Milford Haven Sport
Carew clinch cup
10:00am Friday 3rd September 2010
Carew (125 for 7 & 119 for 8) beat Narberth (88 for 8 and 125 for 9)
Carew’s talented young cricketers won the Ormond Youth Cup final as they proved too strong for a gritty Narberth Youth.
Narberth Youth were 37 runs adrift at the half-way stage but battled on well and at one stage were in with a chance as Owen Richards and Sion Bennett stood at 56 without loss in pursuit of a target of 156 to win.
But then Carew skipper Ceri Brace rallied his players with a couple of wickets alongside Sean Whitfield. From then on it was Carew who looked strong favourites to win as Dominic Hicks also bowled well and James Hinchliffe applied the coup de grace with two wickets from his one over.
Carew were asked to bat first by Narberth skipper Richards and they had excellent contributions from their first four batsman as Tom Richards (15), Hinchliffe (30, including three fours), skipper Brace (32) and Dominic Hicks (25, three fours) took them to 122 for 3 before they lost four wickets in the late run chase. Jordan Howell claimed 3 for 34 as the main Narberth bowler, with a wicket apiece from Ryan Williams, Tim Mills and Iwan Bowen-Rees.
Narberth needed a good start to get within reach of Carew’s score but they lost key wickets as Connor Lloyd departed for 7, well caught by keeper Tom Scourfield off the bowling of Joel Read.
Sean Whitfield took a brilliant catch to shift Kyle Keane, a centurion in the semi-final, for a duck. Whitfield then removed Ryan Williams, followed by Calum Phillips, next ball, and then Jordan Howell. His three wickets helped to reduce Narberth to 47 for 6 as Richards was bowled by Brace for 22 runs.
Iwan Bowen-Rees (18) and Sion Bennett (10) did well to pull back some late runs to take their side to 88 for 8, despite good bowling by Whitfield (3 for 22), Brace (2 for 31), Read (91 for 16) and especially Dominic Hicks (2 for 11).
Carew again started well after tea as Hinchliffe and Scourfield put on 28 in five overs but then Tom Scourfield, who had hit three cracking fours, was needlessly run out for 12.
Hinchliffe stroked 30 runs before he was bowled by Tim Mills after he and Ceri Brace advanced the score to 60 and Dominic Hicks suffered the indignity of being run out without facing a ball.
Brace scored 29 before he was nicely caught by keeper Connor Lloyd off Jordan Howell (3 for 32) and the Carew innings lurched from 100 for 3 to 119 for 9 as only 18 runs came in the last five overs.
Narberth knew that they needed a big innings from someone and Owen Richards was joined by Sion Bennett in reaching 56 in eight overs before Bennett was bowled for 22 by Brace, who also shifted another danger man in Keane shortly afterwards. Owen Richards moved to 34 before he was bowled by Whitfield, who also had Lloyd caught cheaply by Brace. Iwan Bowen-Rees and Jordan Howell managed double figures, but the latter fell to another fine catch by Whitfield.
Narberth never gave up trying until the last delivery but it was Carew who proved worthy winners, in a match that was a credit to both teams, to make up for the disappointment of losing in last year’s final.
County club chairman Trefor Evans thanked umpires Allan Hansen and Tony Waldeis, scorers Sue Phillips and Emma Richards, Carew for hosting the match and for providing tea, Tony Pidgeon for his sponsorship and fellow county club members for their support.
Martin Rees announced that he and Gregg Miller had decided that Ceri Brace was the winner of the man of the match award.