Men's Indoor Cricket - Division Two - 20th November 2023

Herbrandston, Burton and Cresselly all win well

There were some interesting tussles in this round of matches from the second division at Neyland Community Hub, well organised as usual by Patrick Hannon and with good support from umpires and scorers.

The Ridge boys from Burton batted well, Stefan Jenkins finally came good in indoor cricket as the Cresselly veteran saw his side to a first win in the campaign and Harry Nicholas batted and bowled well for Herbrandston so that even Leighton 0’Connor’s consistency couldn’t save Hundleton.

The umpires for the evening were great supporters of indoor cricket in Chris Stapleton and Steve Williams, both regulars on the umpiring circuit around Pembrokeshire throughout the year.

Helping out in the scoring role were Johnny Lewis, Jane Richards, Ffion Ashman and Ian MIlsom.

Hundleton (61 all out) lost to Herbrandston (63 for 1)

Leighton O’Connor led the Hundleton batting with 25 before retiring but on his return for a second stint was caught by Atticus Kingston off Tom Philpott without adding any more runs.

The south-county village side had got off to a poor start as they lost Dylan Davies (1), Archie Reeves (0) and Johnny Nicot (5) but Craig Williamson looked good until he was run out for 10 and Steff Williams belied his ‘last man’ status with 25 before falling to Charlie Malloy (1 for 13), who bowled well in cahoots with Philpott (2 for 19) and Atticus Kingston (1 for 13).

In sharp contrast, Herbie’s innings got off to a flying start via Harry Nicholas (28 not out) and Dai Malloy (the ‘anchorman’ with 20 not out) and although they lost Atticus Kingston for a duck Charlie Malloy (9 not out) joined his dad in reaching their target in only five overs as they struck  a four, two sixes and 12 threes - and relatively few ‘dot balls’ as only Archie Reeves (1 for 11) managed a wicket for Hundleton.

Cresselly (131 for 4) beat Neyland Thirds (117 for 5)

Fine innings by Stef Jenkins, Tom Rowland and Tom Arthur helped Cresselly to beat Neyland Thirds in the highest scoring match of the evening, with runs aplenty on both sides before Cresselly held their nerve to win by 14 runs.

Rowland and Jenkins both sped to 25 and retired before Charlie Arthur and Ollie Rowland departed for ducks but the run-fest restarted as Tom Arthur belted 30 not out  and Lucien Thornton was another teenager who is beginning to shine with 12 before Jenkins (45 not out) and Rowland's (run out 36) made sure that Cresselly built their best score in the competition having hit four sixes,  two fours and 22 threes but still with 18 balls not scored off as Ashley Watkins  (1 for 24) joined Phil Keen (2 for 24) as the pick of the Neyland bowlers.

Neyland lost the experienced John Tennick (3) as one of Charlie Arthur’s victims in a 2 for 22 analysis, the other being Ashley Watkins (26) who opened and shared a big stand with Kieran Arran, who ended up on 37 not out.

Charlie French (13) also batted well but Keen and Jason Milne came and went against Thornton (1 for 29), Ollie Rowlands (1 for 17) and and Tom Rowland (0 for 17) as  Neyland finished short of their target despite striking two fours, a six and 23 threes.

But they also missed out with 23 ‘dot balls’, although Cresselly managed to balance that up a little with a massive 32 extras, including 21 wides and four no balls!

Burton (110 for 3) beat Pembrokeshire Seniors (85 for 5)

Will and Dan Ridge led Burton to a 25-run win over the Pembroke Vets with respective scores of 40 not out and 36 not out as opener Matthew Davies contributed 24 to their useful tally before he was run out.

But Dan John and Dan Griffiths both failed to trouble the scorers and Rob John (8) was unable to make a big impact as Kevin Bowen (1 for 22), Stuart Carpenter (1 for 23)  and skipper Ian MIlsom (1 for 23) bowled well for the old timers.

Burton ended their ten overs with four fours, a six and 24 threes in their 110 for 3, but also  14 deliveries where they failed to deliver any runs as the Ridge boys hit the ball hard to put their team in a useful position.

Dan Ridge  (1 for 11) also featured early on with the ball as he shifted one of the Seniors’ key run makers in Stuart Carpenter for 7 with Dan John pouching the vital catch - and another consistent batsman in Neal Williams (9) was also run out to put their team on the back foot.

But the ageless Kevin Bowen hit 27 before eventually getting himself run out late on and Rob Nicholas supported with 20 runs before being adjudged lbw to Dan John  (1 for 10) - but Mike Williams (run out 5) and skipper Milsom (6 not out) were under pressure despite Burton giving them 11 runs from extras.

The ‘Old Stagers’ had six boundaries but only 11 threes as their running between the wickets reflected their seniority - and no fewer than 22 balls from which he didn’t manage to score.