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Harrison-Allen Bowl Final Snippets:
Superb day out at friendly final
Congratulations to both teams and their supporters for a smashing final where there was noise aplenty but all in a good spirit, with decisions accepted in a sporting manner and no nonsense amongst what was a surprisingly good crowd after so much wet weather.
Well done Glyn and Denis
There ought to be a special sporting medal that you could award to dedicated ground staff like Glyn Cole, Denis Chiffi and their helpers at Cresselly because the ground was in its usual pristine condition – and only playable because they had been there at 6am getting it ready after so much overnight rain. Some of the players also turned out to help and the game started only half an hour late despite the awful conditions of the previous night.
Umpires on form
County chairman Trefor Evans hit the nail on the head after the match when he said that it was hard to recall who had done the umpiring because they had got on with their vital part in the game in a calm, unflurried manner which is great for cricket. It was easy to see why Hilliard Davies and Tony Scourfield are held in high regard by players in the county – so well done lads!
Top scorers
The other vital ‘team’ involved were scorers Lois Howlett-Dyer (Cresselly) and John Laugharne (Neyland), who kept everyone involved with the scores, linked with the umpires and kept the press informed. Lois organised the electronic scoreboard and John clearly enjoyed his day out after previously playing in several finals over 40 years ago.
Hearty breakfasts and top eaters
Both teams enjoyed the traditional hearty breakfast, with Neyland at their clubhouse and well looked after by Debbie and martin, whilst Cresselly moved down the road to the Quay for a meal with Maurice and Janet Cole. I am reliably informed that Andrew Miller led by example as a top eater with Neyland whilst Phil Williams ate the most at Cresselly – and both featured as candidates for man of the match afterwards!
Novel way to win the toss
Neyland won the toss and Andrew Miller decided to bat first – but it wasn’t Andrew who called correctly but Jeremy Charles. Neyland had been losing a lot of calls and so Andrew started taking another player out with him to toss-up – and since the ploy had worked they carried it on into the final and it was Jeremy who called correctly when the coin was spun by Cresselly skipper Simon Cole.
Oldest and youngest supporters
If you believed the cruel wag who did the Neyland pen pictures then spin bowler Gary Lloyd was the oldest on the ground at 93 (he is actually a youthful-looking 47!) but there is no doubt who was the youngest because that honour fell to Joshua Richards, who had come to watch Uncle Lyn play for Cresselly at just nine weeks old with mum Claire and dad Chris. Joshua had his ‘Cresselly Barmy Army’ tee-shirt, on which was emblazoned the fact that he was indeed the youngest home fan, and another light note comes from the fact that Chris is known to all as Splash’ at Cresselly and Joshua has already been dubbed with the nickname ‘Skit’ to keep up the water tradition in the family!
Man of the Match
The adjudicators were Richard Hayman (Burton) and Roger Stanford (Saundersfoot) and they chose Andrew Miller, the Neyland captain. It was a choice greeted with acclaim because Andrew had scored 43 and 25 runs, with bowling spells that reaped 5 for 18 and 3 for 15. I know he would have willingly swapped this deserved award for a chance to lift the Bowl but hopefully his chance will come again and we hope he enjoys his top award because he played so well, as he has done all season.
Phil keeps the crowd informed
Someone who made far better noises was Phil Thomas, who performed the duty of MC well all day and made sure that everyone in the ground could hear him giving out the scores and other details.
Well done Dick and Julie
One such announcement was the fact that Cresselly 2nd team skipper Richard Arthur had just got engaged to Julie Beynon, and it brought lots of cheers since the couple are highly thought of in the village. So congratulations to Dick and his new fiancée!
Nicola nabs a new bat
Phil also announced the raffle winners and the first prize of a new bat went to Nicola Morris, who plays for Neyland Ladies and will put the bat to good use. She has a top score of 40-plus this season as Neyland seek the double so it will be interesting to know how she gets on with the bat. Winner of the bottle of whisky was Mr Andrew Albury of Pembroke Dock.
Oldest player - youngest player
The oldest player on the pitch was Richard Harris, who at 51 still does a great job with the ball – and was sent in to steady the ship when Cresselly had a slight wobble in their middle batting order. Richard also had son Andrew alongside him in the Cresselly side, which was nice for the old war horse. The youngest was 16 year old Ashley Sutton of Neyland, whose dad Phil had played for Neyland in the 1983 final when he was the youngest at 15.
Shot of the day
There were a lot of big sixes hit but I thought it was a screaming off-drive for six by Phil Williams in the second innings. No doubt you have a different shot that you savoured!
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