Neyland Match Report
Neyland vs Cressely. Pembrokeshire Division 3, Saturday 23rd June 2007
The second half of the 2007 season began for Neyland seconds with a visit from highflying Cressely.
On a wet wicket the toss was always going be crucial and so it was with a mixture of surprise and
delight Neyland captain Mike Tennick returned to inform the team they would be fielding first.
This decision, at first, bore little fruit. The Cresselly openers, including the recently dropped
1st teamer Julian Arthur, enjoyed the perfect start. They played aggressively, but enjoyed a fair slice
of luck in racking up the 1st 30 runs of the day. Catches were offered, but Neyland poor in the field
all season, just didn’t seem willing to hold on to them. 2 went down before the first one stuck, Mark
Sutton picking up the scalp of Julian Arthur on his way to a brilliant 2-18. With the opener gone though
wickets came more regularly. The introduction of Scott John into the attack, fresh from Dubai, caused the
batsmen all sorts of problems and he dually finished his spell with excellent figures of 3-15. Not even
40 overs gone then and much to the disappointment of the fielding side, Cressely were all out, even before
all of the states in America had been named (a new Scott John game), for just 124. A shame for the state
naming fans but a total the Neyland top order was relishing the prospect of chasing.
Neyland couldn’t have wished for a better start. Scott John and Nicholas Koomen put on in excess of 60
runs, half the chase before John fell. In his first game for a year John added 37 runs to his 3-15 to
complete his excellent all round performance. Paul Miller then joined Kooen at the crease and wasted little
time attacking the Cressely bowling. He hit 12 in very little time at all but was soon following John back
to the hutch leaving Neyland on 75-2. Looking well set then chasing 124, Neyland crumbled. Batsmen came and
went around Koomen before he too departed. A good knock of 29 from him and Neyland crashed to finish 99-9.
Veteran Martin Jones seeing out the final over which had more excitement than anyone could handle. A wild
swipe at a ball outside off stick and a ball rolling just passed the wickets had Neyland spectators on the
edge of their seats but he stayed there, in doing so earning Neyland the draw that without question should
have been a win.