South Wales Premier League

Ammanford (232) lost to Cardiff (234-5)

Ammanford began the second half of their Premier League season with a disappointing five-wicket defeat at the hands of Cardiff at the Park.

Batting first on a belter of a track, Ammanford were keenly aware that they would need to set a target of around 300 to be in with any chance of a positive result.

Within a couple of overs, they were three for two, having lost opener Craig Maloney and captain Alun Evans, and the writing was already on the wall.

Matthew Fisher joined Hedd Jones at the crease, and the two batted superbly to take the home side to 157 for three.

Fisher’s dismissal for 85, quickly followed by Jones’s departure for 63, was the signal for a middle order implosion as the home side disintegrated to 165 for seven.

It looked as though Ammanford were possibly going to capitulate for less than 200 before Matthew Roberts redeemed matters to a degree with a forthright 38no.

He would probably have been able to make further amends had it not been for a couple of appalling umpiring decisions against the young lower order batsmen which left quickly running out of partners at the other end.

Ammanford were all out in the 47th over for what looked to be a well below par 242.

And so it transpired.

Despite losing opener David Kirtley for 10, Cardiff’s batsmen had no difficulty in reaching Ammanford’s target, mainly thanks to a second wicket partnership of 122 between Alex Milton (58) and Greg Holmes.

Holmes went on to an unbeaten 125 to overtake Ammanford’s total with five wickets and eight overs to spare.

Cardiff’s win enabled them to leapfrog Ammanford in the league with the hosts slipping back to fifth in the table.

Next week, Ammanford face the daunting prospect of a trip to runaway league leaders Bridgend.