Whitland 135-7 and 158-3 beat Narberth127-5 and 120-9

Whitland's young cricketers made it a hat-trick of wins in the Ormond Youth Cup with an overwhelming victory over neighbours and rivals Narberth on Sunday, writes Hywel Gibbs. Victory in the competition not only guaranteed them three titles in a row, they have also won the trophy four times out of the last five! Better news still for the future of the club is the fact that every one of the players that performed to win the cup are all eligible to play again next year. Sporting rivalries between the two towns has always been intense and this game was no exception. Whitland batted first and scored a healthy 135-7 thanks mainly to the batting of James Davies who scored 35, opener Jon Thomas who scored 12 and the middle order pairing of Alex Pickersgill and Iestyn Scourfield who scored 18 and 14 not out respectfully. For Narberth, Sam Mills took 3-35, Gaskell 2-32, while there was a wicket apiece for Kyle Quartermaine and Richard Evans. Narberth fell just eight runs short in reply as openers Kyle Quartermaine and Tom Richards put on 63 for the first wicket before the latter gave a catch to Dan Newton off Bobby Webb for 34. Quartermaine went on to raise his bat for an excellent 50 before he fell four runs later, giving Webb another wicket. Narberth had a mini collapse in the middle order, but Richard Bevan and Bryn Toms hit out well at the death to record unbeaten scores of 12 and 17. Webb ending up with the excellent figures of 4-37. Whitland lost an early wicket in the shape of Jon Thomas in their second innings, but Bobby Webb anchored the innings with a fabulous 52 not out (two fours and a six). James Davies scored 15, Newton 26 and Scourfield blasted an entertaining 23 not out at the end as Whitland amassed 158-3. Narberth required 167 to win, but their second innings got off to a bright start as Richards and Quartermaine scored 26 before the former left having scored 12. Quartermaine fell three runs short of what would have been his second 50 of the match, but thereafter there was little support as the Whitland attack of Dan Newton, Carl Smith, Iestyn Scourfield and Bobby Webb held firm. Brynley Toms caused them a few flutters towards the end with a spirited 30, but they could only muster 120-9 as time eventually ran out.