Western Telegraph Match Report, 9th August 2006.
Neyland Match Report
Narberth vs Neyland. League fixture, Saturday 5th August 2006. Umpires: Huw Davies & F HattonNeyland travelled to Narberth hoping to rectify a previously poor performance where they were shot out for a meagre 79 runs. After winning the toss, skipper Andrew Miller elected to field hoping to benefit from the soft wicket. Opening pace man John Jones bowled down the slope to his advantage; bowling an immaculate line and length, and reaping the rewards with a spell of 3-17 off his 9 overs, which included 4 maidens. John managed to take his wickets with what by his own admission were his worst deliveries. He bowled Richie Adams with a waist high full toss, leaving the batsman hopefully questioning whether it should have been called a no ball, and the other two were claimed with the aid of catches off a another full toss and a long hop.
Henry Durrant, Gary Lloyd, and Patrick Hannon also picked up a wicket each, which included one very sharp catch from Paul Murray at a deep mid off to remove the dangerous young Kyle Quartamaine. Matthew Johns gave a couple of tough chances to extra cover and just cleared the fielder on another occasion before eventually being bowled by Lloyd.
At this point Narberth were really struggling to score runs at 53 for 5 off 23 overs. Ian Hughes managed to calm the storm, batting confidently, and pushing the run rate. A good piece of bowling from Phil Davies forced Ceri Davies into a wild swipe, allowing ‘Minty’ to do the rest of the work taking another good catch. This brought passionate Ollie Cook to the wicket, where still in single figures skipper Windy took a sharp low down catch, however Cook remained at the wicket as there was a doubt whether the catch was taken cleanly. Cook took full advantage of this second chance, batting well with partner Ian Hughes who was eventually bowled by Phil Davies scoring a strong 46 with the score on 136.
Cook continued to score runs all around the ground until he was finally bowled for 38, which closed the Narberth innings with a very good score of 175. The boys thought that they scored at least 40 too many, after a very dodgy start from the home team.
John Jones and Paul Murray opened the batting brightly for Neyland, before a typical Minty expansive cover drive brought the end to his innings as he was caught behind square. John Jones then showed real talent in a classy Johan Cruyff flick from outside leg stick onto his stumps. Ben Hughes took his second wicket as Patrick Hannon was caught behind for 1. A sharp piece of fielding resulted in a direct hit, removing Andrew Miller for 14. Neyland found themselves in trouble at 52 for 5, which soon became 61 for 6 as Scott John departed for 2. A little resistance was found in Phil Davies until a swashbucking heave-ho to a wide mid on resulted in Ben Hughes’ third wicket. Sean Hannon batted sensibly until judged leg before adding 13 runs to the total. At 76 for 8 after 31 overs, gaining the draw was the best option for Neyland. Ironically, the youngest player, Henry Durrant found support from the moderately oldest player, Gary Lloyd, as they managed to fend off the tiring Narberth bowling attack and bag the draw for Neyland with the score at 105-8.
On the face of it Neyland had limped to a fairly timid draw, but this was none the less a significant result. With only three games left in the season the draw ensured Narberth only overtook Neyland by a couple of points in the league table, with Narberth having the much tougher run in.