CHAMPIONS Llandudno suffered a major blow to their North Wales Cricket League Premier Division title hopes with a 56-run home loss to rivals Bangor.

Overseas star Francois Mostert was once again the star of the show for the leaders and his performance proved too much for the home side, who now sit 32 points behind the pacesetters ahead of their trip to Connah’s Quay on Saturday.

Tom Thornton got the hosts off to a flyer in the field by trapping Sion Evans lbw for a duck, but knocks from David Winter (29) and Nadeem Rehman (30) steadied the ship.

This was shortly followed by a majestic innings from Mostert, who produced a series of impressive shots to end his time at the crease unbeaten on 79, which included no fewer than eight boundaries.

He was aided at the other end by Andy Williams, who managed to contribute 27 as the away side reached 202-8 from their 50 overs.

Matthew Jones, Rhydian Morgan and Ethan Hill were the pick of the Tudno bowling attack, helping themselves to a pair of wickets apiece for the combined loss of 104 runs.

The home run chase got off to a poor start when open Lewis Jones was caught by Rob Marshall off a Mostert delivery after making just four runs but fellow opener Dan Evans and Robin Smith saw the score to 113 before Evans fell to Mostert for 61.

Nadeem Reham then ran through the middle order with the wickets of Smith (42), Morgan (2) and Kevin James (0) to end a superb 12 over spell with figures of 4-36.

Llandudno offered little resistance in the lower order and Mostert finished with three for 18 as the defending champions collapsed to 146 all out.

There was an outstanding performance by Tom Bleasdale who took seven wickets as Llandudno Seconds bowled Carmel Seconds out for just 79.

Bleasdale then opened the Llandudno innings and was unbeaten on 50 as his side cruised to 80 for two. Alex Owen scored 20 not out.

n MOCHDRE face a must-win game at Chirk this Saturday after a narrow 33-run home loss to Premier Division rivals Connah’s Quay.

Another disappointing result sees Matty Humphreys’ side slip back into the relegation places ahead of their clash with Andrew Swarbrick’s newly promoted side who sit one place and 12 points above them in the standings.

Impressive knocks from Thomas Hooson (37), skipper Ryan Holloway (33) and Darren Jones (36) enabled the visitors to set a target of 183 all out from 47 overs, with Stewart Williams the pick of the home bowlers with three wickets for the loss of 37 runs.

Other performances of note came from Russ Boswell and overseas star Patrick Glover, who helped themselves to a brace apiece for a loss of 28 and 17 runs respectively.

Things did not begin well for the hosts when Williams (13), Glover (0) and Humphreys (8) were all out cheaply early on, while wicketkeeper James French lasted just five balls before being trapped lbw by Brendan Bezuidenhout.

The middle order managed to drag them back into the game, but promising scores from Gareth Davies (26), Gareth Colman (20), Mike Humphreys (24*) and Aamer Sardar (25) were not enough to prevent defeat as the home side mustered 150-7 from their 50 overs.