Neyland Match Report
Llangwm vs Neyland. Harrison-Allen, Wednesday 21st May 2008. Umpires: Barry Wood & ?.Both Neyland and Llangwm had reasons to approach this cup fixture with optimism, with Neyland lying second in the first division after the opening three weeks, and Llangwm coming off the back of two victories at the weekend, over strong Cresselly and StIshmaels sides. With Andrew Miller due to arrive at the last minute from work, Patrick Hannon was again staking his claim for the tossing duties by demonstrating his prowess at coin calling in the changing rooms. Phil Davies had other ideas however, and after stating that he was the most senior player there at the time he took to the wicket, promptly lost the toss, and Llangwm opted to bat.
Patrick Hannon was given the first over from the clubhouse end, and William Beresford and Chris Inward opened the batting for Llangwm. Patrick started well with just a single coming from the first over, and Phil Davies then made an immediate impact from the other end when Beresford mis-hit a full toss to Paul Murray at deep mid on. Ian Phillips and Inward both found the boundary in the next couple of overs, but Phillips was bowled by Hannon, and Inward was then involved in a mix up with captain Andrew Harries and run out by a slow underarmed direct hit from Andrew Miller, leaving Llangwm 21 for 3 after 5 overs.
Jonathan Twigg joined Harries and began to pick up the singles and watching Andrew Miller drop a catch you would expect his 5 year old daughter Elin to take, claiming that he had lost it in the trees. Harries played more aggressively, striking two boundaries through the leg side and then a straight six off Hannon's final over. Hannon finished with 1 for 28 off 5 overs, and Llangwm had recovered to 47 for 3 off 9 overs.
In the next over Davies made the vital breakthrough when he bowled Harries for 25. Luke Brock edged one to the boundary off Henry Durrant's first over, and Davies then completed a tidy spell with just a single coming off his sixth and final over, to finish with 2 for 19. Durrant, extracting some steep bounce, then removed both Twigg and Brock, caught by Scott John at deep point and Shaun Hannon behind the stumps respectively.
M Kiff managed to hang around for a while, reaching 10 before he was neatly stumped by Hannon off Lloyd, but Darren Brick (run out) and Richard Brock (stumped Hannon bowled Lloyd) both departed cheaply so Llangwm were unable to build any momentum. Only a six from the penultimate ball of the innings, struck by Palmer over long off, gave Llangwm anything much to cheer about. Llangwm closed on 93 all out, with Lloyd having Palmer caught on the boundary by Scott John from the final ball to finish with an excellent 3 for 18 off 5 overs, while Durrant closed on 2 for 23 off 6 overs.
At the half way stage Neyland still believed they were in the driving seat, but Phil Sutton noted that it was worst fielding display he had ever seen from a Neyland side. This was surely far too harsh, but with the 11 wides conceded it was clear that an opportunity had been missed to keep Llangwm to a sub 80 run score.
Scott John had returned to the side for the first time in the season, and he opened the batting alongside Paul Murray. Chris Inward opened for Llangwm and conceded four from the first over, and Darren Brick then went for 10 in the second. Inward conceded boundaries from his second and third overs, but Brick then discovered his range, recording maidens in his second and third overs, using the testing wicket well and beating the bat on a couple of occasions. After 6 overs Neyland were comfortably on track, standing at 22 without loss.
Murray then called for a replacement bat, having broken his with a wide crack clearly visible and stretching right across the bat about half way up. He called for a replacement and first to Murray's aid was number three Andrew Miller, eager to lend Murray his £200 GM Purist Original, hoping that Murray would make more use of it than he had so far this season. Things began well, with Murray immediately pulling and driving two boundaries right out of the middle of the bat. But having reached 16, and looking for a fifth boundary from an Inward full toss, Murray smashed the ball only to hear a load crack, see the ball lob into the hands of Richard Brock at mid off. Miller looked on aghast to see his bat had also split across the middle, and only the thin plastic coating on the face holding the two pieces together.
Miller replaced Murray but was soon back on the boundary with his broken bat as he was caught behind for 0. Phil Sutton joined Scott, who was by now looking in excellent form, and eager to attack the bowling with a number of beautiful drives. As the opening bowlers completed their spells (Inward 1-36 off 6, Brick 1-15 off 6) Neyland stood at 51 for 2 off 12. Scott John was then run out in a mix-up with Sutton, having scored what appeared to be a match winning 43. Sutton recorded three boundaries in a useful 12 before being bowled by A Brock. Phil Davies then departed quickly for 2, and a tight over from A Brock suddenly had the Neyland crowd getting a little twitchy at 86 for 5 off 19 overs.
A boundary from Sean Hannon in the 20th over eased the nerves, and another good shot from Hannon on the second ball of the 21st over from Richard Brock saw Neyland home. Neyland left the field to hear that Carew had beaten Haverfordwest in the other cup tie of the day, and Neyland's reward was to be a second round home tie against Herbranston.
The new club training tops were issued to the players, who then experienced the hottest showers possible without removing skin in the Llangwm changing rooms. Everyone then raced back to the Llangwm clubhouse to watch the closing stages of the Champions League final in which Manchester United edged out Chelsea on penalties. The Llangwm bar staff had interestingly tuned one television to Sky and the other to the BBC, resulting in a time difference of around 5 seconds between the two pictures. Patrick unsuccessfully tried to make some money from the locals by predicting what would happen next, while Jonathan Twigg attempted to hold a conversation for more that one minute without being interrupted by father Don Twigg asking when they were leaving. A good night was had by all except Andrew Miller, who knew he was not going to be popular for choosing this unusual method of celebrating his wife Kate's birthday!
Paul Murray shows his disappointment and embarrassment by demonstrating the damage done to his captains bat back in Neyland.