Neyland Match Report
Lawrenny vs Neyland. League, Saturday 31st May 2008. Umpires: Huw Davies & Peter Perry.Having lost all 5 tosses to date in 2008, but approaching the match on the back of a big win batting first against Narberth the previous week, and with strong sunshine beating down, captain Andrew Miller was not too concerned about the toss affecting the outcome too heavily. Until he arrived and inspected the wicket. It was clearly damp, with Lawrenny noting that the decision not to cover the wicket on Thursday night after training had not been a good one, with torrential rain following on the Thursday night. Team consensus was that Neyland should continue to call heads as it had to come good eventually. Heads was called and tails came up. Neyland were batting first again, but this time things were not expected to be easy.
Scott John and Paul Murray opened the batting, while the reliable Rob Williams opened with Simon Cole for Lawrenny. The match began with two maidens, with accurate bowling on a slow, low surface. After 6 overs it was clear that run scoring was not going to be easy, and Neyland stood on 2 without loss. Thankfully the shackles were broken somewhat in the following over when an outside edge reached the third man boundary and was followed by a more conventional boundary, both from Scott. Cole then bowled his fourth consecutive maiden. In the 11th over Scott was adjudged lbw to Williams for 13, and Neyland were 16 for 1.
Andrew Miller then discovered how difficult batting was, with two balls cutting sharply away from him from Williams, before another with less extravagant movement lead to a thin outside edge to the keeper, and Miller walked without scoring.
Gregg Miller cut one ball to the boundary for 4 but was soon also on his way, smashing the first delivery from James Buckle, a poor short delivery straight to cover, and Phil Sutton then picked out point from the next delivery, his first at the crease, again a fairly innocuous looking short pitched delivery had got a wicket. Buckle finished his first over with a two wicket maiden, and Williams and Cole were left to reflect on how their accurate spells of 8 overs each, in which the ball cut around, had yielded only two wickets for Williams [2-17], and nothing for Cole [0-9], but Buckle had already matched their efforts. Neyland had other issues to ponder however, as they now stood at 30 for 4 after 17 overs.
Henry Durrant managed only 2 before being bowled by Buckle, and just two runs later opening bat Murray attempted a pull shot to a short delivery from Ceri Jones which never really got up and was bowled for 17, leaving Neyland in deep trouble at 45 for 6 after 22 overs.
Three wides and a no ball in one over from Buckle helped the score to progress to 57. Nicholas Koomen and Sean Hannon looked comfortable enough to encourage Lawrenny to return to the opening bowlers again. Williams returned with a maiden and then Cole bowled Koomen for 1, and from the final ball of the over Phil Davies hit a full toss straight to Rob Williams on the square leg boundary. Neyland were now 57 for 8 after 28 overs.
Any lingering hopes of a fight back were then extinguished as Patrick Hannon was dismissed by Cole for 0, and Sean then followed for 9, leaving Gary Lloyd not out yet again, and Neyland all out for only 60 runs, including 12 extras.
Tea was taken but surprisingly one young supporter didn't seem too hungry having been given a fiver earlier in the day and been told "there, you can eat as much rubbish as you want just as long as you tell your mother you just ate ham salad rolls when you get home!". Windy was again thanked by Rob Williams for 'walking' and Scott John and Phil Sutton reflected on the various options available to batsmen when edging behind to the keeper. One player, who shall remain unnamed, admitted to being the 'worst kind of walker', an occasional walker who would sometimes walk when he had a few runs on the board and was getting a bit tired, but on other occasions would face down the bowler with a shoulder shrug and a butter wouldn't melt look.
After tea Henry Durrant and Patrick Hannon started well for Neyland against Andrew and Simon Cole. A couple of tough chances were missed behind the stumps, and both players played and missed several times, but the runs were coming and taking the game away from Neyland. After a few characteristic lofted open faced drives from Simon Cole over point, he eventually edged one to Gary Lloyd in first slip off Patrick for 15, but at 30 for 1 Lawrenny were already half way to their target. James Buckle then hit two fours before being bowled by Hannon when attempting to smash the ball through the leg side. However Andrew Cole hit Phil Davies to long on for six, and ended the match with another six to long on, taking Lawrenny to 62 for 2 after just 16.4 overs.
Following the game Henry Durrant was to be seen combing the outfield diligently looking for his misplaced car keys he believed he had dropped during the warm up, only to see Sean Hannon driving his car towards him. The early finish allowed the players to stop off at Creswell Quay on the way back to Neyland for a pint, and to reflect on what could only be described as a very poor performance from a Neyland side which entered the tie full of optimism and riding high at the top of the division, against a Lawrenny team that had struggled so far in the season but which now looked much more competitive with a number of regular first team players returning to the side.
Elin and Lewis threw stones into the water, narrowly missing each other's heads, and Durrant was again forced to explain the definition of laissez-faire.
League table following Neyland's loss to Lawrenny:
