STRUGGLING Abergele remain rooted in the North Wales Cricket League Division One drop zone after a narrow 79-run home loss to Llay Welfare.

An outstanding batting performance from the promotion chasers proved too much for Ed Rooney’s men to match, and the result leaves them second from bottom in the standing ahead of their crunch trip to third-placed Bersham on Saturday.

The visitors made a strong start to their time in the middle thanks to an opening stand from Jacob Roberts and David Phennah, who made impressive scores of 44 and 63 before they were both dismissed at the hands of David Moulson.

The same bowler trapped the dangerous John Lloyd after the wicketkeeper made 14, and Moulson added Jack Parry (0) to his list of victims soon after to finish his 12-over spell with figures of 4-32.

Lewis Tolond continued his good form with the ball with the wickets of Ethan Griffiths (16) and David Wright (4) to end the day on 2-35, with Rooney (2-10) also claiming a pair of scalps in the form of Huw Jones (29) and Tom Parry (6) late on as the away side set a target of 226-8 from their allotted 50 overs in the middle.

Gele lost Josh Lloyd (0) and Karl Higgins (3) early as Griffiths made full use of the new ball, and the talented bowler continued this trend throughout the innings with the wickets of Gareth Edwards (33) Kyle Walker (1), Iwan Thomas (4) and Dylan Davies (0) to conclude a scintillating 11.5 over spell on 6-43.

This proved to be the difference between the two sides, and despite notable scores from Moulson (32) and Nalin Wadhwa (28) it was not enough to claim victory as the hosts mustered 147 all out in reply.