Neyland Match Report
Neyland vs Narberth. League, Saturday 2nd May 2009. Umpires: Richard Merriman & Hilliard Davies.Losing the toss in the first game of the season is never a good start, and it was certainly a damp start this year, with a couple of puddles in low points where heavy machinery had become stuck only a few weeks earlier having to be roped off. Neyland were obviously invited to bat by Narberth skipper Richie Adams, and after losing Paul Murray early for just one, then advanced the score to 41 before Scott John was bowled by Matthew Johns.
Andrew Miller looked in reasonably form though, and pulled a couple of fours and a six from Johns' short balls before Johns had his revenge with a good lbw shout and Andrew departed for a very valuable 45. However at 77 for 3 from 32 overs Neyland were still looking in good shape given the conditions, until the subsequent collapse that is. 77 for 3 promptly became 86 for 7, as Neyland sunk into all sorts of trouble with the departures of Ashley Sutton, Jay Dunsford, Gregg Miller and Sean Hannon.
This left Nicholas Koomen and Patrick Hannon at the crease, but after initially struggling to time the ball Koomen then hit his strid and he and Patrick scored 44 from the final 7 overs of the innings, playing some very nice shots and running hard between the wickets to leave Neyland with a reasonable 131-7.Koomen ended on 22 not out, while Patrick ended 20 not out
Ben Hughes was the most economical bowler, returning excellent figures of 2 for 18 off 11 overs, and Matthew Johns was the leading wicket taker with 3 for 35 off 12 overs.
After tea Gregg Miller and Patrick Hannon opened the bowling, and Miller soon removed Johns for 1, caught by Jay Dunsford at mid off. Mike Scale, back for his first game in a few seasons, then joined Richie Adams, and the pair batted well to begin to take the game away from Neyland. Patrick Hannon was as economical as ever, bowling well to concede only 19 runs from his 12 overs, and Phil Davies also threatened without taking wickets. After 24 overs Narberth were well placed on 63 for 1, and continued on to 72 in the 27th over before Andrew Miller removed both batsmen, first finding Mike Scale's leading edge with a leg break which was skied to cover, and then trapping Adams lbw with a ... marginally less slow one, for 44.
Neyland now sensed the opportunity to get back into the game, and Murray caught Kyle Quartermaine on the mid-wicket boundary to give Miller his third wicket, and Neyland conceded only 10 runs from the next 7 overs. Phil Davies then completed his 12 over spell and the Neyland skipper finally succumbed to Scott John's incessant pleading for a bowl.
For once Scott's enthusiasm and confidence was justified, as he proceeded to deliver a great spell, clean bowling Mark Hughes, Ian Hughes and Ben Quartermaine to claim 3 for 13 in four overs to effectively end Narberth's chances of victory. In the final over Sean Hannon neatly stumped W Davidson to give neyland the fourth bowling point, and Miller his fourth wicket of the day, and excellent figures of 4 for 24 off 11 overs.
Narberth finished on 114 for 8, just 17 runs short, and Neyland were left by far the happier of the two sides, having twice recovered from perilous positions to finish the day with a winning draw and 18 points.
League table following the winning draw at home against Narberth:
Nicholas Koomen, above, and Patrick Hannon, below, ensure the innings finishes strongly and Neyland have a total they can defend.
