The Willow League Cup played its Quarter-Final round this past week. The tie of the round saw League leaders Chartered Trust take on perennial contenders South Glamorgan Education. Batting first Trust lost two cheap wickets early on before Steve Mohring (33) and Obaid Saddique (16) staged a rally. A burst of 3 wickets by Jack Lansdown, ripped the heart out of the Trust line up, putting the brakes on the Trust innings which closed at a disappointing 86-8. John Sparks (32) and S Tomlinson (34no) batted steadily as Trust strained to take wickets, taking the game away from Chartered Trust. Education eventually ran out 9 wicket winners to book their place in the semis.
Cardiff Hockey made their Willow League debut against stiff opposition in Cardiff Casuals. Batting first Hockey scored steadily, although wickets also fell at regular intervals. S Thurpin top-scored with 28 and there were useful contributions from S Perchard (17no), M Suelton (13), B Cossens (15) and J Eagen (12no) as Hockey closed on 112-8. Kim Swain took 2 wickets for Casuals, with one each for Vyas, Gough, Banister, Pike, Furnham and Sharif. John Furnham led the Casuals reply from the front, eventually retiring on 45, Simon Gough (13) and Kim Swain (18) pushed the score on, and although S Singh grabbed a couple of wickets there were sufficient extras for casuals to reach their target by a margin of 5 wickets.
Rhiwbina rattled up 125-6 against GE Healthcare, with D Clayton leading the way with 39. An unhealthy 29 extras boosted the Rhiwbina total, as GE Healthcare’s bowlers struggled to maintain the line. G Kunalan (18) and M Holt (17) were the other key contributors for Rhiwbina. Steve Hazell (2-10) was the pick of the bowling. The GE Healthcare reply lot 3 early wickets, and despite 22 from Chris Norey, scoring was too slow as the innings closed on 59-5. M Holt’s 2-7 was the highlight of the Rhwbina attack.
The final match followed a similar pattern; Cardiff Cavaliers knocked up 125-6, with Andy Steadman leading the way with 30. G Chapman (22) and Nigel Adams (21no) were the other leading scorers. N Morgan grabbed 2-10 as Cardiff University Staff’s most successful bowler. The Staff reply stared quite well with Morgan (18) and Simon Wallis (12) at the top of the order, but once they had gone, a burst of 3-6 from mark Simpson ended the game as a contest as Staff were bowled out for just 65.
Cavaliers were in good form in the League to, as they recorded an easy 9 wicket win over GE Heathcare. GE Healthcare’s Chris Norey cracked a fine 49 as they totalled 91-5, but with Andy Steadman (32) and Jon Thomas (45no) smashing 39 from just the first three overs, the total was always too small. The scoring rate slowed slightly, and Thoms Gane picked up a consolation wicket, but Cavaliers won at a canter with 9 overs to spare.
Rhiwbina were soon on the back boot at 2-2 against Eclipse Print, before Phil Holt (31) and Mike Street (26) countered. Dominic Cain added 28no at the end to boost Rhiwbna to 121-6 in their allocation. Holt (3-5) and Nick Woolley (3-17) sliced through the top order on the print reply. Chris Stork battled away with 21, but it was in vain as Print collapsed to 58 all out.
Chartered Trust maintained their unbeaten start to the season against Consmen, posting 116-9 in difficult conditions. Steve Mohring top scored with 30, Matt Davies, with 3-30 was the most successful bowler. Trust’s attack was god eough to suffocate the flow of runs, restricting Consmen to 81 all out in reply. Steve Mohring grabbed 3-15.