Ammanford's innings did not get off to a great start, with Ceri Durke removing Ammanford's Xavie Clarke with the 4th ball of the match with the score on just 4.

Overseas batsman Stephan Muller was then joined by Gruff Owen. The pair added a further 11 runs before Durke struck again to remove Aussie, Muller for 6 in the 3rd over.

Gruff Owen looked to be in good touch, dispatching a number of balls to the Ynystawe boundary. All-rounder Fahad Sabir added just 3 to the score during his stay, before he was brilliantly run out by Ynystawe's Tom Blake with a direct hit from the cover-point boundary edge.

Youngster Cellan Allcock came in at 5 and along with his junior teamate Owen steadied the ship, taking the Ammanford total to 80 in the 11th over. The pair made use of some poor bowling from the Ynystawe spinners, dispatching boundary after boundary in a mid-innings onslaught.

Former Ammanford left-armer Jacob Williams who made the switch to Ynystawe in the Spring eventually removed his former 2nd team colleague Allcock (18), with the final delivery of his spell, finishing with figures of 1-34 from his allotted 4 overs.

Enter former Club Captain, and the man who relishes a 'crisis', Craig Maloney, who added a valuable 24 from 24 balls to take the score past 100, as he was joined by current skipper Rhys Davies. The pair took the score to a respectable 131 with some assistance from the young tailenders.

Ammanford had managed a total of 131, looking like they had something to bowl at at the half-way stage. However, with the short boundaries at Ynystawe, the home side will definitely have felt that they were still in the game at the half-time interval.

Ynystawe Skipper, Lee, sent out former Glamorgan seamer Lukas Carey out to open the innings with Tom Blake. Their opening stand was a valuable 19 before golden arm Xavie Clarke removed Blake in the 3rd over, who was smartly caught by skipper Rhys Davies.

Carey was then joined by another of Ynystawe's Ammanford imports in Josef Davies, who decided to leave his hometown club in the Winter of 2022 for a new challenge at now Premier League 2 outfit, Ynystawe.

Carey and Davies looked to be in good form with the bat and they made use of the PowerPlay overs with some punishing hitting. After 6 overs Ynystawe were looking like favourites with the score on 59-1. Ammanford now had the uphill battle of defending just 73 from the remaining 84 balls of the innings.

Clarke struck again, removing Carey for 29 in the 8th over well caught by his Cardiff UCCE teammate Sabir on the long-on boundary, with the Ynystawe score now at 62-2.

Clarke took another quick wicket, as he clean bowled Callum Daniels for 1 in the 10th.

Young all-rounder Cellan Allcock was brought into the attack to bowl his useful seamers, and removed his former Ammanford teammate Josef Davies (38) in the 11th over.

Ammanford skipper Rhys Davies then threw the ball to his premier spinner Sabir in the hope that he could apply further pressure and increase the required run rate for the home side as the innings moved towards its conclusion.

The damage however was already done with Ynystawe now only needing 44 runs from the remaining 48 deliveries, effectively a run a ball.

Despite every effort of Rhys Davies and his Ammanford men in the field, imported Ynystawe all-rounder Tom Morgan and Ynystawe skipper Nathan Lee, formerly of Port Talbot Town showed their experienced as they milked the Ammanford bowling for 4 or 5 runs per over as they neared the Ammanford total.

Rhys Davies did remove Tom Morgan (18) in the 16th over with the score on 110, but it all proved to be too little too late.

Sam Bassnett joined his skipper Lee and the pair closed out the innings, sealing victory in the final over, with 5 balls to spare. Ynystawe were worthy victors by 5 wickets and will advance to the 3rd Round of the tournament to face Swansea, where victory will see them through to Finals Day at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff later this Summer.

Credit where credit's due to the Ynystawe side. Pob lwc yn y rownd nesa, bois.

Ammanford will however feel disappointed that they posted a total that proved to be under par on a fair wicket, having bowled and fielded well enough to win a close encounter away from home.

Ammanford will now have to dust themselves down as this Saturday they welcome Cardiff to the Park for what promises to be a mouth-watering battle in the Premier League. Ammanford will be looking to build on their impressive victory away to Swansea and put on a show for the faithful Ammanford Balconiers at their beloved Ammanford Park.

On Sunday, Ammanford travel west to face Llandysul in the Welsh Cup third round. The winners will advance to the Welsh Cup 'open draw' stage, and just a few round away from the prestigious final, this year to be played on Sunday, 1 September.

Meanwhile Ammanford's 2nd Team make the journey to the east to face Cowbridge as they look to repeat last seasons result and pull off victory on the road. The 3rd Team led by Steve Hagget host Gorseinon at Ammanford Recreation Ground, where a win for the 3rds could see them move into the top 4.

Dymuniadau gorau i pawb am y penwythnos.

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Ammanford Cricket Club | Clwb Criced Rhydaman
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