Carew cricket captain Brian Hall believes his team can overcome the disappointment of losing to Cresselly in the Village Cup last Sunday when they play each other in the league this weekend.

The Rooks, currently 31 points ahead at the top of division one, produced one of their worst performances of the season, despite having home advantage, when Cresselly veteran Richard Harris ripped through their batting line-up to reduce them to 68-7 at one stage, before Simon Wood, brought out of semi-retirement, showed his class in hitting an unbeaten 43.

Harris took 3-13.

Wood aside, the only other batsman to shine for the hosts was Nick Davies, who scored 31 against his former club.

In reply, Cresselly had few issues in passing the total as Adam Chandler had a welcome return to form by hitting 57, while Iwan Izzard hit an unbeaten 40.

“We didn’t play well,” admitted Hall. “We batted poorly and didn’t play the conditions which were damp after all the rain.

“We were too aggressive and paid the penalty, but fair play to Cresselly, they deserved to win the game.”

Hall doesn’t think the result will play on his team’s minds as they aim to increase their lead at the top of the division to help strengthen their title charge.

“We’re playing well at the moment,” he added. “And hopefully we can increase our lead this weekend.

“There’s no reason why we can’t. They have a great batting line-up but our bowlers are doing well and our batters too. Me and Nick (Scourfield) have hardly batted all year and we’re in the middle order!”

OTHER CUP CRICKET

Carew got back to winning ways on Monday evening with a workmanlike victory over Lamphey in the Duggie Morris Cup.

Lamphey batted first and scored 65-9, with in-form all-rounder Shaun Whitfield doing the damage by taking 4-1 in a fiery display of fast bowling.

He showed the virtues of bowling full and straight with Lamphey’s batsmen unable to cope with his high-end bowling .

Only tailender Scott Gregson with 13, showed any resistance for the Stags.

In reply, Carew took 13 overs to pass the total for the loss of one wicket as Whitfield was unbeaten on 22 and Nick Scourfield 16 not out.

Elsewhere in the Duggie Morris, Neyland beat Pembroke Dock by eight wickets as they had few issues passing the Dock’s 46 all out, while Narberth went down to a heavy defeat at home to Whitland.

Whitland struck a fine 181-5 thanks to Geraint Jones’s 75 and John Thomas’s 49. Ben Hughes took three wickets for the hosts.

Narberth then reached 117 all out, despite Shane Morgan’s 36 as Iestyn Scourfield, Wayne Howells, John Thomas, Scott Newton and Matthew Davies all took two wickets apiece.

Defeat for Lawrenny, too, although they made Haverfordwest work hard for their victory.

Lawrenny hit 146-8, with the Town losing the same amount of wickets in passing the total.

Steve Lewis hit 35 for the home team and James Buckle 28, while Steve and Jamie Lewis both took three wickets in the reply. Danny Potter hit 53 for the Town.

In the first round of the Alec Colley Cup, Pembroke overcame Kilgetty after scoring 175-5 against Kilgetty’s 123-7.

Jack Harries scored 22 for Pembroke, with Chris Thomas hitting 23, Andrew Hay 44 and Billy Wood 58 not out.

For Kilgetty, Jack Waters hit 22 and Alex Thomas 20.

Carew overcame Narberth after scoring 133-5 thanks to Luke Hicks’s 45 and Dafydd Bevan 31 and Scott Richards’s 39. Richard Howell took four wickets for Narberth.

Only Matthew Johns with 33 had a score of note for Narberth in their 106 all out.

Cresselly racked up the runs against Saundersfoot, hitting 207-2 thanks to Phil Williams’s 97 not out and Neal Williams’s 89.

Only Simon Stanford with 39 and Steve Cook with 34 troubled the home side with an impressive opening stand, but after they had gone the innings fell apart as Matthew Lewis took 4-21, with Saundersfoot closing on 99-8.

Meanwhile, Whitland scored 132-7 against Johnston thanks to Paul Oeppen’s 20, while Greg Sleep took 3-13 in Johnston’s 95-2.

In the Alan Brown, Lamphey were defeated by Herbrandston as Lamphey scored 55 all out, with Herbie passing it for the loss of five wickets, while Luke Murray and Nick Daley both scored 80 as Pembroke Dock gained a 10-wicket win over Hundleton.