Men's Indoor Cricket - Division Two - Week Three
‘Old Dogs shine, alongside Herbie and Cresselly
Umpires: Jon Willington & Rob Bellerby
Scorers: Ian Milsom, Gary Davies, Johnny Lewis, Gregg Miller, Tom Nicholas
Venue: Neyland Community Hub
Pembs Seniors A (99 for 4) beat Neyland B (68 for 5) by 31 runs
Pembs Seniors A showed there is still plenty of life in the old dogs’ legs as they comfortably beat a much younger Neyland B team, who only had John Tennick as a ‘Golden Oldie.
Batting first, the Seniors lost Andrew Williams for 9 but then the little legs of David Haynes (26) and skipper Alan Webster (25) ran well between the wickets as they put on a half century partnership before both retired, apart from a couple of run out scares caused by over-eagerness.
Kevin Bowen was run out cheaply in a call mix-up but Stuart Carpenter contributed a typically stylish 14 and Huw Scrive added a few late runs alongside 13 from ‘Mr Extras’ in a final tally of 99 for 4 as Tom Pritchard (1 for 10), Iestyn Myles and Jamie Smith all bowled well.
Then the Seniors showed they could also be sharp in the field on occasions as Myles and Smith were run out early and Huw Scriven marked a rare appearance with some class behind the stumps so that only Charlie French (17) and No 6 batsman Korey Arran (10 not out) looked comfortable against Andrew Williams (2 for 11), Kevin Bowen and Webster, who led by example, other than a little hot-headedness in the field!
Herbrandston (128 for 5) beat Haverfordwest Lightning (83 for 4) by 45 runs
Herbrandston showed what a useful team they are at this level as they proved too strong in all departments in beating Haverfordwest Lightning, which is The Town’s first team, with plenty in hand after they batted first and amassed 128 for 5 in their allotted 10 overs as Charlie Malloy and Rhys Power impressed before The Lightning re4sponded with only 83 for 4, of which Mikey Jones scored almost half of them.
Atticus Kingston (10), Robbie Hood (12) and Dai Malloy (11 not out) also managed double figures but the innings received a significant boost with the addition of 26 extras as skipper Chris Phillips (2 for 20) and Pete Soulsby (1 for 25) were the wicket-takers.
Phillips (12) and Mikey Jones got The Lightning off to a solid, if unspectacular start before the former was bowled by Rhys Power and from then on, the only double-figure score (13) was to be found in the extras common.
Kingston (1 for 13), Robbie Hood (1 for 21), Charlie Malloy and Callum Power bowled good lines which prevented The Lightning gaining much impetus and although Mikey Jones hit two sixes and a four in his top score of 37 not out, they were never really in with a shout and had to settle on this occasion for second best.
Cresselly (121 for 3) beat Haverfordwest Thunder (63 all out) by 58 runs
Cresselly again showed how they are beginning to really adapt their play to suit the indoor stuff and, on this occasion, had the biggest margin of victory as they built up a very good score against Haverfordwest Thunder and then shot out The Town’s second string cheaply with some accurate bowling supported by five good catches.
Veteran opener Neal Williams (9) departed early for Cresselly but then Griff Jenkins and Charlie Arthur set about the Thunder bowling to such an effect that Arthur raced to 28 and Jenkins also retired later to end on an impressive 33 not out.
Ollie Arthur reached 16 before getting run out and although their tail didn’t wag for too long their score was boosted by 30 extras as Mohammed Amher (2 for 11) was the pick of the Thunder bowlers and the only wicket-taker.
When they batted, The Thunder started slowly as Jason Stobbs departed for a duck before Ahmer Mir and Mudit Jain set about repairing the damage until the former was run out for 12 and wickets fell regularly – with only Jain (22) and ‘Mr Extras’ (14) taking the score to its final tally – and a disappointing end for The Town with two defeats on the trot!