Western Telegraph Match Report, 15th August 2007.
Neyland Match Report
Neyland vs Pembroke. League fixture, Saturday 12th August 2007. Umpires: Daffy & John Austin.Neyland entertained Pembroke in their last home fixture of the 2007 season looking for the win that would all but guarantee first division cricket next season. Following a miserable season with the coin captain Andrew Miller had recently confided a complete lack of confidence in his ability to win a toss, so Jeremy Charles volunteered to take on the burden of responsibility, saying he was confident of success. Neyland looked on as Charles tossed the coin, Barry Evans smiled and then appeared to say "you can bat". Charles returned to the team claiming to have won the toss and chosen to bat.
On reflection this was not a bad result, given that this was probably the firmest wicket Neyland had played on following a miserable damp Summer. Paul Murray and Henry Durrant again opened the innings for Neyland against the Pembroke opening pairing of D Williams and the veteran Kevin Jenkins. Murray began very cautiously, playing himself in, while Durrant defended his wicket but looked to attack anything lose. After two quiet overs in which only a single was recorded, ten runs were taken from the third over as both batsmen struck boundaries. Durrant continued to keep the scoreboard ticking along nicely with some nice drives and clips to leg, interspersed with th occasional thick outside edge to the third man boundary. After ten overs Neyland were 41 without loss. The 16th over, Williams 8th, went for 12 runs as Durrant drove beautifully through extra cover, and Williams gave way to C Thomas with Neyland 70 for 0, and Durrant approaching 50. At this point Murray began to play a little more freely. Three boundaries quickly saw Murray catch and then overhaul Durrant to reach 50 first. Jenkins completed his 12 overs for 31 runs, and was replaced by Dan Scourfield bowling leg spin at the club house end. But Durrant was still looking in good form, and a few balls later he also reached the half century mark, with Neyland 103 for 0 after 25 overs and a big score beckoning. Murray then drove a full ball back powerfully to Thomas who held an excellent return catch. Murray had struck 8 boundaries in his excellent 50.
Andrew Miller then joined Durrant at the crease and Glyn Griffiths replaced Thomas from the football pitch end. As the field spread Miller and Durrant took the singles on offer. Griffiths bowled very full and straight, allowing singles to long off and long on, while Scourfield struggled a little with his length, interspersing good balls with full tosses and short balls. After 30 overs Neyland had reached 133 for 1, and Durrant was appearing eager to get on with things. One foray down the wicket to Scourfield nearly ended in disaster, but after a few calming words Durrant steadied himself and returned to playing the good cricket strokes that had taken him well beyond 50. He was certainly finding the middle of the bat regularly and both Miller and the umpire Austin were thankful to have avoided a couple of fierce drives which whistled past them. As Durrant continued to push on it became clear that he had an excellent opportunity to convert his first senior 50 into his first century!
The Neyland football team had by now finished their friendly fixture and were returning to the clubhouse. Seeing Durrant was still batting they were eager to find out how many he had scored. Durrant continued unfazed by the attention. After 35 overs the score had progressed to 159 for 1, and at the 40 over mark it was 188 for 1. Miller then fell to Griffiths in the 42nd over, having made a useful 37, driving the ball straight to D Williams.
Jeremy Charles then strode to the crease eager to prove he was a better batsmen than tosser. He almost immediately launched Rob Weston, who had previously bowled two pretty good overs, onto the changing room roof for a big six. Durrant then brought up his century with a thick inside edge for four and celebrated deservedly with Charles. The next ball he was bowled by Griffiths looking for a big shot. His 101 included 8 boundaries and was an excellent, well paced innings. He had driven the ball especially powerfully to all points within the traditional 'V' as well as taking runs all round the wicket.
Scot John joined Charles with sufficient time to strike one boundary and finish 6 not out, while Charles had time for one more six off the returning Williams which was even bigger than his previous effort. He finished on 20 not out, and Neyland reached tea on an extremely healthy 238 for 3.
After tea Neyland gave Durrant a well deserved rest and opened the bowling with Jeremy Charles and Lee Summons. Phil Stephens and Daniel Scourfield opened the batting for Pembroke and both batsmen made their intentions clear from the start. The first over of the innings went for 10 runs, albeit the batsmen were assisted by a wide and two no-balls from Charles. However Summons fared little better as the second over of the innings also went for 10. Daniel Scourfield had done all the damage and had smashed 3 boundaries in the first 3 overs, but his agressive batting did not last long as he skied the first ball of Charles' second over and watched Gregg Miller take the catch, having scored a quick fire 15, leaving Pembroke 20-1 after only 13 balls.
Rob Weston then joined Stephens and the pair continued to score at a good rate. After ten overs Pembroke stood at 58 for 1, with both Stephens and Weston having regularly found the boundary with long-handled shots. At this stage Neyland were beginning to turn their eyes to the scoreboard, wondering if Pembroke really had a chance of chasing down the big total. But two overs later, during Summons' sixth and final over under the fast bowling directive, he clean bowled Stephens for 29. This was a major blow to any hopes Pembroke could have held for victory as their two most dangerous batsmen would now be watching the remainder of the game from the boundary, with Pembroke 65 for 2 off 12.
Neyland's premier spin pairing of Gary Lloyd and Phil Davies then came into the attack, but initially struggled to make an impact. Phil Hay moved the ball around for singles, while Weston continued to accumulate runs at a decent rate with some powerful strokes and little footwork, keeping both straight and wide long on fairly busy. He interspersed such shots with some more aesthetically pleasing ones, but he eventually holed out to a good catch at long on shortly after an opportunity was missed at the same position. He departed for 39 in the 23rd over, Gary Lloyd making the breakthrough, and Phil Hay followed the following over when he was caught by Lloyd off Phil Davies.
With Pembroke now exactly 100 for 4 after 24 overs a Pembroke win was beginning to look unlikely, but Neyland still had a fair bit to do if they were to claim another 6 wickets to win the game. Lloyd and Davies continued to keep the scoring rate to around 3 runs an over until Lloyd struck again in the 29th over when W Davies was caught by Jeremy Charles. Neyland's third spinner, Andrew Miller replaced Lloyd in the 33rd over and immediately claimed the wicket of D Williams, caught by Jeremy Charles at deep mid off from a low full toss, having very nearly been caught there the previous ball. Miller struck again the following over when Huw Davies got a leading edge for Miller to hold a simple return catch. Phil Davies then claimed a second wicket during his 12th and final over when he bowled Kevin Jenkins for a duck, and Miller struck again in his fourth over when Glyn Griffiths could not resust and holed out to deep mid on, completing a devastating spell of 3 for 10 in four over, and leaving Pembroke in big trouble at 135 for 9 after 39 overs.
Patrick Hannon bowled three tight over without any luck, Henry Durrant bowled two threatening overs, where he was also unlucky not to pick up a wicket. A couple of straight bouncers from Durrant caused both batsmen some concern. But Barry Evans continued to stick around at one end while number 11 Chris Thomas looked pretty uncertain but seemed to be on the verge of saving the game. Lloyd returned for one final over, the 45th and last over of the innings, and with the field closing in on all sides (2 slips, silly mid off, silly mid on and leg slip) Thomas hit out at the fourth ball of the over. Evans watched in horror from the other end as the ball sailed out to one of the only 2 fielders not withing 20 yards of the bat, and for Gregg Miller to hold the winning catch at deep mid on. Lloyd returned figures of 3 for 30 off 11.4 overs, and Neyland picked up 30 points.
Henry Durrant drives effortlessly through the off side, and soon after celebrates his excellent century with Jeremy Charles as Barry Evans looks on.
He then acknowledges the applause of the crowd as he departs having scored 101.
League table following Neyland's win against Pembroke:
