Western Telegraph Match Report, 30th August 2006.



Neyland Match Report

Lawrenny vs Neyland. League fixture, Saturday 26th August 2006. Umpires:Dave Brandon & Huw Davies
Neyland began the day in sixth spot in Division 1, knowing a win was required to push them into fifth spot ahead of their opponents on the final Saturday, Lawrenny, while the teams in seventh and eighth position, Tish and Narberth respectively had difficult fixtures against Haverfordwest and Carew.
Neyland Seconds were away to Whitland Seconds and probably needed to win to avoid relegation, a tough task, especially given that Whitland Seconds were chasing promotion from Division 3 and rumour had it they had dropped several first team players for the final fixture. Hence, when Andrew Slark pulled out of the Second eleven on the morning of the game with a bad back it was decided to let John Jones travel with the Seconds and to again call upon John Tenneck to fill the last first team spot.
Lawrenny won the toss and decided to bat on a day when the outfield still remained a little damp but the wicket appeared to be reasonably firm. Andrew Phillips and Henry Durrant opened the bowling for Neyland while Andrew and Simon Cole opened the batting for Lawrenny. It soon became evident that Lawrenny intended to bat positively from the start as both batsmen looked to attack anything slightly wide. They both flashed hard outside the off stump, either missing completely or crashing the ball to the boundary. But having scored 8 runs Simon Cole tried to find the leg side boundary off Phillips but only managed a leading edge high into the air which Phillips claimed himself. Cole had scored a lot of runs against Neyland in recent years so Neyland were hopeful that this breakthrough could prove crucial.
James Buckle joined Andrew Cole and began fairly cautiously. Phillips ended his opening spell with 1 for 25 off 6 overs while at the other end Durrant completed a tidy 6 over spell for 17 runs. Jeremy Charles and Phil Davies took over for Neyland, with Phil having his eyes firmly set on catching Gary Lloyd in the race for the most league wickets in which he was trailing by one wicket. Davies began well but as the overs passed there was no sign of the wickets he craved. At the other end Charles beat the outside edge on several occasions but was punished by Buckle in particular when he bowled slightly too full. Buckle drove stright for four and then hit three sixes straight back, one just making it through Andrew Millers fingers as he lept on the long off boundary rope. Charles then found Buckle's outside edge but was called for a no ball, which came to Shaun Hannon's relief, as he dropped the simple chance. Another edge hit Gary Lloyd's left foot at first slip and Charles eventually completed a luckless 7 over spell for 37 runs.
At the other end Davies was resorting to bowling some pretty awful stuff in an attempt to buy wickets. Unfortunately Andrew Cole was evading long on and hit two big sixes to cow corner. The next full toss appeared to be heading for another maximum over mid wicket when Paul Murray pulled off a truly brilliant catch. At full tilt from square leg Murray jumped and caught the ball with his left hand, then threw the ball into the air infield before crossing the rope. He continued around the boundary outside the rope before coming back infield to complete the catch. The umpires convened and agreed Huw Davies confirmed that Murray had timed his throw well and Andrew Cole was out for 41.
Phil had his first wicket and a few overs later claimed his second when Christian Phillips drove losely and was well held by Durrant at wide mid off. This second wicket brought Phil's tally for the season to 19, one ahead of Gaj (Gary Lloyd) who now commenced his spell from the other end, with Patrick Hannon replacing Phil at the car park end.
James Buckle departed next, caught behind by Shaun Hannon off the bowling of brother Patrick, having scored 65 and left Lawrenny in a good position to push for a big score. the incoming batsman Ian Jenkins was then run out for 0, and Bary Phillips caught by Andrew Phillips, again off the bowling of Patrick Hannon, who completed a spell of 6 overs, 2 for 31. Huw Griffiths then pushed the ball around and Jonathan Mathias made a quick 24 before being trapped lbw by Lloyd. Lloyd then bowled C Buckle for zero bringing captain Steve Lewis to the crease, batting at 10 today because of a bad back.
Paul Murray bowled the final two overs of the season from the car park end, his first spell in the league for the first team, and bowled fairly well to concede only 7 runs (is there anything Murray does badly?). Phil then took over from Gaj to bowl the final over from the hedge end, and was obviously delighted with the captains decision to give both spinners 9 overs on the day. It was clear from the first ball that Phil had no intention of restricting the scoring rate, as a 'tempting' delivery disappered over the hedge for six off Lewis' bat. Phil's pies continued to fly around the field until on the fifth ball Phil appeared to have succeded. A thick edge from Lewis flew out towards long off, where the reliable Gregg Miller was advancing to the ball. Phil watched in despair as Gregg completely misjudged it, jumping at the last second and spilling the ball at chest height. Everyone fell about laughing. Except Phil. Who finished with a fairly expensive 2 for 58 off 9 overs.
The Lawrenny innings closed on a formidable 216 for 8, but Neyland were none the less reasonably confident of getting something out of the game. News came back from Whitland that the seconds had restricted Whitland seconds to 160 odd, a total that certainly gave them a chance.
After tea Neyland opened with Andrew Phillips alongside Paul Murray, as Phillips had to depart early and was keen to open the innings. Lawrenny opened their attack with Simon Cole and the young Ben Cole, and Ben Cole's first over was very loose, starting withe a wide and with plenty of short and wide stuff allowing Murray to capitalise with two nice cut shots to the boundary and nine runs off the first over. However, in the second over Phillips hit Simon Cole's third delivery straight to Andrew Cole at mid off for a disappointing 3rd ball duck. All three Cole's had made it into the Lawrenny score book within 10 balls!
This brought together Gregg Miller and Paul Murray, currently first and second in the race for top run scorers in the league. With Rob Williams missing and the Neyland pair having registered an unbroken opening partnership of 177 in the corresponding away fixture, they must have fancied their chances. Gregg was quickly off and running with two fours, again of Ben Cole, but Simon Cole followed his initial wicket maiden with another maiden, and struck again in his third over, when Murray was caught out for 13. Three balls later the Neyland innings was in ruins as Simon Cole also removed Gregg Miller, bowled for 9, with the score on 25 for 3 chasing 216.
Phil Davies and Andrew Miller then tried to repair some of the damage, and were pleased to see Simon Cole removed from the attack due to a pulled muscle in his leg, having taken three wickets for three runs in four overs. James Buckle took over and generated a little away movement. Miller and Davies advanced the score to 44 before Davies mis-timed one and was caught by Mathias, giving Ben Cole his only wicket in an expensive spell of 6-0-46-1. Davies registered 10 off 10 balls, and Neyland were in even more trouble at 44 for 4. Henry Durrant was batting at number 6, and he started cautiously during a period of consolidation. Ian Jenkins replaced Ben Cole, started with a maiden and continued to give little away. Miller batted well for 36, but just when he looked as though he may go on to make a big score he mis-timed a short delivery from Buckle and pulled the ball straight to mid wicket. Jeremy Charles replaced Miller with the total on 78 for 5 in the 20th over, and as usual this season the problems lay with the rate of loss of wickets rather than the scoring rate for Neyland.
Charles struck two boundaries in making 15 from 20 balls, but when he was caught by Christian Phillips off Jenkins with the total on 104, Neyland's last hope of a win seemed to have passed.
Gary Lloyd was then stumped off Jenkins' next over, Sean Hannon was caught and bowled by Jenkins, and Durrant was bowled by Lawrenny captain Lewis in his first over. Patrick Hannon put up some resistance at the end, with Patrick playing a few nice drives in making 12 not out, but John Tennick was eventually bowled by Lewis for 8 off 8 balls, bringing the Neyland innings to a close on 133 in only the 36th over.
This brought the season to an end on a slightly disappointing note, but news quickly filtered through that the seconds were well placed in their fixture with Whitland seconds. An update confirmed that John Jones and Phil Sutton had knocked off the winning runs for the seconds and they had maintained their place in Division 3 for the following season.
The first team had to settle for sixth spot, behind Lawrenny and Whitland.

League table following the final game of the 2006 season: