ABERGELE’s struggles go on as they fell to a narrow 14-run defeat at North Wales Cricket League Division One basement dwellers Bersham.

The home side set a target of 186 all out from 46 overs in the middle thanks to a stunning century from opener and skipper Suresh Koswaththage, who blasted 13 boundaries to finish the day unbeaten on 103.

Jonath David (22) was the only other player to post a promising score as the Gele bowling attack largely restricted their opponents during an encouraging spell in the field.

This was led by another standout 12-over spell from David Moulson, who helped himself to a five-wicket haul for the loss of just 35 runs, with Karl Higgins and Rana Das claiming a pair of scalps apiece at the combined expense of 64.

Things looked promising for the visitors early on with good efforts from Ben Garnett (30), David Williams (19) and Moulson (20), but this was followed by a middle order collapse that saw Ed Rooney (7), Sam Painted (0), Josh Lloyd (0) and Luke Sellers (2) all fail to make a double figure score between them.

Lewis Tolond (19), Higgins (35) and Owen Lynam (16) gave the visitors a fighting chance of salvaging something from the game late on, but they fell narrowly short of reaching their target to post 167 all out in reply.

Koswaththage was the pick of the home bowling attack, rounding off an impressive all-round performance with figures of 3-31, and Nilanka De Silva also claimed three wickets for the loss of 42 runs.

Abergele remain second-from-bottom in the standings ahead of their home clash with Llanrwst on Saturday.