2023 Harrison-Allen Bowl – Quarter-Final:

 
 

Neyland (121 for 6) beat Narberth (120 all out)

 
Umpires: Jonathan Willington & Gareth Brace
Scorers: John Laugharne & Carmen Haltam
 
Neyland gained their expected place in the Bowl’s last four but not before they had been pushed all the way by a Narberth side which won the toss and batted in an attempt at scoring big to put the opposition under pressure in the later stages.
 
That ploy failed as they could only muster 120 all out, a relatively low total these days, but they still caused Neyland supporters some unease as they quickly shot out four of the home side’s ‘big guns’ before Patrick Bellerby came to the rescue batting in the unusually low position of  No 5 in the batting order.
 
 
Bellerby had produced a rare failure with the bat in the previous night’s rain-ruined first tussle but after sensibly settling in, unlike some of earlier colleagues, struck two fours and two sixes in his 44 before he also got out late on, but old-stagers Dai Davies (15 not out) and Andrew Miller saw them home, with Miller hitting the winning boundary as his only scoring shot.
 

Narberth innings soon in bother

 
Narberth’s attempt at building a big score were soon in tatters as openers Richard Adams and Jamie McCormack were soon back in the shed as Adams was neatly stumped by Sean Hannon off Ross Hardy after hitting the first ball for 4 – and McCormack’s attempted cover drive off the same bowler was superbly caught low down by Paul Murray before he could trouble the scorers.
 
Hardy (3 for 29) completed the early rout as he bowled Lewis Hough (4) to leave Narberth hoping for fireworks from skipper Kyle Quartermaine and he looked good as he reached 22 before Sean Hannon pouched a sharp catch behind to leave Narberth in bother at 44 for 4.
 

Loui leads a Narberth revival

 
Jordan Howells (6) made a welcome return from injury but was caught by Nick Koomen off Patrick Hannon (2 for 27) before the bowler went off with an injured hip – and Ben Hughes (14) and Rhodri Dyer (12) added a few runs for Narberth before Loui Davies looked their best batsman with three boundaries in his 28 before a Paul Murray throw-in to Sean Hannon saw him run out.
 
Koomen (1 for 11) and Brad McDermott-Jenkins (2 for 21) saw off the rest of the Narberth batting and left Neyland needing what looked like a less-than challenging run-stroll.
 

Neyland also make a bad start

 
But all that changed as Ross Hardy followed his second-ball duck the previous evening with a third-ball failure this time, caught by Dyer off Matthew Johns – and when Ashley Sutton (2) was bowled by a Loui Davies snorter it was 5 for 2 – and very much game on!
 
Dyer and Johns combined again to dismiss Nick Koomen (18) and Paul Murray (19) couldn’t repeat his performance of the previous evening as a Davies catch gave Matthew Johns an eventual 3 for 28 haul – and Neyland were looking a little shaky at 48 for 4.
 
But Neyland always seem to find a batting hero and this time it was Bellerby who came to their rescue with his 44 alongside 11 by Brad McDermott-Jenkins (bowled by Loui Davies) before Dai Davies and Andrew Miller rounded things off with nine balls to spare – and now they take on Carew in the semi-final in what should be an epic encounter!