County youngsters beat Pembroke but miss out against Neyland

 
Umpires: Jonathan Willington & Chris Stapleton;
Scorers: Ginny Davies, Will Davies, Ben Noden and Ashley Watkins









 
Outstanding organiser Patrick Hannon was determined to end the first division season of the Pembroke Indoor Cricket League with a bang and came up with the great idea of playing special matches that featured winners Neyland and runners-up Pembroke.
 
As a result, both played a Select County team made up of eight talented young cricketers captained by Iwan James of Llanrhian, with some playing in both games and others playing just once.
 
In doing so he completed the dual purpose of giving practice to both club teams before they represent Pembrokeshire in the Welsh Finals on Sunday, February 2^nd, in Swansea, whist rewarding the outstanding performances of these relative newcomers to indoor cricket, with a great evening of cricket.
 
And Patrick’s plan certainly came to fruition because both games were very competitive, but played in the outstanding sportsmanlike way that has typified the competition, with the county team winning against Pembroke but just losing out to Neyland as the champions for the eighth time in the last ten years, all captained by Sean Hannon, edged through in the final over.
 
Afterwards Sean Hannon, surely now ranked as one of the best-ever players of the indoor game in Pembrokeshire received the silverware from Andrew Scott-Davies, the Hon Treasurer of the Pembroke County Cricket Club, who also presented engraved medals to members of the Neyland squad.
 
He also presented the shield awarded to Karl Davies (Llanrhian) as the highest run-maker, with Harry Makepeace (Hook) winning the ‘Best Bowler’ award but unable to attend because he was holidaying in Italy.






 

Wayward bowling lets Pembroke down

 

Pembroke (103 for 1) lost to Pembroke County Select A (104 for 2) by 4 wickets

 
Pembroke openers Jack Harries and Luke Butler showed one of the main reasons they have been so successful this season as they again opened with a half-century stand as they ran well between the wickets and punished anything loose with strong boundary drives that boosted the run rate.
 
As a result, the 50 partnership came up in the fifth over, with Harries retiring on 25 in only 19 balls and Butler matching him with 26 from the same number of deliveries, including two sixes.
 
Ceri Brace and Gareth Morgan both batted sensibly but the run-rate inevitably slowed slightly before Morgan was run out for 10 (9 balls) and Andy Tait (9 not out) joined Brace (17 not out in 21 balls) in taking Pembroke past the three-figure mark as ‘Mr Extras’ also chipped in with 16 runs.
 

30 extras given to the County as they battle back from a slow start

 
Skipper Harries then bowled well for Pembroke as he had Rhys Daley (Pembroke Dock) caught behind by Butler for seven runs as part of a 1 for 10 analysis that helped prevent the county youngsters from getting off to a flying start, particularly once Tait had ace run-gatherer Charlie Arthur (Cresselly) caught by Butler for a single from six balls
 
Karl Davies (Llanrhian) dropped anchor but he did well to belt a six and four before retiring on 25 (20 deliveries), having steadied the innings well before Charlie Malloy (Herbrandston) and Owen Phelps (Hook) were able to build momentum and a target that looked a little beyond them might be within range as some woefully inaccurate bowling saw Pembroke concede 27 wides in a huge total of 30 extras!
 
Malloy ended up with 22 not out (17 balls) and Phelps (17 not out in 14 balls) and the County youngsters reached their 104 target without any further alarms - and with one over to spare from George Morgan, who was one of the better Pembroke bowlers.
 
Unfortunately, county skipper Iwan John (Llanrhian) became ill during the match and was forced to miss the second match, where his team-mate Davies took charge in his absence.






 

County just miss out on a deserved double

 

Neyland (94 all out) beat Pembroke County Select B (88 for 4) by 6 runs

 
Champions Neyland batted first against a county team which made immediate inroads into their batting as Lewis Page departed for a duck, bowled neck and crop by Karl Davies, with opposing captain Sean Hannon (3) following as he was caught off the wall by Charlie Malloy- leaving his already-weakened batting line-up at 8 for 2 in two overs.
 
But that brought together battle-hardened brothers Andrew and Gregg Miller together; two players who helped Neyland to huge successes in the indoor game and still able to influence a game, with Gregg havng also been a successful indoor skipper in his hey day!.

Both are excellent runners between the wickets, although Gregg almost ran out Andrew after they had begun to look settled - but when they repeated the risky single it was Andrew who was run out for 20 off 18 balls.
 
Gregg Miller went on to reach 24 (16 balls) before he was caught by Davies off Charlie Arthur (1 for 9 in two overs) - and the innings ended on 96 after Jack John (13) and Tom Pritchard (15) added vital runs, the latter striking three boundaries in a short stay as they fell respectively to Finlay Lewis (Lawrenny) and Malloy (Herbrandston).
 
In the final analysis, the county bowled well as skipper Davies (1 for 13), Malloy (1 for 22), Lewis (1 for 11) and Owen Phelps (Hook - 1 for 28) all bowled steady spells and Griff Jenkins (Cresselly) replaced the unwell John as keeper and did well as the bulk of their 19 extras conceded were from wides.
 

Neyland in trouble but inexperience (and skipper Hannon) saved their bacon

 
It meant Neyland had to settle for a disappointing tally of  94 all out in 11.2 overs, with no fewer than 28 balls not scored from, almost five overs in reality and unheard of by the champions as a rule.
 
But they bounced back in typical fashion as Tom Pritchard struck in the second over as he bowled Karl Davies (7) and then Griff Jenkins for a duck, comfortably caught by Andrew Jenkins.
 
Charlie Malloy and Finley Lewis then advanced the score to 44 in the sixth over before the latter fell to a super, stinging return catch by Andrew Miller, who wasl making a huge contribution as his three miserly overs saw only eight runs scored.
 
Owen Phelps also battled hard for his 17 before he was the third player caught by Andrew Miller, this time off Sean Hannon with four balls remaining, and with Charlie Arthur joined by Malloy the county looked hot favourites to win once they had added 22 runs in the penultimate over so only needed another eight runs in that tense final over.
 
Malloy took a second-ball three but then Hannon called upon all the experience that has seen him lift the silverware eight times in a decade to pin Arthur on 16 not out and restrict The County to 88 for 4 - as Neyland showed another key facet to their success since only FOUR runs were conceded by way of extras.
 
So, victory to the experienced Neyland outfit, albeit with a depleted side - but the plaudits also go to The County team because for a number of their squad this was only their first or second campaign - and my word didn’t they play well!