Well done Trefor and Steve

Congratulations to Trefor Evans and Steve Blowes on the way that they officiated in the middle. It was Trevor’s third final and Steve’s first as they made a good team from the time they spoke to both captains at the toss, in the glare of the Sky Sports camera. Both clearly enjoyed the experience and helped make a good day. Trefor was fresh from playing for Whitland’s ‘Diehards’ team the previous evening, where he smashed two fours in his 11 runs!
 

The people who count

Another important team was the scorers, with Janice Brick and John Laugharne keeping the players andscorers informed all day. Sitting between them, as the scoreboard’s technical operator, was Janice Webb (Whitland) – and all three of them did a great job all day.
 

 

Doing a great job on the mike

Linking well with the scorers (and his much better half!) was Paul Webb, who has settled in well to the role of announcer on the day, never losing concentration and supplying the crowd with lots of information. Will Sky Sports have spotted him as a future announcer – we’ll let you know!
 

 

 

 

 

 

Skippers set the tone

The captains, Jonathan Twigg and Gregg Miller, set the tone for the match with their handshake before the game – and their chat with the umpires prior to the toss, again reinforced the need to make it a showpiece final.
For the record, Gregg Miller won the toss and, as expected, asked Jonathan Twigg, who was celebrating his 46th birthday, to bat first.
 

 

 

Immaculate pitch and outfield
at Cresselly, as usual

The pitch at Cresselly looked a picture and the outfield resembled a billiard table after all the work done on it by Glyn Cole, Denis Chiffi, Phil James and Dick Arthur. The ball whizzed to the boundary on a regular basis and Cresselly are lucky to have such doughty workers!

 

 

Denis deserves a special mention

Although he might tell me off for singling him out, I have to give a special mention to Denis Chiffi, who recently had a knee operation but has recovered sufficiently to spend a lot of time this week at the ground. We caught him wheeling a wheelbarrowand if you look closely you can see our Denis’s walking stick!

 

Great choice for man of the match adjudicators

The man of the match award is traditionally provided by the Cole family in memory of a great Cresselly character in John Cole – and it was especially nice to see the adjudicators as John’s daughter Joyce Thomas and his nephew Maurice, who announced the winner before Joyce presented the trophy to Ashley Sutton of Neyland.
 

 

 

 

 

Spare a thought for Steve

Spare a thought for Llangwm’s talented young batsman Steve Inward because he was forced to miss the big day because of a nasty injury to his finger in the semi-final – but was there to support his team-mates, including big brother Chris. He was the smartest water-carrier seen at the final and still managed to find a smile for us and show us his damaged digit. Good luck in Australia Steve, it will be worth the wait to shine out there!

 

 

Great support from Neyland oldies

 

There was great support from both sides in a crowd that was perhaps a little down on other years, none more so than from two Neyland old timers in Brian Phelan and Martin Jones. Brian found an old Neyland CC flag from somewhere and eventried to lift his bonnet and attach the flag to it. They even found time to let us have a picture, with Brian showing how agile he still is by almost bending double to smile for us!

Brennan looked a picture

On the subject of support, there was a largish group of players from Hook Cricket Club who were there to cheer neighbours Llangwm on, but also to share all-rounder Brennan Martin’s stag ‘do’ with best man Tom Blaxland. Tom had one of the tee-shirts worn by the whole party but Brennan looked rather fetching in his pink smooch and matching mop hat, and was delighted to pose for a snap in our ‘Snippets’ column!

 

 

 

 

Who is this super-hero?

There was a lively little crowd watching to the right of the clubhouse, mainly from Neyland but with a few Llangwm characters also there. We spotted this super – hero posing in the crowd and couldn’t help but wonder who he was trying to assist!

 

 

Roly raises a few eyebrows

Roly Edwards is chairman of Cresselly and is a great supporter of cricket and he looked totally relaxed as he walked around the corner of the clubhouse with his smart ‘Tilly’ hat and luxury folding chair. But his entry couldn’t have been more perfect because the gent from Sky Sports was in the process of getting the teams to walk out on the pitch as Roly came in shot – and jumped a little when everyone hissed for him to halt. He did it with his usual panache, however, and was all smiles when he found out what he had interrupted!
 

 

 

Llangwm lose their way a little but recover

The Llangwm first innings total was 121 for 5 but it was generally felt it wasn’t enough. Will Beresford served notice with his 42 runs and there were some very good catches by Paul Murray (2) and Gregg Miller as Nathan Banner was the pick of their bowling.
 

 

Neyland build a big total

Andrew Miller (23) and Nick Koomen (10) were the only Neyland batsmen in double figures alongside Ashley Sutton, whose place was in doubt because he had sustained an ankle injury whilst training with Narberth RFC in midweek. He defied the pain, however, and belted eight fours and five sixes in an unbeaten century that had ‘class’ written all over it. Will Beresford took a good catch and two stumpings whilst ‘Ackie’ Harries showed he can still shift a bit with a low return catch early in the Neyland innings. 14 year old Phil Llewellyn also bowled really well, including the final over of the innings, under terrific pressure, where he only conceded three runs.
 

Astonishing batting assault from Beresford

When Llangwm struggled to 36 for 4 in ten overs there must have been few in the ground who believed they could set a target for Neyland in the last innings of the game. Will Beresford had scored only 15 runs in 10 overs but then launched an incredible assault on the Neyland bowlers that included ten sixes, three in succession before he was caught on the boundary. It was a quite stunning knock, one that I will always remember and savour, with Joe Kiff supplying vital support in a stand of 99. Gary Lloyd bowled well for Neyland and Patrick Hannon claimed five wickets – but it cost him 58 runs as Beresford went on the rampage!
 

 

Neyland win with ten balls to spare

Neyland would have settled for a final chase of 132 runs at the start of the day but it was certainly more than they expected midway through Llangwm’s second innings. But they batted sensibly and were always up with the clock as Paul Murray (15) and Gregg Miller (32) gave them a solid start before Chris Inward struck twice. Ashley Sutton looked likely to pick up a half century to with his ‘ton’ but departed for 43 after batting alongside Andrew Miller (20) who was superbly caught by Jonathan Twigg off Darren Brick. But by then it was all over and Nick Koomen and Nathan Banner saw Neyland home.
 

 

Superb ‘tons’ on a unique occasion

Ashley Sutton and Will Beresford created a unique occasion as both scored centuries from some scintillating stroke play. Maurice Cole had seen every Harrison-Allen Bowl final and said that he doubted it would ever be repeated. Steve Phillips (Haverfordwest) and Geoff Cullen (Lamphey) spring to mind as previous Bowl centurions but we have a nagging doubt that there was a third – no doubt you’ll let us know if to can recall anyone else!
 

Gregg’s proud to lift the Bowl

Gregg Miller received the coveted Bowl from Huw Harrison-Allen and it was easy to see how proud he was. He thanks the opposition (as did Jonathan Twigg) and although Gregg says he hates speaking he did a good job for his club off the field, as well as on it. When we left in semi-darkness he was still chatting away to the guys from Sky Sports!
 

 

Have you seen a bigger smile?

It’s nice to finish off with a smile and have you ever seen a bigger one that this effort from Mr Miller. He was beaming from ear to ear but wouldn’t be drawn on whether his side could achieve the treble. “One match at a time!” was Gregg’s answer and it has worked so far for the popular Neyland skipper so far this season!