Western Telegraph Match Report, 16th August 2006.
Neyland Match Report
Neyland vs StIshmaels. League fixture, Saturday 12th August 2006. Umpires: David Loosemore & John Williams.Neyland entertained StIshmaels at the Athletic ground having narowly beaten their opponents in the away fixture earlier in the summer, giving the opportunity for the first Neyland double over Tish for many years. Neyland were in 8th position in the league with only 3 games remaining but were within 15 points of Tish who occupied the fourth spot. The day began fairly cloudy, with rain threatening and strong winds, and Tish captain Peter Bradshaw won the toss and elected to field.
This was likely to be Scott John's last game for Neyland, as he was due to leave for Dubai in the coming days for a year of teaching English as a foreign language, so he was given the opportunity to open the innings with regular opening bat Paul Murray. Tish opened the bowling with their regular pairing of Jonathan Pawlett and Andrew Palmer, and it was Palmer who made the early breakthrough, dismissing Murray for 2 with the first ball of his second over.
Gregg Miller then joined Scott and the pair began fairly cautiously, with the ball doing a little off the wicket, and after 10 overs Neyland had reached 21 for 1. At this point both batsmen began to open up a little, Scott playing a couple of well timed drives into the covers which were well stopped by the Tish fielders, and Gregg driving a couple of deliveries through mid on for four. After 15 overs the score had reached 48, and Andrew Williams replaced Palmer at the car park end and struck with his first delivery, as Scott was adjudged lbw for 15.
John Jones then joined Gregg at the crease in what proved to be the crucial partnership for Neyland. Palmer switched ends and replaced Pawlett, and after 21 overs the score stood at 66 for 2, with Palmer approaching the end of his spell. Jones then cut loose, driving Williams for succesive fours and then Pulling Palmer for succesive sixes into the trees. After 26 overs Neyland had reached 103 for 2, and Tish introduced 13 year old off spinner Andrew Salter, who had taken six wickets for Tish on his first team debut the previous week.
Salter quickly settled and the scoring rate steadied a little, though Jones pulled another 6, this time putting a delivery from Williams into the rugby field. At the other end Gregg was quietly accumulating runs, cleverly working the ball around the field and picking up ones and twos. However in the 33rd over Salter struck with a quicker delivery, having Jones caught behind for 56, including 3 sixes and 6 fours. His partnership with Gregg had brought 80 runs, and put Neyland in a very good position at 128 for 3.
Andrew Miller came and went without troubling the scorers, stumped doing exactly what he had been advising some of the younger members of the squad not to do. Gregg was run out by a direct hit for 52 in the 39th over, in the final push for runs, and Phil Davies struck a couple of powerful blows in making 21 from 20 balls including 3 fours and a six. Jeremy Charles made a quick 10, including 2 boudaries and Gary Lloyd and Henry Durrant both scored at a good rate, ending with 12 not out and 7 not out respectively, leaving Neyland to enjoy tea with a total of 189 for 7 at the end of the 45 overs.
Over tea both sides watched coverage from the 20-20 finals day which Leicestershire went on to win, scoring over 170 in both their matches. The high tempo cricket on display did not have the desired effect on the Tish batting though, as Andrew Williams and Andrew Palmer both started very slowly for Tish. John Jones and Henry Durrant opened for Neyland and they did not allow Tish to gain any sort of momentum, Jones beating Palmer's outside edge and squaring the batsman up on several occasions. Williams kept Scott John busy at extra cover off Durrant's bowling, but after 9 overs 5 maidens had been bowled and there were only 14 runs on the board, leaving Tish with a lot to do if they were to threaten the Neyland total.
In the 10th over the pressure finally told as Williams drove a slightly lose delivery from Durrant straight to Gregg Miller at wide mid on. The frustration was evident as Williams told Palmer that they could not go on like this as he departed for 5.
This brought Tish's most dangerous batsman, Jonathan Pawlett, to the wicket, and the change of emphasis was immediately apparent as he attempted to attack immediately. He hit Jones for four from his third delivery, albeit without much control. Durrant completed his six over stint, conceding only 6 runs and (6-4-6-1). In Jones' following over he made the crucial breakthrough, bowling a slower ball which Pawlett could not resist. Looking for another big drive Pawlett was clean bowled and Neyland were very much in the ascendancy.
Patrick Hannon took over at the car park end and continued where Durrant had left off, bowling 3 overs for only 5 runs. Jones (8-0-23-1) made way for Jeremy Charles, and he wasted no time in putting Tish into further trouble, a good incutter finding the inside edge of Peter Bradshaw's bat and deflecting onto his stumps via his pads.
At this point, with Tish's three main batsmen back in the pavilion, and the score standing at 32 for 3 after 19 overs it was clear that Tish were not in a position to win the game, so Neyland were able to concentrate on getting the remaining seven wickets required for victory. Andrew Miller tried to tempt the Tish batsmen with an over of slow stuff, but was not counting on Patrick Hannon allowing balls to dribble through his legs on the boundary in an expression of his disgust at having been removed from the bowling attack after three tight overs. Palmer did not appear to be interested in chasing the bowling so Miller made way for Phil Davies who bowled two overs for 11 before complaining that the wind was too strong and that he wished to change ends. Hence Gary Lloyd became the seventh Neyland bowler in only the 26th over, and the fifth to be used from the car park end, up the hill and into the wind (good job Gary only walks up to bowl now he is well into his fifties).
At the other end Charles continued to bowl well, excusing a number of no-balls, with Neyland exerting pressure on the Tish batsmen with close fielders [2 slips, a gulley, a silly mid-on and silly mid-off]. This appeared to be paying off as Charles bowled the young Cockburn and the following ball Symonds pulled rashly, skying the ball for wicket keeper Sean Hannon to confidently claim the catch. On Charles' hat-trick ball another slip and leg-slip were introduced but the new batsman Salter was able to watch the ball go safely through to the keeper.
Charles struck again two overs later as Paul Murray pulled off a brilliant one handed diving catch in the gulley to remove Salter for 8. This was a great relief to Henry Durrant who had just missed a great chance to catch Salter at deep square leg off Lloyd when, well positioned, he was blinded by the sun, only to feel the ball hit him in the stomach. It looked like only a matter of time before Neyland claimed the victory, but new batsman C Wilson had other ideas however, and looked increasingly comfortable at the crease and well orgainised defensively. He did give one opportunity early on as he played the ball firmly into the upper body of silly mid-on Scott John only to see the ball balloon up in the air straight in front of the fielder. But John was too busy screaming like a girl to look above him, and the ball landed gently at his feet.
Flynn looked a little less comfortable, cutting one from A Miller between keeper and slip, and playing and missing on a few occasions, but the overs were beginning to pass. Davies took over from Charles (9-1-32-4) at what he believed to be the less windy end and struck immediately, having Flynn caught behind for 12. In the 41st over A Miller snapped up a simple chance from Andrew Pawlett at silly mid-on, again off Davies and Neyland now had four and a half overs to claim the final wicket to win the game.
Scott John tried an over to mark his final game of the season but never really threatened, Davies was unable to claim his third wicket of the afternoon and Wilson also saw off an over from John Jones to see Tish through to the draw, ending on 32 not out.
The winning draw saw Neyland climb above Narberth into seventh position in the league, and move to within two points of Tish who had started the day in fourth spot. In the evening the younger players all headed off to Haverfordwest to celebrate, sorry, express their disappointment, at the impending departure of Scott John. Scott was presented with a leaving card, and no doubt by the end of the evening he was in tears, hugging his team mates, talking about 'the end of an era' and saying that he would miss everyone greatly.
League table following Neyland's winning draw over StIshmaels:
