Welsh Indoor Cricket Finals:

Participating Teams: Neyland CC, Vale CC & Ynystawe CC

Venue: Swansea Leisure Centre

Umpires: Sean Evans and Ceri Evans

Scorer: Adrian Beeforth
 

Congratulations to Neyland Cricket Club as they won their sixth-ever Welsh Indoor Cricket Championships at Swansea and now move on to meet the winners of the Herefordshire Region in a few weeks’ time.

Skipper Sean Hannon stepped up to collect the silverware for the fifth time after Gregg Miller, who was unable to play because of work commitments, had led the club to their inaugural success.

“We played well as a unit,” Sean Hannon told us, “and our catching was excellent in support of accurate bowling from the squad.

“We fielded well and our running between the wickets was superb.

“It is another great winning of the title and we are looking forward to our match against the winners of the Herefordshire Region – but again it is a long way to travel!”

 

Match One:

Vale (89 for 4) lost to Neyland (90 for 1)

 

Despite having the greatest distance to travel Neyland started the morning’s play against Vale CC, a thriving club situated in Corntown, just three miles out of Bridgend, and showed they were in good form with an easy win as they reached their target for the loss of only one wicket, with 3.2 overs still in hand.

Vale play in the third division of the East Wales League and have clearly stated their ambition to eventually reach the South Wales Premier League/

But they found Neyland in no mood to allow them further access in this competition as only Dean Oram (16),  Darren Upham (13), Scott McCutcheon (26 not out) and Brendan McKay (24 not out) ever settled against terrific fielding by Neyland that saw Patrick Bellerby pouch two catches and Patrick Hannon one.

Sean Hannon, Patrick Hannon, Nick Koomen and Patrick Bellerby all claimed a wicket apiece and Henry Durrant conceded only six runs from his one over as Vale were restricted to 89 for 4.

It was never going to likely to trouble Neyland’s powerful batting line-up as Koomen and Bellerby got them off to a speedy start before Koomen (who had rapped two threes and a four) was caught and bowled by Durke for 19.

Bellerby retired on 25  (with  five threes and two four and then the Hannon Twins finished things off in style, with skipper Sean hitting  five threes in his 24 not out and Patrick adding four threes and a four as they ran superbly between the wickets and punished any poor deliveries..

 

 

SCORECARD:

Vale Batting:

Dean Oram ct Patrick Hannon b Sean Hannon 16

Martin Thomas ct Patrick Bellerby b Patrick Hannon 2

Scott McCutcheon not out 26

Richard Humphries b Nick Koomen 4

Brendan McKay not out 24

Darren Upham b Patrick Bellerby 13

Extras 4

Total (4 wickets) 89

Neyland Bowling:

Sean Hannon 3-0-19-1; Patrick Hannon 3-0-20-1; Nick Koomen 3-0-18-1; Patrick Bellerby 2-0-24-1; Henry Durrant 1-0-6-0

Neyland Batting:

Nick Koomen ct & b Darren Upham 19

Patrick Bellerby retired 25

Sean Hannon not out 24

Patrick Hannon not out 19

Extras 3

Total (1 wicket) 90

Vale Bowling:

Darren Upham 3-0-29-1; Richard Humphries 2-0-16-0; Scott McCutcheon 2-0-27-0; Dean Oram 1.4-0-16-0

Match Two:

Ynystawe (144 for 1) beat Vale (99 all out)

The Vale suffered a second defeat as they took on a strong Ynystawe team which has appeared in two Lords Finals in the past – and showed their potential as they raced to 144 for 3 in their allotted 12 overs.

The Vale lost early wickets and had to settle for 99 for 4 so that Ynystawe moved on to a ‘winner takes all’ match against Neyland.








 

 

Match Three:

 

Neyland (120 all out) beat Ynystawe (77 all out)

 

Neyland showed their positivity by electing to bat first and were soon building towards a challenging tally as Koomen and Bellerby raced ahead before the latter was run out for 14, including a six, in search of a single that wasn’t quite there.

There was a further hiccup for Neyland as Sean Hannon departed for a duck, adjudged lbw to James Bendle – but Patrick Hannon and Durrant took the total into three figures before the inevitable late wickets in pursuit of quick runs.

Patrick Hannon looked good with 33 (seven threes and two fours) before he was run out, Durrant chipped in with 28 not out (four threes and two straight sixes) and Koomen returned to end on 34 (five threes, one four and a six).

Ten extras helped take to Neyland total to 120 all out and Sean Hannon told us that he was pleased with the challenge his team had set.

Koomen then showed what an excellent indoor player he is by taking two early wickets, aided by good catches from Patrick Hannon and Durrant – and ended up with an impressive 3 for 17 haul from his two overs as he also had Rhys Palmer (21) caught by Bellerby.

From then on Neyland were on the attack and the remaining wickets fell in quick succession as Sean Hannon took the final catch from behind the stumps as he took over the gloves from George Evans after bowling three of the first five overs – and helped Bellerby to a 2 for 3 analysis in only eight balls as Neyland won by 43 runs in 10.1 overs.

 

SCORECARD:

 

Neyland Batting:

Nick Koomen st Gethin Jones b Ceri Durke 34

Patrick Bellerby run out 14

Sean Hannon lbw b James Bendle 0

Patrick Hannon run out 33

Henry Durrant st Gethin Jones b Rhys Palmer 28

George Evans b Ceri Burke 1

Extras 10

Total (all out) 120

 

Ynystawe Bowling:

Ceri Durke 3-0-14-3; Rhys Palmer 3-0-40-1; Lee Hicks 3-0-28-0; James Bendle 3-0-32-0

 

Ynystawe Batting:

Ceri Durke ct Patrick Hannon b Nick Koomen 11

Phil Bendle ct Henry Durrant b Nick Koomen 6

James Bendle b Patrick Bellerby 29

Rhys Palmer ct Patrick Bellerby b Nick Koomen 21

Gethin Jones ct and b Henry Durrant 2

Lee Hicks ct Sean Hannon b Patrick Bellerby 3

Extras 5

Total (all out) 77

 

Neyland Bowling:

Sean Hannon 3-0-29-0; Nick Koomen 2-0-17-3; Patrick Hannon 1-0-14-0; Henry Durrant 3-0-14-1; Patrick Bellerby 1.1-0-3-2