May 2008 Archives

NEW ZEALANDER Laurance Watson took four catches behind the wicket and then top scored with 56, including eight fours and a six, to guide Mochdre to a three wicket victory over Bethesda in the Premier Division of the North Wales Cricket League on Saturday (May 31).
After bowling Bethesda out for 120, with Gareth Goodson, Russ Boswell, Gareth Davies, Adam Campion and Ahmir Sardir all taking two wickets each, Mochdre won on 121 for 7 with skipper Phil Dickson second top scorer on 19 not out.

LLANRWST claimed a seocnd successive league win by bowling Coinnah's Quay out for just 93 fir an 86-run victory after posting 179 for 9 declared in 54 overs.

LLANDUDNO, however, suffered a second successive defeat and have been knocked off the top of the table after losing to Mold.
Mold scored 238 for 7 declared off 50 overs after winning the toss, with Romain Grenville and Graham Boase taking three wickets each, and Llandudno crumbled to 144 all out in 41.5 overs after an opening stand of 48 between Duncan Midgley (41) and skipper Aled Williams (20).
Menai Bridge are the new Premier Division leaders after beating Pontblyddyn.
Llandudno 2nds beat Brymbo 2nds by 68 runs and are in third place in Division One with Luke Regan (69 not out) leading them to a total of 197 for 9 declared before Andy Christian and Jordan Kane took four wickets each to dismiss Brymbo for 119.
Mochdre 2nds also had a good win by nine wickets against Buckley in Division Four, but their were defeats for Conwy, Llanrwst 2nds, Conwy 2nds, Mochdre 3rds and Llandudno 3rds.
More details on these games and up to date tables in this week's Weekly News

IN the Liverpool Competition Colwyn Bay lost by five wickets to Formby after a 160-run stand for the third wicket by Sion Morris (96) and Dave Taylor (89) had helped them set a target of 210 for 7 declared. Half centuries by Reece Bombas (78) and Graeme Morris (58) helped Formby win on 216 for 5.
Colwyn Bay 2nds drew their game against Sefton Park 2nds after scoring 251 for 3 (Mitchell Van Wyk 70 not out), while Sefton Park finished on 230 for 9 with Glyn Gibbons taking 6 for 53 for the Bay. .

COLWYN BAY have secured the return of defender Kyle Armstrong for next season.
He was arguably the Seagulls' most consistent player in the first half of last season, but left the club after losing his place in the side when he went on holiday over the Christmas and New Year period. He put in a number of impressive performances for Leek Town in the Unibond Premier Division in the later half of the season and his return to Llanelian Road will be welcomed by many supporters who were disappointed to see him go.
New Colwyn Bay manager Steve Pope and assistant Paul Ogden have also signed pacey left sided player Matty Woods, 19, from Conference North play-off contenders AFC Telford, and 20-year-old defender Scott Lycett from Halesowen Town who was also previously with Port Vale, Manchester City and Leicester City.
Other new signings are to be announced over the next few days.

COLWYN BAY lost in the fiinal of the ScottishPower North Wales RU Cup for the second year running when they were beaten 22-18 by Ruthin at Mold on bank holiday Monday.
Everything was going well as they opened a 13-0 lead with a try by Tom Blackwell from a great offload by Josh Leach, plus two penalties and a conversion by stand off Ashley James.
But Ruthin got a try back just before half-time when Kyle Davies scored in the corner after a good spell of pressure, and threee minutes into the second half Gethin Hughes went over for a second try after Ruthin broke well from a scrum.
Ruthin were the dominant side after that and took the lead when a forward drive took the ball over the try line for scrum half Rhys Hughes to get the touchdown.
Colwyn Bay struggled to get out of their own 22 for much of the half and the game was sealed when James' attempted pass on his own tryline was easily intercepted by Ruthin player coach Jim Lyle for a gift try which James Stokes converted.
Chris Brown got a late try for Colwyn Bay from some rare attacking play, but Ruthin easily played out the last couple of minutes for a well deserved win.

ENGLAND international Chris Woods from Gloucestershire carded two excellent final under-par rounds of 69 and 71 to win the Welsh Open Amateur Strokeplay Golf Championship at Conwy on Sunday (May 25) with a four round total of +1 (74, 75, 69 and 71).
He won by six shots from Hampshire's Sam Hutsby, who had led for the first two days, but finished with rounds of 76 and 77 on Sunday, while Jamie Abbott (Flynn Valley) was third on +9 (70, 80, 74, 73).
Welsh hope Nigel Edwards from Cardiff, who started the final day only one shot off the lead, dropped out of contention with disappointing rounds of 77 and 81 to finish in sixth place on +13.
Conwy's Mark Ellison was the leading North Walian on +21 (77, 78, 76 and 78), while Jamie Howie of Royal St David's (76, 79, 78 and 79) and Abergele's Adam Runcie (77, 78, 77 and 79) were both on +23.

LLANDUDNO stayed top of the North Wales Cricket League's Premier Divison, despite suffering their first defeat of the season by 113 runs against Pontblyddyn.
They were bowled out for 159 chasing a big Pontblyddyn target if 272 for 6 declared, despite skipper Aled Williams carrying his bat for an unbeaten 60.
Llanrwst gained their first win of the campaign in a thrilling victory by one wicket at home to Bethesda, helped by a opening stand of 93 by Holgate and Aled Hughes, while Mochdre gained a winning draw against Connah's Quay with Gareth Davies top scoring with 67.
Conwy had a good win by six wickets against Carmel in Division Two, but Llandudno 2nds, Mochdre 2nds and Conwy 2nds all lost.
Details on all these games in Thursday's Weekly News.

NIGEL EDWARDS of Wales kept himself in contention for the Welsh Open Strokeplay Championship as the Conwy links showed its teeth on the second day (Saturday, May 24).
As the wind blew, 67 of the 120 worldwide competitors failed to break 80, but Walker goes into the final 36 holes on Sunday only one shot behind behind leader Sam Hutsby from Hampshire on -1, after both golfers carded three over par 75s to follow their respective rounds of 67 and 68 on the opening day.
Best round of the day on Saturday was 70 by Jonas Haglund of Finland which moved him into the top seven on the leaderboard, while South African amateur champion Jacques Blaauw shot a 73 to move up to fourth on +4.
Conwy's Mark Ellison (77, 78), Adam Runcie from Abergele (77, 78) and Jamie Howie (Royal St David's, 76, 79) just made the cut to fly the flag for North Wales in the final 36 holes when they were among 13 players tied on the cut-off score of +11.
Leaderboard after round two: Sam Hutsby (Liphook) 67+75=-2, Nigel Edwards (Whitchurch, Cardif) 68+75=-1, Robert McKnight (Caprington) 70+77=+3, Jacques Blaauw (South Africa) 75+73=+4, Jason Palmer (Kirby Muxloe) 72+76=+4, Oscar Sharpe (Minchinhampton) 68+80=+4, Jonas Haglund (Finland) 79+70=+5, Ryan Brown (Worksop) 76+73=+5, Chris Wood (Long Ashton) 74+65=+5, Gary Wolstenholme (Carus Green) 70+79=+5.

TWO late first half goals saw Abergele Rovers beat Penmaenmawr Phoenix 2-0 in the Clwyd Football League's Presidents Cup Final at Halkyn on Saturday (May 24).
Penmaenmawr, who were without top scorer Ritchie Roberts and key midfielder Bleddyn Jones, had strong claims for a penalty for a foul on Peter Williams turned down early on, but Abergele were on top for most of the first half, missing three good scoring chances before Danny Campbell broke through on the left to slip the ball past keeper Kev Colville after 38 minutes.
A minute before half-time Abergele doubled the lead when Penmaenmawr's Paul Lloyd slipped on the edge of his own area to give away possession and although Colville blocked Campbell's shot, Danny Abbott scored from the rebound.
Penmaenamwr had their best spell of the game midway through the second half but couldn't force a goal as Abergele keeper Brian Woods saved well at the feet of Denley Smith, who later put a good chance over the bar.

ENGLAND beat Wales 3-0 at Rhyl with goals from Andy Burgess (Rushden), Shaun Harrad (Burton Albion) and Michael Morrison (Cambridge Utd), to win the Four Nations tournament with three wins out of three.

SAM HUTSBY of the Liphook club in Hampshire set the pace on the opening day of the Welsh Open strokeplay Golf Championship at Conwy on Friday (May 23) with a five under par 67.
He led by one stroke from Oscar Sharpe (Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire) and Wales Walker Cup player Nigel Edwards (Whitchurch, Cardiff) with four under-par 68s, while England's Gary Wolstenholme, veteran of six Walker Cups, was among four players on -2.
Leading North Walian was Prestatyn's Jason Shufflebotham on 74 (+2), while of the local players, Adam Runcie (Abergele), Lee Jones (Conwy) and Mark Ellison (Conwy) all carded 77s (+5) and Jeff Evans (Conwy) a 78 (+6).
The second round starts at 8am on Saturday, with the leading 36 players after that going into the final 36 holes on Sunday.

ENGLAND beat Scotland 1-0 in the 2008 Four Nations Trophy at Colwyn Bay on Thursday night with Steve Morrison of Stevenage Borough getting the only goal of the game.
Wales were 6-2 winners against Gibraltar with Rhyl's Craig Jones scoring a hat-trick and supplying the crosses for Bangor City's Les Davies to score with two headers.
Chad Bond (FC Balaguer) got the other Wales goals.
Wales now play England in a title decider at Belle View on Saturday (2pm).

PENMAENMAWR PHOENIX will play Abergele Rovers in the final of the Clwyd League's Presidents Cup this Saturday (May 24) at Halkyn (2.30pm kick off) after going through on penalties in Tuesday night's semi-final against Division One champions Greenfield.
Pen led 2-0 and 3-2 with two goals from Pete Williams and one by Phil Edwards, but Greenfield fought back both times to force the tie into extra time and penalties, with Penmanemar eventually going though 4-3 on spot kicks after keeper Kevin Colville made a key save.

IN the Four Nations tournament England beat Gibraltar 1-0 at Colwyn Bay with a goal from Mitchell Cole of Stevenage Borough, while Wales drew 1-1 with Scotland at Rhyl where keeper Ashley Morris suffered a broken leg.