Indoor Cricket:

Neyland Cricket Club showed why they are the best team in Pembrokeshire and Wales by making another long trek, this time to Edgbaston Indoor School, to comfortably fend off strong challenges from the best sides in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire to qualify for the last four at Lord’s the proverbial home of cricket, in the National Indoor Cricket Competition.

They beat Potton Town in the semi-final and expected a far tougher tussle against Hook Martin in the final but once again bowled and fielded superbly to limit the opposition to a total that they would not have been satisfied with – and then showed their class in the batting stakes as they only lost two wickets in each game.

A great club effort

Mention must also be made of the inspirational leadership of Sean Hannon, who bowled his three overs straight off and then took over the gloves from Nick Koomen, who also bowled well.

George Evans also typified the Neyland attitude as 7^th man because he had played in earlier rounds and must have been disappointed not to play here – but he gave every support, as dis Lyn Rees and Ian Milsom, who shared the driving duties in the minibus.

Tom Pritchard did a great job of keeping local followers (like me!) up to date and his father Mark and grandad Graham Charles were also there to support, as was Scott Jones, who caught the train from his studies at Leicester University – all sharing in another great day of indoor cricket for Neyland Cricket Club!

Sean Hannon:

“I was delighted with the way we played today as we used our experience to good effect. We were professional in our approach and fully focussed on our roles – and it really paid off against two good teams.

Patrick Bellerby, Nick Koomen, my brother Patrick and I have all played in the finals at Lord’s twice before so we are hoping to make it third time lucky and bring the trophy back to Pembrokeshire!

 
 

First Semi-Final:

Neyland overwhelm Bedfordshire Champions

Neyland (70 for 0 in 8.1 overs) beat Potton Town (67 all out in 8.3 overs)

Sean Hannon got Neyland off to an excellent start by winning the toss against Potton Town and inviting the opposition to bat first – and then joining twin brother Patrick in shifting openers James Howlett and  Martin Walker for single figures, assisted by good catches from keeper Nick Koomen and mid-on Henry Durrant.

Potton Town managed to redress the balance somewhat with stead innings from Stephen Williams (21) and Kelvin McFarland (22), who was last out after Ravi Bhogal and Chris Stephens had been run out, the former from a steady bit of thinking by Koomen as he bowled to allow Sean Hannon to take over the gloves and the latter a sharp response from Gregg Miller that belied his alleged veteran status!

Terrific batting

Patrick Hannon was the pick of the Neyland bowling quartet but the team’s fielding was superb and kept Bedfordshire champions Potton Town under constant pressure.

In sharp contrast to their rivals, Neyland made an excellent start to their response as Koomen and Patrick Bellerby ran superbly between the wickets and punished the loose deliveries with boundaries. Both eventually retired on 25, with Koomen hitting four threes and three fours as he faced 22 balls and Bellerby rasping seven threes and a four from only 16 deliveries.

By then Neyland were almost home and dry and it was left to Miller (9 not out) and skipper Hannon (4 not out) to see their team into the final with 26 balls still in hand.

FIRST SEMI-FINAL SCORECARD:

Potton Town CC Batting:

James Howlett ct Nick Koomen b Sean Hannon 4

Martin Walker ct Henry Durrant b Patrick Hannon 5

Stephen Williams b Patrick Hannon 21

Kelvin McFarland b Nick Koomen 22

Ravi Bhogal run out 3

Chris Stephens run out 2

Extras 10

Total 67 (all out)

Neyland CC Bowling:

Sean Hannon 3-0-26-1; Patrick Hannon 3-0-22-2; Nick Koomen 1.3-0-8-1; Henry Durrant 1-0-11-0

Neyland CC Batting:

Nick Koomen retired 25

Patrick Bellerby retired 25

Gregg Miller not out 9

Sean Hannon not out 4

Extras 7

Total (0 wicket) 70

Potton Town CC Bowling:

Stephen Williams 2.1-0-14-0; James Howlett 2-0-14-0; Kelvin McFarland 2-0-19-0; Ravi Bhogal 2-0-13-0

 

Second Semi-Final: 

Hook Norton (Oxfordshire) (83 for 2) beat Barnard’s Green (Birmingham) (82 all out)

 

Final:

 

Neyland show what a class act they really are!

Neyland (103 for 2) beat Hook Norton (101 all out)

 

Scott Hannon again won the toss and asked Hook Norton to bat first and after a bright start by the opposition helped cut them back a little as he bowled Dave White and brother Patrick trapped Richard Knight lbw to reduce them to 21 for 2.

Sean Hannon then took over the keeper’s gloves from Nick Koomen and the pair shared the next wicket as the skipper neatly stumped James Ingram off Koomen’s bowling in a productive over which also saw him bowl John Ingram to take the score to 62 for 4.

By then, Paul Bartlett had showed why he has played Minor Counties’ cricket by reaching 25 and retiring – but he was quickly back into the fray alongside James Crozier (who belted 21) and the pair took 31 runs off two overs!

But Koomen did well to run out Crozier and Patrick Bellerby did the same to Bartlett, who top scored with 41 as Hook Norton ended up on 101 all out with two balls left of their allotted 12 overs.

Flying start by Neyland batsmen

Neyland’s response got off to a flier as Nick Koomen and Patrick Bellerby settled into their groove of punishing bad balls bit taking runs off anything loose and their first three overs saw them take 11, 16 and 15 runs.

They also managed another 12 runs in the next over but lost Nick Koomen, who gave a return catch when he’d reached 24 off 11 balls to bring Gregg Miller to the wicket – but Miller was run out next over, although a tally at that time of 66 for 2 in five overs put them well ahead of the required run rate.

It says much for Neyland’s approach to the indoor game that they didn’t get frazzled by these losses and simply settled back into their groove as Bellerby rattled up to his retirement with 25 from 12 deliveries and Sean Hannon maintained the momentum as they continued to score runs at an extremely good rate, taking 13, 15 and 6 off the next three overs without conceding a wicket and leaving them needing only six runs to reach Lord’s with 24 balls left.

The skipper finished up on 25 not out in 16 balls and twin brother Patrick ended undefeated on 10 as Neyland’s long journey to Lord’s continued, as they deservedly reached the last four at the home of cricket for the third time!

 

FINAL SCORECARD:

 

Hook Norton CC Batting:

R Knight lbw b Patrick Hannon 9

D White b Sean Hannon 12

P Bartlett run out 41

J Ingham st Sean Hannon b Nick Koomen 2

A Bennett run out 21

J Cozier lbw b Nick Koomen 1

Extras 15

Total (all out) 101

 

Neyland CC Bowling:

Sean Hannon 3-0-24-1; Patrick Hannon 3-0-30-1; Nick Koomen 3-0-15-2; Henry Durrant 2.4-0-27-0

 

Neyland CC Batting:

Nick Koomen ct & b D White 24

Patrick Bellerby retired 27

Gregg Miller run out 6

Sean Hannon not out 25

Patrick Hannon 10

Extras 11

Total (2 wickets) 103

 

Hook Norton CC Bowling: