Street-wise Neyland put their experience to good use by Bill Carne

 

Neyland (85 all out) beat St Ishmaels (84 for 4) by 1 run

 
Venue: Herbrandston Cricket Club (who deserve a huge pat on the back for getting the game played)
 
Umpires: Neill Crawshaw & Ian Gow
Scorers: Wendy Bradshaw & Arthur Arran
 
St Ishmaels fell just two runs short of taking their place in what would have been the first-ever all-second division Bowl Final after looking hot favourites to join Narberth after they had bowled out Neyland in only 19 of their 22 overs.
 
But Sean Hannon and his battling crew bowled well and backed it up with excellent fielding, especially in the later stages where Tish needed only 26 runs with five overs and seven wickets in hand.
 
From there, however, they seemed to freeze and were only able to find the boundary once, never scored more than five singles an over on the run-in - but still looking just about favourites until that last over when skipper Hannon took the ball and after conceding three singles struck a mortal blow when he had the dangerous Brennan Devonald caught by Ross Hardy.
 
That left Tish still needing four to win from two deliveries and Andrew Pawlett and Phil Cockburn could only manage a single apiece and Neyland were through to another final, leaving Tish understandably distraught at their narrow miss!
 

Great work by Herbie ground staff

 
It says much for Herbrandston’s resolve that the game was played on a dry strip after they had covered the wicket overnight and when it was removed was perfectly playable in front of a large crowd who were there, seeing them deservedly putting on the club’s first Bowl semi-final.
 
Neyland elected to bat first and openers Paul Murray and Gregg Miller got them off to solid start with 27 runs but then they lurched to 40 for 4 as both departed alongside other key run-makers in Ashley Sutton and Ross Hardy against the powerful spin/pace combo of Andrew Pawlett and Devonald, followed by skipper Jonathan Pawlett.
 
Worse was to follow as they slumped to 61 for 7 as Tish introduced their second top spinner in Steve Williams, who produced a special spell where he quickly pouched three wickets so that only Andrew Miller and Dai Davies managed double figures after the openers departed, and there were still three overs left as Devonald came back to help wipe up the tail.
 

Slow but steady start for Tish

 
It was hard to countenance such a sorry Neyland batting display and Tish also started batting well, if slowly, via Peter Bradshaw and Phill Llewellyn, before the latter departed with 23 on the board, trapped lbw by Hardy as part of his tight six overs, one of them a maiden, and with almost eight overs having been used up.
 
Bradshaw and Devonald crawled to 44 for 1 in the 12th over, having played out a lot of ‘dot balls’’ but with still 60 balls to score 41 runs.
 

Hannon joins the fray and with Miller changes the game

 
But that was before Sean Hannon joined the fray and, supported by excellent fielding, he struck two mighty blows by removing two batsmen in Bradshaw, who had adopted the anchor role, and Jonathan Pawlett, to leave Tish on 69 for 3 with overs drifting by
 
It should perhaps have been the time that Tish hit out but Sean Hannon and Andrew Miller conceded five singles in each over to set up that tense final six balls. Devonald and Phil Cockburn adding three singles from as many balls before calamity struck and Hannon removed Devonald!
 
But a Tish victory was still more than a possibility until Hannon only conceded two more singles and pandemonium struck as Neyland were delirious in victory by a single run and St Ishmaels were shattered in defeat after going so very close to a Bowl final appearance at Cresselly!

 

SCORECARDS:

 
Neyland Batting:
Paul Murray ct Lewis Rhead b Brennan Devonald 11
Gregg Miller ct Andrew Williams b Andrew Pawlett 18
Ashley Sutton b Andrew Pawlett 0
Ross Hardy ct Steve Williams b Andrew Pawlett 1
Patrick Bellerby b Brennan Devonald 4
Andrew Miller b Steve Williams 14
Dai Davies not out  14
Sean Hannon b Steve Williams 0
Patrick Hannon b Steve Williams 9
Jack John lbw b Brennan Devonald 2
Tom Pritchard b Brennan Devonald 0
Extras 12
Total (all out) 85
 
St Ishmaels Bowling:
Andrew Pawlett 6-0-31-2, Brennan Devonald 5-0-28-4, Jonathan Pawlett 4-1-16-1; Steve Williams 4-0-7-3
 
St Ishmaels Batting:
Peter Bradshaw ct P Bellerby b Sean Hannon 28
Phil Llewellyn lbw b Ross Hardy 11
Jonathan Pawlett b Sean Hannon 19
Brennan Devonald ct Ross Hardy b Sean Hannon 10
Phil Cockburn not out 10
Andrew Pawlett not out 1
Extras 6
Total (all out) 84
 
Neyland Bowling:
Jack John 5-0-19-0, Ross Hardy 6-1-23-1,  Andrew Miller  6-0-20-0; Sean Hannon 5-0-20-3