Neyland Match Report
Burton vs Neyland. League, Saturday 3rd May 2008. Umpires: D Chiffi & Walter Dash.Neyland arrived at Oatfield Park, Burton, for the first game of the 2008 season resplendent in their new kukri kit. After a pretty miserable week with a lot of wet weather, the sun was shining and the weather was surprisingly warm for the time of year. Fantasy cricket teams had been finalised earlier that morning, and everyone was lloking forward to the new season. With an excellent record against Burton stretching back may seasons, all the omens seemed to be in Neyland's favour. The one potential banana skin appeared to lie in the wicket, which had been covered from the rain in the last couple of days but which was soft and extremely green. Gregg Miller took on the tossing duties, called wrongly, and Neyland were invited to bat.
Paul Murray and Henry Durrant opened the batting for Neyland, with the experienced John Scale opening the bowling from the clubhouse end followed by Mark Griffiths from the road end for Burton. Scale began with a maiden, followed by another from Griffiths. The bounce looked pretty consistent but as expected the ball was not really coming on to the bat, with the odd ball deviating laterally off the surface. A couple of firmly hit strokes found the fielders and a third maiden followed. During the fourth over Durrant was bowled by Griffiths, and skipper Andrew Miller took to the wicket. Griffiths closed the over out to complete a wicket maiden and after four overs Neyland found themselves 0 for 1, with Burton very much on top.
Murray and Miller then dug in, patiently advancing the score to 21 by the end of the 14th over, including two boundaries from Miller, before he ran out of patience against the accurate Scale and skied one to James Venables having reached 15. Brother Gregg then replaced Andrew, but Griffiths and Scale continued to ask questions of the Neyland batsmen. Scale completed his 12 over stint with an excellent 1 for 16 analysis, and just when it appeared that the opening pair had been seen off Griffiths struck again in his final over when Gregg played on having made 7.
The young Jo Dixon replaced Scale, and James Venables' leg spin replaced Griffiths medium pace, as he finished with 2 for 27 from his 12 overs. At this point, having made 44 for 3 from the first 24 overs, the run rate began to increase. Venables opened with a few loseners, including both full tosses and short balls, and Dixon also dropped the ball a little short and new batsman Phil Sutton took full advantage. Murray was also now into his stride, having made only 4 runs from his first 48 balls, he advanced to 26 off 76 including 3 boundaries before he was caught by Bevan off Venables, leaving Neyland 64 for 4 after 28 overs.
Jeremy Charles replaced Murray, and he and Sutton certainly appeared to be in reasonable touch considering neither had picked up a bat since the previous season. Venables' accuracy returned and the Neyland batsmen were restricted to taking singles off his bowling, but runs continued to come at the other end, until Sutton drove the ball straight back to James Venables, having made an excellent 28 from only 36 deliveries. Neyland now appeared to be in a healthy position given the early season wicket, at 87 for 5 after 34 overs, but in the following over Charles was also dismissed at the same score, bowled by Jo Dixon for 7, and there was a sense that the next period may be crucial in determining the outcome of the match. Phil Davies briefly threatened to make a big impact, scoring 10 runs (1 four and 1 six) from only 7 balls before giving Venables his second caught and bowled of the afternoon.
Nicholas Koomen and Sean Hannon then batted well to take the initiative for Neyland as Burton struggled with their fourth bowling option, Bevan replacing Dixon with little success. Sean struck two boundaries in his valuable 11 from 13 balls, and brother Patrick then supported Koomen with some excellent running between the wickets as Neyland went in search of the 150 for the full 5 batting points. Koomen batted very well, with some fine drives in his 24 not out, and Patrick finished with 7 not out, as Neyland fell just short on 148 for 8 after the alloted 45 overs. However the general feeling was a positive one, having used all the overs on a difficult surface, to set what would appear to be a reasonably challenging total.
A hearty tea was enjoyed by all, though Gary Lloyd noted that he would be trying to tuck into a few less cakes than usual over the course of the 2008 season - time will tell, but he did restrict himself to just the one cake this time around. He also had some time to walk it off, unlike Patrick Hannon and Henry Durrant who were to open the bowling. Richard Hayman and captain Mike Venables took to the field for Burton. Three runs came from Patrick's first two overs, including a single from an edge through the vacant second slip area, while at the other end Durrant opened with two maidens. Patrick then made the breakthrough with the first ball of the fifth over, when Mike Venables attempted a pull shot but only managed to loft the ball into the hands of Phil Sutton at mid-on, departing without scoring. Brother James Venables came in at number three, but Patrick completed a wicket maiden and Durrant followed with a third straight maiden from the other end. Durrant's accuracy was rewarded in the 10th over when he bowled Hayman for 5, leaving Burton in trouble at 9 for 2 after 10 overs.
Patrick struck again in the 11th over when Chris Campbell was adjudged lbw for 2. The batsman clearly thought he had put bat on ball, but it certainly looked like the ball had first struck the front foot. Durrant completed his age restricted maximum of 7 overs with an excellent return of 1 wicket for only four runs. Gareth Bevan replaced Campbell and it was immediately apparent that he had no intention of being pinned down by the bowling. He struck three fours off one over from Patrick, all through/over the leg side, and followed this with a six and a four two overs later, as the Neyland field spread. Davies replaced Durrant from the road end, and though Bevan also found the leg side boundary from Davies' spin, Davies had his revenge two balls later, bowling Bevan to bring a swift end to an innings which had certainly been interesting, with 23 runs coming from only 11 balls.
Patrick Hannon completed his 10 over stint to return figures of 2 for 39, and he was left to reflect on what would have been excellent figures were it not for a brief assault from Bevan. Davies then struck again in his third over when James Venables played an uppish drive to mid on and was well held by Andrew Miller falling to his left. Burton were now in all sorts of trouble at 46 for 5 after 20 overs, with M James and J Morgan at the crease. Gary Lloyd replaced Hannon at the clubhouse end and swiftly dispatched of Morgan, neatly caught behind by Sean Hannon.
It now looked likely that Neyland would move on to quickly wrap up the game, but there followed a frustrating period in which the batsmen picked up runs while potential catches narrowly escaped the fielders. James in particular lead mid on and mid off a merry dance, landin the ball just out of reach on three or four occasions. The usually reliable Gregg Miller spilled a difficult chance at deep square leg and Davies started to get a little impatient and employed maximum flight time, and tinkered with the field, only to see Will Scriven clear the boundary fielders. The pair put on a very useful 30 runs together, taking Burton to 81 after 30 overs, beginning to give then some hope, before Lloyd struck again as Scriven was well held on the leg side boundary by Sutton.
Andrew Miller then brought himself on to replace Davies, who finished with a respectable 2 for 31 off 8 overs, and following two overs of the good the bad and the ugly, he got everything right in his third over. James advanced down the wicket and was well stumped by Sean Hannon, Jo Dixon was bowled round his legs first ball, and though the next ball went for four, Scale was bowled by the following delivery to close the Burton innings on 96 in the 36th over. Miller finished with 3 for 11 from 3 overs, and secured a decent fantasy league points haul of 75 points. Neyland opened the season with a 29 point win and maintained their excellent record against Burton in the process.
Western Telegraph Match Report, 7th May 2008.
League table following Neyland's win over Burton.
