Wiltshire CCC win first Unicorns County Championship match of season!

Wiltshire gained their first win in this year's Unicorns County Championship when they beat Wales by 3 wickets at Pontarddulais on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday.

Wiltshire won the toss and asked Wales to bat and their seam bowlers then bowled Wales out for 84 in 29 overs before lunch. Tahir Afridi took 3 for 17, Luke Evans 2 for 15, Ashur Morrison 3 for 26 and Ryan Murray 2 for 16.  When Wiltshire batted after lunch they found batting equally difficult and were bowled out before tea for 161, a lead of 77 runs.  Brad Dawson scored 30, but they were indebted to Tom Morton's 71 which included a last wicket partnership with Ryan Murray of 57 with Murray scoring 3 not out. For Wales Richard Edwards took 5 for 56.

When Wales batted a second time after tea, they found batting easier and had reached 130 for 1 wicket by the close of the first day.  On the second day Wales batted stubbornly and were all out for 341 in 88 overs.  Joe Voke scored 56, Umar Malik 63, Chris Matthews 73 and Majied Llyas 52. For Wiltshire Tahir Afridi took 2 for 43 and Luke Evans 4 for 76.  This meant Wiltshire needed 265 to win in just over 4 sessions of play.  Jack Haines started aggressively and was finally out for 86 in just 64 balls, Ed Young scored 47 and by the close of the day Wiltshire needed just 53 to win with 5 wickets in hand.  On the 3rd day Tom Morton 25 not out and Tahir Afridi 34 took them to the brink of victory and they finished on 265 for 7 wickets after about an hour's play.

Points  Wiltshire 18  Wales  2 (both teams losing 2 points each for a slow over rate)

WADWORTH MAN OF MATCH: JACK HAINES

Wiltshire's next match in the Unicorns County Championship is against Herefordshire at South Wilts Cricket Club, Salisbury on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday August 19/20/21st starting at 11.00am each day..