Welsh Indoor Cricket Finals

 

Pembroke and Neyland miss out to Swansea League champions

 
Venue: Morriston Leisure Centre
Umpires: Neill Crawshaw (Pembrokeshire) and Sean Evans (Swansea)
Scorers: Will & Jack Davies (Pembroke) Ben Noden (Neyland)  
Participating teams: Ynystawe, Ynysygerwn, Neyland, Pembroke
 
 

Semi-Final One:

 

Swansea champs show real batting power

 
 

Ynysygerwn (170 for 6) beat Pembroke (57 all out) by 114 runs

 
Pembroke’s first excursion into the Welsh Cup Finals was brought to an abrupt halt as Ynysygerwn showed why they are Swansea League champions as their batting pulsated its way to a massive score and then they played well in the fielding and bowling stakes to put their experience at this venue to good effect since Pembroke simply weren’t able to get used to the narrower playing surface, plus shortened run up for the bowlers and less space behind the wicket for wicket-keepers.
 
That takes nothing away from Ynysygerwn’s superb batting but is all the more reason why Pembroke keeper Luke Butler deserves a special mention for taking two stumpings after the home side had powered past the 50 mark before openers Nathan Davies and Morgan Hodges retired, but later returned to cause further mayhem before they were both dismissed for 38, Davies belting a six and four as he faced only 17 balls and Hodges took a more sedate 28 balls but including two sixes.
 
Ceri Brace had Nathan Davies caught by Archie Hillier-Wood and then removed ace run maker Alex McCormack (only 11, caught by Jack Harries) and skipper Adam Davies (stumped by Butler) for 11 in his 3 for 51 spell from three overs.
 
George Morgan had Hodges stumped by the alert Butler in the inevitable late run chase and teenager Morgan took a good return catch to get rid of Patrick O’Brien (13) as 29 extras, most of them wides, increased the Ynysygerwn tally to a daunting level.
 
Pembroke were unable to match their opponents’ early rate as Luke Butler (8) was run out – but skipper Harries (20) and Billy Wood tried manfully to counter-attach, Wood belting two sixes in his 16 (7 balls) but was then bowled by Nathan Davies going for another big hit…
 
But after Harries departed there was little further resistance as Nathan Davies, McCormack and O’Brien bowled well so Pembroke were shot out in only 7.3 of their 12 overs.
 
Jack Harries later told PembrokeshireSport.co.uk
“Of course, we are disappointed to lose because we were proud to represent our county but we did at least miss out to the eventual winners as they also beat Neyland.
“We enjoyed our day out and feel we learned a lot in the process so we will come back stronger next year, especially if we can field our strongest squad.”
 
 

Semi-Final Two:

 

Neyland battle through to another final

 

Neyland (104 all out) beat Ynystawe ((84 all out) by 20 runs

 
Neyland reached the final of the Welsh Indoor Championships with a workmanlike performance against Ynystawe that saw them only manage 104 all out but they bowled and fielded tightly to ease home by 20 runs; no mean feat when one considers the number of star players not available - but a tribute to the battling qualities of those who have come in to replace them.
 
Sean Hannon and Dai Davies got Neyland off to a solid, if unspectacular start as they reached 52 without loss at the half-way before both retired – and Andrew Miller looked in good nick as a raced to 17 with a four and four threes to his name but he was run out and then the innings was dramatically curtailed as Gregg Miller failed to trouble the scorers, Jack John could only manage a single and Tom Pritchard hit three fours in quick succession but was run out for 9.
 
Neyland had 19 extras as skipper Hannon and Davies returned but the former was run out with just three more runs to his name and Davies gave a return catch to Cian Durke when he had just moved on to 30. Durke ended up with 1 for 19 and Steve Stanway claimed 2 for 35 as the other wicket-taker in a useful performance at the half-way stage of a competitive tussle.
 
A target of 105 to win seemed well within Ynystawe’s reach but they started badly as Owain Evans (8) was run out and No 3 Jacob Williams was bowled by Jack John without scoring - and more wickets fell as Geraint Jones (10), Steve Stanway (3) and George Williams (1) never got going.
 
All this was being watched at the other end by opener Cian Durke, who retired on 27 and came back to double that score as his 54 included a six, three fours and eight threes to continue the form that has seen him average over 120 from his 13 innings in Swansea, 10 of them not out. Tom Pritchard’s quick thinking saw Durke being run out on that impressive score - and Neyland were through to the final as their reward.
 
Ynystawe were left to reflect on the fact that four of their batsmen had been run out and, Durke apart, their other five batsmen could only muster 22 runs between them.
 
 

Final: 

 

Huge extras tally costs Neyland dearly

 

Ynysygerwn (174 for 5) beat Neyland (122 all out) by 52 runs

 
Neyland hopes off retaining the Welsh Indoor crown for yet another year were hit for six as they were well beaten by a very strong Ynysygerwn side which was immensely strong in their batting skills - and no mugs in the field either.
 
Sean Hannon’s team lost by 52 runs, arguably their heaviest defeat for a number of years, but made far heavier a defeat than it might have been by the fact that they conceded a massive 46 runs to ‘Mr Extras’ and were also hit for a gigantic 30 runs in their last over of bowling to compound the difficulties they faced.
 
Yet the Pembrokeshire champions made a good start as skipper Hannon removed free-scoring Morgan Rogers for only 4 runs, well caught by Dai Davies - but then Nathan Davies and Andrew McCormack raced to 72 from only five overs as Davies reached 23 before he was caught by Andrew Miller off Dai Davies.
 
McCormack sped to his retirement score with two fours and a six but later returned in the final overs where he slammed another two fours and two more sixes before he was eventually run out for a very belligerent 48 that left Neyland reeling because Cian Davies smashed a speedy 25 and quick cameos by Adam Davies (18) and Patrick O’ Brian (10) left Ynys in an almost unassailable position because Neyland needed to score at almost 15 runs per over and with big hitters like Ross Hardy, Paul Murray, Patrick Bellerby and Nick Koomen not playing at the moment.
 
Neyland opened well via skipper Hannon (retired on 26, including a four and two sixes)) and Dai Davies (21) before he was removed by McCormack, with Andrew Miller recording the same score before McCormack was again involved, taking the catch off Nathan Davies.
 
Gregg Miller missed out with the bat as he was run out for 8 in a desperate attempt at raising the tempo before Jack Jones (8) and Tom Pritchard (17)  also struggling to add very quick runs (but with Pritchard proving on the day that he is a far better batsman than he is sometimes given credit for).
 
Sean Hannon was caught and bowled by Patrick O’Brien for 30, with skipper Adam Davies receiving the cup from Swansea League organiser Sean Evans, who had also umpired all three games, along with Neill Crawshaw.
 
The Pembrokeshire scoring was undertaken by Will and Jack Davies (Pembroke) and Ben Noden (Neyland) – but after the short presentation sadly there was no food provided for those taking part on quite a long day away from home, unlike when the finals have been played in this county, where the buffet laid on was first-class!
 

SCORECARDS:

 
Ynysygerwn Innings:
Morgan Hodges ct Dai Davies b Sean Hannon 4
Nathan Davies ct Andrew Miller b Dai Davies 23
Andrew McCormack run out 48
Cian Davies run out 25
Adam Davies  run out 18
Patrick O’Brien st Gregg Miller b Sean Hannon 10
Extras 46
Total (5 wickets) 174
 
Neyland Bowling:
Jack John 3-0-35-0; Sean Hannon 3-0-38-2; Tom Pritchard 3-0-63-0; Dai Davies 3-0-45-1
 
Neyland Batting:
Sean Hannon ct & b Patrick O’Brien 30
Dai Davies cy Adam Davies b Andrew McCormack 21
Andrew Miller ct Andrew McCormack b Nathan Davies 21
Gregg Miller run out 8
Jack John ct Patrick O’Brien b Andrew McCormack 8
Tom Pritchard ct Andrew McCormack b Patrick O’Brien 17
Extras 17
Total (6 wickets) 122
 
Ynysygerwn Bowling:
Patrick O’Brien 3-0-32-3; Nathan Davies 3-0-21-1; Adam Davies 3-0-29-0; Andrew McCormack  2-0-25-2
Morgan Hodges 1-0-14-0.