The Willow League saw a true clash of the titans this past week as South Glamorgan Education faced Cardiff Casuals. Batting first Casuals total of 119 all out was due in no small part to a fine innings of 63 from Kim Swain, with John Furnham’s 13 the second to score. Destroyer in chief was Andy Parry who snagged the League’s second 5-for this season (5-13) to run through the lower order, after good early work from T Bailey (3-25). Nick Alan (35) and John Sparks (39) gave Education a flying start to the reply, with Paul Harding and Jack Lansdown finding enough opportunities to ease Education to victory by a margin of 7 wickets with 2 over to spare, throwing the League race wide open.
The remaining three games all saw run feasts, with two tight finishes.
Top score went to Chartered Trust who battered British Airways to the tune of 172-5, Steve Mohring led the way with 69, with 39 from John Cooper and 28 from Huw Liddell the key contributions. R Humphries’ 45 was the backbone of BA’s reply, but with Phil Dooley, Tom Hancock and Mohring all bagging a brace of wickets, BA were well short at 99-7.
Eclipse Print’s good start to the season fell foul of a buoyant Cardiff Cavaliers team that is celebrating 30 years of life with some excellent performances. After losing an early wicket, Print raised 55 for the second in just 5 overs, thanks to Alistair Collyer (20) and Mike Williams (41). Cavaliers stayed in the game thanks to 3 wickets from skipper Jimmy Marchant, with able support from Dave Parsons (2-17). A late flurry of 28no from Chris Stork saw Eclipse close on 141-9. A superb unbeaten 74 from Andy Steadman paced the Cavaliers rely beautifully as he raised 97 for the second wicket with Marchant (35), and was there at the end to steer Cavaliers to a resounding 8 wicket victory.
The closest finish of the week saw Cardif University Staff just hold on against GE Healthcare. Batting first Staff raised 77 for the first wicket mainly from the bat of Snehasis (59), who smashed 5 towering maximums before becoming Steve Hazell’s first Willow League wicket, ably supported by Simon Wallis (39). Robin Collier and Iwan Gane each grabbed a pair of wicket late on to trim the run rate, but Stuff closed on a formidable 153-5. The GE Healthcare reply stated at a sprightly run a ball, before the first wicket fell at 25. Ian James (48) and Chris Norey (61no) then rattled up 106 for the second wicket, a stand that could have been worth much more if not for some excellent boundary fielding. Eighteen runs from two overs became 8 from the fial six balls but Simon Wallis managed to contain the total to 4 as GE Healthcare finished on 150 to gibe Staff their first win of the season.