Wiltshire CCC end the season in style with a 9 wicket win against Wales
NCCA Championship – Wales NC v Wiltshire CCC
Abergavenny
Sunday 18th August – Tuesday 20th August 2024
On a bright, warm, sunny day in the pleasant setting of Abergavenny, CC Wales and Wiltshire prepared to battle it out in a three day Championship game. Wales won the toss and opted to bat first. They were soon made to regret that decision as both openers were dismissed within 3 overs – Williams was bowled by Harry Petrie and Davies trapped LBW by Chris Aubrey. They then made a limited recovery as the next three batters appeared set and into the thirties. Roberts 31 was caught by Ed Young to give Harry Petrie ( 2 for 36) a second victim. Next to go was Bevans 33 bowled by Will Naish. Will added a catch to dismiss Ayres 39 and give Joe King his first victim of the contest. What followed was a complete collapse with Chris Aubrey (3 for 40) and Joe King (3 for 14 from 10 overs) dominating. The job was complete when Ben Higton (1 for 3) bowled last man Moore. A further catch was held by Will Naish with Harry Petrie, Jake Goodwin and Ben Draper also taking catches as Wales were dismissed for just 161 from 50.5 overs
The Wiltshire response was positive with the boundary being breached frequently. Jack Mynott 28 was first to go but he had struck 6 fours in just 19 balls, Dylan Church 16 became the second victim for Moses (2 for 66). Jake Goodwin continued the onslaught with 8 fours in a brisk 41. Skipper Ed Young 30 then joined Josh Kelly 61 as these two added a valuable 63 runs for the 4th wicket – Wiltshire 158 for 4 closing in on the Wales total. Wadworth Man of the Match Will Naish coming in at number 8 then repeated his superb performance at Didsbury holding the tail together with a masterful 94 not out including 10 X 4 and 5 X 6. He was denied a century as he ran out of partners, but Ben Higton 17 and Joe King 12 had done their job allowing Will Naish to move the score on from 232 for 7 overnight to an impressive 321 all out on the second day – a lead of 160.
The weather had changed dramatically and spectators who had been applying sun cream on Sunday were now looking for their sweaters and jackets. Wales attempt to eat into the Wiltshire lead was instantly dealt a severe blow by Chris Aubrey ( 3 for 33) who took the first three wickets to fall leaving Wales on just 34 for 3. Bevans 35 and Moses 25 helped the impressive Brad Wadlan 88 to edge past the Wiltshire total, but excellent catches were held by Ben Draper 3, Will Naish 2 and Jake Goodwin 2 until Dylan Church held on to the ball on the boundary to dismiss Wadlan and restrict the Wales total to 229 – leaving Wiltshire a target of just 70 to seal victory. Incidentally that boundary catch gave Joe King (3 for 62) his 200th Wiltshire wicket – well bowled young man! The other wickets fell to Jack Mynott (2 for 10) and Harry Petrie (2 for 66)
With rain threatening all day Wiltshire set about the task eagerly with Jack Mynott 26 (5 X 4) from 17 balls setting the tone – this also took him past 1,000 runs for the county! Dylan Church 20 not out and Jake Goodwin 25 not out finished the task with ease although they did have to take a rain break just before the end needing only 15 for victory. It was a good way to finish the season with a commanding 9 wicket win during which everyone contributed. The icing on the cake was a wonderful venue and superb hosts leaving the Wiltshire players and supporters (who were out in force) with a wonderful ‘feel good’ factor to take with them into the winter break. Plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the future.
