cancelled or abandoned.
Top run scorers: Ben Cowper 250 runs (av 27.78), Craig Edwards 230 (46.00)
Top wicket takers: Kartik Bhardwaj 15 (14.07), Ben Cowper 12 (13.67)
REST OF DIVISION FOUR – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
Llanrwst 2nd XI (13) 109-2 Carmel and District 2nd XI (2) 56-10
In a match reduced to 30 overs per side, Llanrwst were asked to bat and chalked up 109-2, Robin Hughes making 37, Laura Nicholls 25 not out and Ian Nicholls 23.
Seven-player Carmel were dismissed for 56, Eoin Johnson 22 and Dafydd Timothy 15 no, Tim Coleman 3-18 and Ian Nicholls 2-9.
Timothy, primarily a bowler with career wickets majorly into the four-figure territory (1,000 came in 1995 – he’s scooped 469 since 2005), actually made his biggest score with the bat since 2009 on Saturday.
Marchwiel and Wrexham 2nd XI (14) 108-3 Dolgellau 2nd XI (1) 103-10
Daniel Conde top-scored with 38 as Dolgellau seconds were bowled out for 103, Mike Lee taking 4-19, Zahid Sharif 2-17 and Jack Bettis 2-27 for Marchwiel and Wrexham.
Lee then made 68 not out and Sharif 21 no as the hosts reached 106-3 off just 16.1 overs, Callum Taylor 2-10 for the visitors.