National Indoor Cricket Competition:

 

Neyland Cricket Club once again flew the Pembrokeshire Indoor Cricket flag with distinction at the regional finals at Bromsgrove School as they fended off the very best sides from Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire to make it to the national indoor final at Lords at the end of the month.

Sean Hannon’s boys bowled and fielded superbly – and with Nick Koomen in such fantastic batting form they again showed all that is good in Pembrokeshire Cricket!

WELL DONE NEYLAND CC

 

Match One:  Neyland CC (94 for 4) beat Hook Norton CC (93 all out)

After making the long journey to Bromsgrove, including a healthy breakfast at Cardiff Gate services, Neyland took on Hook Norton in the first semi-final and showed all their talents with ball, batting and certainly in the field.

Neyland skipper Sean Hannon won the toss and after inviting his opposite number to bat he had great support from opening bowler Nathan Banner, who conceded just a solitary single in a fiery first over to rock the side from Banbury, in Oxfordshire, back on the heels.

Opponents put on the rack

Then Hook Norton were further put on the rack as no fewer than five of their six batsmen were run out as Nathan Banner started the action by running out opener Giles Inghall for 4 –and Patrick Hannon then ran out David Knight for 6.

Ian White held the Hook Norton batting together to reach 28 (one six, 2 fours and 4 threes before he was run out by Banner’s speed of thought and action – but it was Andrew Bennett who looked their best batsman, retiring at 25 and then returning to end up run out by Hannon for 38.

McPhee followed in similar fashion, scoring 3 before Bellerby ran him out – and only Glazier fell to a bowler as he scored 4 runs and then gave a return catch to Henry Durrant!

Positive response from Neyland

Neyland started with a very positive approach as Nick Koomen and Patrick Bellerby put on 70 in the seventh over before the latter retired with 27 to his name. Banner added 14 with more excellent running between the wickets but was bowled by Knight for 27 – and at this stage Neyland suffered a bout of the collywobbles as the Hannon twins both had ducks and Bellerby was unable to add to his earlier tally.

But Koomen showed just why he is regarded as Pembrokeshire’s number one player in this discipline as he was joined by Durrant in taking their side to victory with 11 balls still in hand – with Durrant on 6 not out and Koomen undefeated on a magnificent 35, which included eight threes and two boundaries.

 

 

SCORECARD:

Hook Norton Batting:

Ian White run out 28

Giles Inghall run out 4

David Knight run out 6

Andrew Bennett run out 38

John Glazier ct & b Henry Durrant 4

John McPhee run out 3

Extras 10

Total (all out) 93

Neyland Bowling:

Nathan Banner 3-0-18-0; Patrick Hannon 1-0-14-0; Nick Koomen 2-0-21-0; Henry Durrant 3-0-21-0; Patrick Bellerby 2-0-12-0

Neyland Batting

Nick Koomen not out 35

Patrick Bellerby b David Knight 27

Nathan Banner ct & b John Glazier 14

Sean Hannon ct Andrew Bennett b Dan White 0

Henry Durrant not out 6

Patrick Hannon run out 0

Extras 6

Total (4 wickets) 94

Hook Norton Bowling:

Dan White 3-0-24-1; John Glazier 3-0-32-1; Andrew Bennett 2-0-21-0; David Knight 2-0-12-0

Match Two:

Flitwick CC (Bedfordshire)  beat Hagley CC (Birmingham)

Flitwick caused something of a shock as they beat a very strong Hagley side from the outskirts of Birmingham which included a very good Australian all-rounder, setting up a final against Neyland.

Match Three: Neyland CC (114 for 5) beat Flitwick CC (83 all out)

Neyland were asked to bat first and suffered an early blow when Patrick Bellerby was caught in only the third over for 3 – and Nathan Banner departed for just two runs to leave them in a bit of bother at 29 for 3 in the fourth over.

But Nick Koomen was again on top form with his ability to steer the ball into space and take three runs each time and he joined Henry Durrant in an excellent stand of 45 where the latter scored 18 vital runs from 21 balls so that they stood at a more solid 74 for 2 in the ninth over.

Vital late thrust pays dividends

Then Sean Hannon joined Koomen in another productive stand where his 21 not out was made from only ten deliveries, including 5 threes and a four.

He and Koomen added 35 in only 3.4 overs.

Koomen finally departed after another majestic innings of 48 when he was run out off the last ball, having stroked 13 threes and a four – and with ‘Mr Extras’ chipping in with  19 runs the final score for Neyland was 114 for 5.

Banner’s bowling a key factor

Flitwick are clearly an experienced side but they never found it easy to build a real head of steam as Nathan Banner led the very accurate bowling attack and the fielding was again superb despite the loss of Patrick Hannon, with George Evans standing in and doing well.

Only M Pateman (23) and T Pitkin (27) shared a second wicket stand of 41 but were unable to raise the tempo sufficiently to give their side a chance and when both departed there was little further resistance as Banner claimed a fantastic 3 for 25 and Sean Hannon bowled well before donning the keeper’s gloves and taking an excellent stumping.

Another memorable day

It was another memorable day amongst many for Neyland amongst many and as well as the team itself there was the usual support from club chairman Martin Jones, first aider Peter Davies, scorer Ian Milsom and press officer Tom Pritchard – so it is onwards and upwards now for this talented team on 29^th March!

SCORECARD:

Neyland Batting:

Nick Koomen run out 48

Patrick Bellerby ct M Thurstance b A-M Hassan 3

Nathan Banner b L Peters 2

Henry Durrant ct A-M Hassan b M Thurstance 18

Sean Hannon not out 21

Patrick Hannon run out 3

Extras 19

Total (5 wickets) 114

Fishwick Bowling:

A-M Hassan 3-0-16-1; L Peters 3-0-30-1; M Thurstance 3-0-28-1; M Pateman 3-0-32-0

 

Fishwick Batting:

M Thurstance c & b Sean Hannon 8

M Pateman ct N Banner b Nick Koomen 23

T Pitkin b Nathan Banner 27

L Peters st Sean Hannon b Nathan Banner 0

C Thurstance run out 12

A-M Hassan ct sub b Nathan Banner 5

Extras  8

Total (all out) 83

Neyland Bowling:

Nathan Banner 3-25; Sean Hannon 1-18; Henry Durrant 3-0-25-0; Nick Koomen 2-0-15-0