South East Wales Cricket League

Division One

Chepstow 1sts lost to Malpas 1sts

WITH skipper Jason Dobbie one of four key batsmen unavailable, Mitchell Harris took over the captain’s role against Premier-bound Malpas, writes Bob Cypher.

Apart from Dobbie, openers Gareth Ansell and Carwyn James, as well as Dave Bennett, left them lacking strength in all departments.

After winning the toss Harris elected to bowl first and a spirited performance by the bowlers seemed to have given Chepstow a good chance of causing an upset.

But as Harris explained, the absence of the four batsmen meant no real chance of forming partnerships.

“We restricted Malpas to 152-9, which was a very achievable target for us,” the skipper said later.

Great performances from Sam Hope-Bell (3-32), Luke Watson (3-14), Harris (2-23) and Lewys Jones (1-25) kept the usually free-scoring visitors pegged back, with only Ross Ward (42) occupying the crease for any length of time.

“He was Malpas’ one stand-out batsman, allowing them to rebuild,” Harris added.

However, when it came to Chepstow’s innings, there were no real partnerships and only one player made more than 20 runs – Harris himself, with 76 runs.

“We lost wickets at regular intervals but at 110-5, and with me still at the crease, I felt we were most definitely still going to win the game,” Harris said.

But a flurry of lost wickets left Chepstow at 123-9 and, running out of partners, the stand-in skipper hit a few defiant sixes to take the side to within 12 runs of the target before former Sudbrook skipper Micky Martin held a catch on the boundary to end the resistance.

“We made Malpas work hard for the win but in the end they showed a lot more guts than us and deserved the win. Good luck to them next year.”