Neyland Match Report
Carew vs Neyland. League fixture, Saturday 19th August 2006. Umpires: John Williams & Les HastingsWith Scott John having departed to Dubai, Andrew Phillips again unavailable, and Sean and Patrick Hannon, Jeremy Charles, Jay Dunsford and Gary Lloyd all being on holiday, Neyland had a depleted side for this fixture. The players awoke to heavy rain and congregated at the club believing the fixture may be cancelled. The second team fixture at home had been cancelled, though with a covered wicket, an improving forecast and the seconds desperate for points to avoid relegation the decision may have been taken a little too early. Carew also had eyes still on the first division title, still a possibility for them should they win today and Haverfordwest's fixture be cancelled, so it was no real surprise to hear the fixture was still on.
On arriving in Carew the home contingent were removing the covers to reveal a damp wicket beneath. The Neyland side played a bit of football awaiting a delayed start, but more rain on the uncovered wicket saw the team retire to the club house to watch the opening Premiership fixture of the season between Liverpool and Sheffield United, which finished in a 1-1 draw. The umpires decided to target a 3pm start time and hence a reduced over match of 33 overs per side. With the fresh rain on the wicket the toss was obviously going to be crucial, and Gregg Miller was as usual confident of calling correctly so he took over the tossing duties. He returned two minutes later to inform everyone Neyland were batting and the atmosphere in the dressing room became as gloomy as the weather outside.
John Jones and Paul Murray opened for Neyland against the young R Davies and the experienced Simon Wood for Carew. Wood opened with 3 maidens and Davies proved equally difficult to get away with the ball cutting and climbing steeply off the wet surface. Murray played a couple of nice drives which, though powerfully hit, slowed quickly on the wet outfield. Jones found the boundary in the eighth over and With runs hard to come by Jones skied the ball attempting another big shot the following over and was well held by the bowler Davies for 7. Neyland stood at 14 for 1 off 9 overs.
After 12 overs bowling changes were made at both ends, with Wood and Davies having both conceded only 9 runs in their six overs. However the change paid off for Carew as Cannon struck immediately, Murray missing his first ball, a full toss, and being bowled for 10. Gregg Miller started briskly, hitting the final ball of Cannon's first over for four, but Rob Scourfield also struck in his first over, a wicket maiden in which Henry Durrant pulled straight to square leg. The next two overs were also maidens and Gregg was then caught when he skied one off Cannon. At the mid point of the Neyland innings the score Neyland were 4 wickets down with only 22 runs on the board.
Phil Davies joined Andrew Miller at the crease and Miller cut Cannon for four but the scoring rate remained slow. After a couple more quiet overs, and a change of boots for Davies in which he sensibly borrowed a pair of spikes, the batsmen began to push a few sharp singles, but a big score looked beyond reach. Davies then hit Cannon back over his head for four, but was caught on the following delivery, for 14. Paul Miller struggled to get bat on ball as it continued to seam around, and departed for one. John Tennick then came and went quickly for a single, with which he was delighted, being his first run of the season.
Neyland were now 49 for 7 at the end of the 27th over and this became 49 for 8 as Andrew Miller was caught trying to push for late runs. Andrew Jones joined Nicholas Koomen at the wicket and the Carew bowlers continued to bowl accurately. Three maidens followed, then Koomen picked up a single and Jones made two before being caught out off the bowling of Wood. The following delivery Wood bowled Gareth Phillips for a goldie and the Neyland innings closed on a very disappointing 52 all out after 32 of the alloted 33 overs.
Both teams enjoyed a very inviting tea, with the usual array of cakes and cream scones, and Carew were no doubt confident of knocking off the runs required fairly quickly to win the game. Robbie Hicks opened with Ian Sefton and Neyland opened the bowling with John Jones from the dreaden garden end and Henry Durrant from the other end. Indeed, the ball appeared to have been lost in the garden on the very first delivery as a full toss from Jones was driven straight back by Sefton, passing narowly over the hand of Murray at long off and into the garden hedge after one bounce.
The spare ball fared no better as a short ball from Jones was pulled for 2 and a full ball driven for another 2 as Carew raced to 8 off the first over and the new ball was retrieved.
Henry Durrant opened well, swinging the ball significantly and causing Hicks a few problems. Jones then found some consistency in his second over and also began to swing the ball a long way. After four overs Carew had reached 15 and captain Andrew Miller doned a helmet and moved in to silly mid on to try pick up any opportunities that mayn arise with the batsmen lunging a little at the inswingers. The move paid off immediately as Hicks gloved one off Jones to give Miller a simple catch and Neyland the first breakthrough.
Brian Hall joined Sefton and the rain began to fall again, a gentle drizzle at first but in the distance the conditions appeared much worse. This was obviously Sefton's cue and he began to set about the Neyland bowling. He launched a big 6 off Jones into the gardens over long off. He ran a very tight single, then the following over he hit Durrant for an even bigger 6 over square leg. The field was dropped to try to slow the Carew scoring but two balls later he hit another 6, in the same place, the ball sailing over Paul Miller's head on the boundary and landing square in the middle of a car windscreen. The couple in the front seat ducked but surprisingly the ball simply bounced off, and the windscreen remained intact.
The following over Sefton hit Jones to fine leg for four before Jones finally had him caught behind for 35. At this point the rain was falling quite hard and in normal circumstances the game would have been called to a halt. Simon Wood raced to the wicket and the batsmen continued to go for the win. Paul Miller raced in trying to stop one quick single and skidded about six feet on his knees. The rain just got heavier and heavier, and the situation became a little farcical. The discussions on the boundary between the two sets of supporters became a little heated, as had often been the case in recent fixtures between the two sides. Fortunately Henry Durrant bowled Wood in the following over and this gave the umpires the opportunity to call the teams off with Carew 45 for 3 in the tenth over, needing just 8 runs to win. Apart from Sefton's 35, the next highest score was Hicks' 5.
Ten minutes later the umpires confirmed that the game had been abandoned, and the Neyland team breathed a sigh of relief. Carew were naturally very disappointed, and the news that Haverfordwest's game had also been abandoned appeared to mean that Haverfordwest had all but mathematically retained the league title with one game remaining. Neyland had picked up 9 points, seven more than would have resulted had they lost the game, taking Neyland two points above Tish into 6th spot.
League table following the abandoned game against Carew:
