A BRECON cricketer has been called up for a Welsh veteran’s team.

Brecon Cricket Club’s second team captain John Cooke is one of 12 players to represent the Wales 60+ team that play England on Sunday at Cheltenham.

The Wales team will be captained by Ryland Wallace from Crickhowell Cricket Club.

The Crickhowell cricketer has previously played for the England 60+ team in an Ashes series against Australia.

Brecon Cricket Club said it is “delighted” at Cooke’s international selection.

The club’s first team team put in their best batting display of the season on Saturday as they chased down an imposing Croesyceilog innings total of 250-9 in the blistering heat to record a memorable away win in the South East Wales Cricket League.

The Brecon response was led by a composed 91 from Greg Webber ably assisted by contributions from Andy MacDonald (25), Matt Williams (18) and Richard Lovering (16) to keep the innings moving forward. It was however a lower order unbroken stand of 56 for the eighth wicket between the Mitchell boys, Iain with 39no and James 18no that got the job done for Brecon to record a hard earned three wicket victory.

Earlier Croesy had batted well themselves in posting their total but Brecon’s bowlers had had their successes with Tom Jones 3 for 36 taking the leading role with Richard Lovering two wickets and James Mitchell with one wicket chipping in.

On the day however it all came down to a high scoring shoot-out on a belter of a wicket between the batsmen with Brecon just coming out on top.

The victory failed to move the 1st team up the league but they are now in very close order with the clubs above them and a win at home against Sudbrook next week, depending on the other results, could see them move into mid table.

In Brecon in a game sponsored by Andrew Kinsey Electrical, the 2nd team came unstuck in what was an excellent game of cricket against Abergavenny 2nd team to lose by five wickets.

Batting first Brecon totalled 184-9 with Rowan Starkey (19) initially fighting hard to establish the innings and from there Ben Kenchington made the major contribution with a fine 56 and together with Steve Kenchington (21) formed the most productive partnership of the innings with 60. However, the innings never broke free of the visitor’s bowling, led by James Watkins (3 for 38) and young leg spinner Gareth Powell (3 for 37) supported by solid fielding, and fell ultimately away to post a fair but not decisive total.

The Abergavenny reply got away to a powerful start with Drew Hefferman (47) and Gareth Powell (45) dominating proceeding to put on 93 for the first wicket. Ryan Morgan then brought an end to their partnership when he joined the attack as he quickly dismissed both and added a third victim in a lively spell of 3-25. The pressure exerted at this stage by sharp fielding resulted in a run out too and suddenly Brecon looked in charge.

But full credit to Abergavenny they refused to bow to the pressure and James Watkins (40no) and Lee Fury almost saw them home before Fury (26) fell with only two runs needed but the win was quickly tidied up from there.

The defeat means that with four games remaining Brecon are still on top of Division Two second teams but their lead is now reduced to four points which means a win away at Rogerstone next week is vital.

Crickhowell v Kington

With last week’s game against Builth falling foul of the weather, Crickhowell were still basking in the glory of their fantastic win against Goodrich the previous week and looked forward to the challenge of taking on another title challenging team, Kington at home.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first with Michael Green, one of the best players in the league, opening the batting and showing some intent. With two of Crickhowell’s bowlers running late for the start, it was Phill Bowker who opened up with his gentle off-spin with Green taking his first over for 17 runs.

Green continued to hit the ball to all parts and Crickhowell thought, at this stage, that this could be another 300 plus score. Skipper Nick Francis though, came on and picked up a few quick wickets, and Bowker then found a good rhythm, not only pegging back the scoring rate, but also trapping Protheroe LBW for 2.

At the first drinks break, at 15 overs, Green had 70 to his name and Kington were 89-4. Then came the turning point, a bit like Ben Stokes getting rid of Virat Kholi in the Test Match, it was Crickhowell’s version of Stokes, Nick Francis, bowling Kington’s Kholi, Green, with a peach of a ball and the rest of Crickhowell breathed a sigh of relief, with the Castle crows safe to return to their turret perches.

It was a turning point of remarkable proportions, with Francis bowling superbly, but Kington not showing any skill, or determination, to occupy the crease and bat out their allotted 45 overs.

From that strong position at 15 overs, Kington only added a further 21 runs and were all out in less than 26 overs. Francis, giving another ‘man of the match performance’, finished with 5-13 off 7 overs.

Phill Bowker finished with reasonable figures in the end, with 2-48 after that poor first over, and Tim Price and Lloyd Francis finished with a wicket apiece.

Crickhowell’s ground fielding on a dry and bumpy outfield was good, but their catching showed room for improvement with four or five reasonable chances being spilled.

That could have been costly, but as it was, Kington were bowled out for a mere 110 and surely Crickhowell could get those runs for another unexpected win.

Kington, of course though, had Michael Green, who opens the bowling for them as well as the batting, and were not going to lie down and roll over.

Green did get an early breakthrough trapping Kerrison lbw with a ball that seemed to be drifting down the leg-side, but that was his only success.

Crickhowell’s strategy was to try and see him off and pick up what they could at the other end. Crickhowell’s batting though, has been fragile all season, as evidenced by their poor return for batting bonus points.

Sixteen for the season so far is the poorest return in the league, with even the clubs below them, all up in the mid twenties, so the faithful followers knew that this could still be a nail-biting finish.

Veteran Ryland Wallace though, called on all his experience and determination to battle through to a very, very good score of 33 and he and Nick Francis (29) saw the side through to 80-4 when Francis was finally out, caught superbly by, who else but Michael Green, in the slips.

With another lbw decision going for the visitors and young Callum Tew given out caught behind, with his bat missing the ball but cracking hard into the ground, the tension increased with Crickhowell now on 102-8.

Cool customer Tim Price (10*) was at the crease though, and was able to put the bad ball away if there was one on offer. He was joined by Ben Bowker (2*) and the pair saw the side through to another unlikely victory by two wickets.

Sam Roberts (4-29) in the end, had the best bowling return for Kington but with only four points from this game they now have little chance of winning the league.

Ironically, even with this win, Crickhowell drop to seventh in the league and now look forward to games against fellow strugglers Ross (away) and Dales (home) before facing probable champions Luctonians (away) in the last game of the season.

With Ross in bottom place on 112 points, it’s unlikely that they can now survive, but with a number of the other bottom five clubs still having to play each other it’s still going to be very tight for that second relegation position.

However, for Crickhowell on 148 points, and with thrilling victories against Goodrich and Kington now under their belt, it’s a case of looking forward with confidence rather than glancing back over their shoulder.

Glangrwyney v Woolhope

In the Marches League Glangrwyney Cricket Club’s first and second team were victorious in their games against teams from Woolhope.

A good win the for firsts saw them chase down Woolhope’s 206-7 with an over and six wickets in hand.

The day started well for captain Michael Devoy who took two wickets in his opening spell after Woolhope had elected to bat first.

From there the visitors fought their way back into the game and posted a good total on another hot day at The Camp in Glangrwyney.

The home team’s most successful bowler again was Jules Hardwick with 3 for 62 with Devoy finishing with 2-24 in his 10 overs.

After tea it was no rest for the wicked as Devoy then opened the batting and after an early wicket, with Garin Howell, put on 78 in good time.

After Howell departed for a positive 35, regular wickets fell but the home team’s depth of batting ensured that the run rate was always under control and despite Devoy holing out for 79 scored in 35 overs with less than 50 needed, Geoff Holmes (22) along with Lewis Morgan 19 not out and Derrick Osbourne 11 not out saw them home in the penultimate over.

The second team travelled to Woolhope to face the Second XI and on a pitch of distinctly variable bounce, liberties could not be taken which resulted in a laboured performance and low-scoring game.

The home team elected to bat on winning the toss and were keen to drive anything straight from the start to negate the uneven bounce.

Glangrwyney’s fielding was up to the challenge and was almost flawless in their catching as Woolhope struggled to get any momentum in their innings, with special reference to Neil Jones and Haydn Davies.

For once Haydn Davies was rewarded for his accuracy and took 3-38. Other wicket takers included 13-year-old Jaydan Caswell on debut with 2-22 as Woolhope limped to 131-9 in their allotted 40 overs.

In reply Glangrwyney got off to a solid start with James McIlroy and Mark Keane playing admirably straight bats and had reached 47 at the early first drinks after ten overs.

Quick wickets fell after the break as cross-batted shots failed to keep out the straight balls however the returning Bob Howell ensured sense returned with some proper defensive strokes.

When another couple of wickets fell, this brought young Caswell to the crease whose no nonsense method of striking the loose ball kept the fielders on their toes and one Matthew Hoggard moment sent the ball flying through extra cover for four as the target was reined in.

The less-than-fluent McIlroy batted through to make 40 not out and, having taken a slip catch off the first ball of the match, hit the winning run to give Glangrwyney a five wicket win to end a long, hot day.