Cresselly Doves U15’s have enjoyed an excellent and memorable Welsh Cup run despite not winning finals day. They played 4 games to get to the finals day, and showed their quality and team spirit as they won them all against some of the best teams around.
First up was Gorseinon at home where Cresselly won well thanks to an excellent unbeaten 37 from Iori Thomas, Oscar Lewis added a good 23 while Lucian Thornton bowled well for his 1-12 as all rounder Griff Jenkins took 1-11 and made a useful 15 with bat in hand.
Next up was Llandysul again at home where the hosts batted first and made a good 123-6 thanks to another good knock from Iori Thomas this time with 34, while skipper Tyler James made 26. Ollie Arthur made a good contribution with the bat as he added 22, but this was him just getting started, he ensured his team were in the hat for the next round draw when he took an outstanding 5-9 having been thrown the ball. A real team effort at the hosts fielding was on top form Llandysul managed 98-8 meaning Cresselly's cup run was to continue.
An away game at Bronwydd followed where skipper Tyler James won the toss and elected to bat first. Cresselly looked to be in trouble at 45-6 but they showed how this cup run was a real team effort when Ollie Rowlands made an unbeaten 32 supported by Milo Jones and Lucian Thornton as Cresselly recovered to set a total of 93 to win.
It was back to home for the next round as Pontarddulais visited, Oscar Lewis was this time the standout performance as he hit a brilliant unbeaten 50 while also taking 1-17 with the ball. Griff Jenkins took 2-4 and Ollie Arthur 2-11 to ensure they were on their way to finals day.
It was a trip to Blackwood CC for finals day as Cresselly faced St Fagans in the semi final of the welsh cup, however it may have felt like a home game as they took a full 34 seater bus full of supporters. However it wasn't to be on the day as despite skipper James making 26 and Oscar Lewis taking 2-14 with the ball St Fagans came out winners.
Penarth beat Colwyn Bay in the other semi, and then St Fagans went on to comfortably beat Penarth in the final, and will now progress to the national ECB finals taking on the English teams.
Cresselly have gone through the 5 games this year using just 12 players in what really was a team effort as you can see by the range of match winning performances coming from several players in the team, here's the 12 players used below:-
1 - Tyler James (C)
2 - Milo Jones (wk)
3 - Iori Thomas
4 - Oscar Lewis
5 - Ollie Arthur
6 - Lewis Mason
7 - Griff Jenkins
8 - Eli Owen
9 - Ollie Rowlands
10 - Jesse Craig
11 - Ethan Lewis
12 - Lucian Thornton
Coaches Simon Cole and Richard Jenkins are very proud of the boys and their performances. Credit must go to the coaches themselves too though, for leading and developing these players for some time now.
Coach Simon Cole had this to say about their journey.
"It was a massive achievement to even get to finals day, and to be one of the best 4 club teams in Wales is something to be proud of. Not sure any other Pembs team have been so far? Beaten by the better team on the day in St Fagans, who had a number of welsh internationals, but still would’ve liked to have won the toss and stuck them in on a ‘damp’ one!"
A joy to see a Pembrokeshire team having such success in a national cup, and brilliant to see such a healthy and talented junior section at Cresselly and credit must go to all involved.
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