11/05/2026
For the second week of the senior league season, the weather was kind and strong player availability meant that WHCC were able to field five sides on Saturday.
The 1st XI welcomed Miskin Manor CC to the Hospital ground, and it was Captain Carey who won the toss and elected to bowl first. Two early wickets from Paras Jain got WHCC on top early on, removing both openers and reducing Miskin to 11-2.
A 72 run partnership for the third wicket was broken thanks to a run out from Nye Brown, who then got a wicket with his bowling, bringing Miskin to 96-4.
Miskin’s captain, Dan Hay took control of the game from here though, anchoring the remainder of the innings, scoring a fine 118 off 101 balls, making the most of the short boundary on the pavilion side.
Two wickets for Tom Carey and one for Tom Salmon meant that we claimed 7 wickets, with Miskin finishing on 248 off their 45 overs.
In reply, Nathaniel Bell started brightly with 32 including 3 fours and a six.
There were starts from most of the top order but nobody was really able to go on.
Tom Salmon (33) and Ben Starling (38) took us close to the 200 mark with still 4 wickets in hand, but with the required run rate now becoming an issue we faltered, closing on 211 all out with 3 overs unused.
A disappointing result but could have gone either way. A tough fixture next week away to Lisvane, and there’s plenty of encouraging signs as we progress through the season.
The 2nd XI were on the road to Barry Athletic, where we won the toss and elected to bat first.
Nauman Shafiq got us off to a quick start with a rapid 21 before falling LBW.
Thomas Morgan and David Reynolds took us through to drinks one wicket down with 83 on the board.
Two quick wickets brought Barry right back into the game, but Reynolds (77) anchored the second half of the innings with useful cameos from Bibin Biju (20), Josh Masih (21) and Joey Hale (28*)
50 runs from the final 5 overs propelled us to 240-6.
Josh Sinclair was fantastic with the new ball, picking up three wickets in his opening spell - two sharp catches from Nauman and Bibin, with the other LBW.
James Hammond clean bowled another so Whitchurch were well on top with Barry 40-4.
Barry though still had arguably their best two players now at the wicket and the pair shared a 60 run partnership and were largely keeping up with the rate.
Dylan Barr struck just after Nathan Baker had reached 50, a steepling catch well held by Tom Morgan at mid-on.
The game though wasn’t quite done yet with Barry’s Number 7 launching a flurry of boundaries over long-on.
He fell for 35 thanks to a one-handed stunner from wicketkeeper Shaw, which earned a handshake from the batter.
From here, Barry’s innings faded to 198-8, securing a 42 run victory and 19 points in the bag.
The 3rd XI had a nail-biter of a game against Dinas Powys 2nds down at the School.
Will Milburn won the toss and elected to bat first.
We lost one early wicket but Richard Reed (25) and Milburn (30) helped us see off the opening bowlers relatively well.
Spin though would prove our downfall as we slipped from 47-1 to 87-7 with Gihan Fernando picking up 4-19 for the visitors.
The lower order though rescued Whitchurch. Scotch Egg Club’s Harry Sewell bludgeoned 37 including 4 mammoth sixes, one into the car park – nothing jammy about that!
Shazaib also played a terrific innings, 43* including five fours and two sixes. His 60 run partnership with Dan Watkins (26) saw Whitchurch beyond 200.
3rds in the end all out for 219 off the final ball of the innings. Hopcraft run out attempting a 4th run on a shot that didn’t even leave the ring. How important could those last couple of balls prove to be?
Dinas started well in reply, before Dan Watkins claimed the opening wicket thanks to a catch from Ed McQuaid.
Birthday boy Richard Hopcraft then bowled the number 3 for a duck before Dan was back to claim his 2nd wicket removing their Number 4 for a duck.
Back swung the game towards Dinas with their captain Lewis Clarke scoring 46 before being dismissed by Shazaib with a catch from Sewell.
You just couldn’t keep Harry out of the game. Dinas’ Number 5 had racked up 64 but a butcher-quality delivery clean bowled him and now we were back on top.
Until a different guy for Dinas came out swinging – he whacked 51 with 3 fours and 4 sixes before he was out off the bowling of…. Harry Sewell, caught by Ed McQuaid.
What’s the score? Nineteen are needed off the last two overs and Dinas are 8 down.
First ball of the penultimate over goes for six. Oh dear – but the rest of the over is a quiet affair leaving Ioan Richards to bowl it – 8 to win for Dinas.
A wide first ball up means it’s 7 off 6 balls but it’s dot, dot, dot / swipe, swipe, swipe. Anyway – 4 to win off the last ball which thankfully nestles safely in Richard Reed’s gloves so a 3 run victory is secured.
A slightly less tense game for the 4th XI away at Abercynon.
It was the hosts who won the toss and chose to field first.
You’ve already seen the rest!
George Milburn (146 runs) and Simon Young (114*) put on a massive 279 for the opening partnership with the team finishing on 308/1!
A fantastic achievement for both Simon and George - and Woody will be glad to know his club record of 155 lives to fight another day!
Top bowling and fielding from the rest of the side (Cian Davies 4/3 and Alun Jones 2/22 - Aaron Maskill with two catches and two run outs) saw us bowl Abercynon II out for 96!
A massive 212 run win for the 4th XI in the end.
The numbers available for selection meant we were able to field a fifth team against a strong Malpas 3rd team in a 35 over friendly.
We had two of our u15 team in the lineup, in Oscar Smith and Evan White. We also had three debutants. Evan's dad Chris, volunteered to step in and take the keeping gloves and despite claiming he hadn't played for 20 years was faultless, taking two catches.
Ali Zain Khan and Irtiza Haider were the other debutants. Malpas won the toss and elected to bat and scored quickly from the off, despite some good bowling by Ali and Ian Miles. Chances were offered up but always seemed to be out of the reach of a fielder.
One of the openers retired on fifty, but wickets then fell with reasonable regularity with our two youngsters Evan and Oscar picking up a wicket a piece.
Unfortunately, Malpas had their own debutant who smacked his first three balls into Newport and continued to score at a phenomenal rate on the leg side until he too retired after passing 50.
Malpas ran out of batters in the 31st over with single wickets for Irtiza, Rhys Grant, Jon Oates and two for Joe MacGinley. Malpas closed on an imposing 256.
In response Oscar and Joe faced a stiff test against quick swinging bowling on an astroturf pitch which resembled a trampoline at times.
Oscar stuck in determinedly, anchoring the top of the innings and made 16 before losing his wicket. Alongside him, Irtiza made a brisk 22, whilst Ian made 23. Ali came to the wicket and teed off immediately, scoring a rapid 48.
The loss of a few quick wickets brought Rhys Jackson to the crease who bludgeoned 43 and remained not out when the last wicket fell to the penultimate ball of the innings. Such was his progress, Malpas brought their opening bowlers back on.
We fell short of the required target, but a score of 193 off 35 overs is competitive in most games, and it was great to see a side of old hands, debutants and youngsters enjoying their afternoons, despite the result.
So five great games of cricket – get your availability confirmed ASAP for this coming weekend and hopefully we can have another successful round of fixtures!
13/05/2026
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