Neyland’s brave battle ends in defeat at Lords

PHOTOS:
Neyland CC receive their trophies from Mike Gatting
Neyland at Lord's
Dearne CC who beat Neyland

Neyland’s dreams of winning the national Indoor Cricket Finals were halted at the penultimate stage as they went down to defeat against a very strong team from Dearne Cricket Club, who were also in the finals for the first time as Yorkshire champions and eventually went on to win the title.

Relentless pace

 
Dearne had previously beaten Cherry Wellingham (Lincolnshire) and Sandyford (Staffordshire) to reach Lords and after being invited to bat first by Neyland skipper Sean Hannon they were quickly into their stride, despite the loss of opening bat Joe Cooper, who was adjudged lbw to Nick Koomen for eight runs.
 
But Nick Dymock (41) and Mark Williams (32) set a relentless pace before the former was bowled by Koomen and the latter run out by the quick-thinking Sean Hannon, who also bowled Liam Mitchell for a duck. But there were still runs aplenty from Andy Whaley (28 not out) and Greig Batty, who was run out for 31 in the final over by Sean Hannon in a manic run chase which saw Dearne amass a massive 166 for 5 on the huge playing area.
 

Quickly pegged back by good bowling

 
Neyland knew they needed an extra-quick start but were immediately pinned back by the pace of Andy Whaley, who trapped Koomen lbw for 8 and finished his three overs for a miserly 14 runs.

Paul Murray scored an excellent 25 before he was run out, whilst Patrick Bellerby suffered the same fate for three runs as Andrew Miller looked good in holding the innings together. Mark Williams only gave away 11 runs in his two overs and when Batty bowled Patrick Hannon for 17 and twin brother Sean was caught in the gully off Cooper without scoring, the writing was on the wall for Neyland.
 

Brave journey ends

 
Andrew Miller was finally run out for 39 with an over left in hand so Neyland’s brave journey in the National Cricket Indoor Finals ended with defeat at the Lords Indoor School in London.
But Sean Hannon and his boys, plus scorer Kirsty Hughes, have been great flag bearers for cricket in our county and deserve all the praise in the world, and it was fitting that they enjoyed a smashing tour of Lords and received their medals from former England captain Mike Gatting, to round off a day that none of them will ever forget!
 
Scorecard:
 
Dearne Batting:
Nick Dymock b Nick Koomen 41
Joe Cooper lbw b Nick Koomen 8
Mike Williams run out 32
Liam Mitchell b Sean Hannon 14
Greig Batty run out 31
Andy Whaley not out 28
Extras 12
Total (5 wickets) 166
 
Neyland Bowling:
Patrick Hannon 3-0-40-0; Nick Koomen 3-0-35-2; Sean Hannon 3-0-36-1; Patrick Bellerby 2-0-28-0; Andrew Miller 1-0-22-0
 
Neyland Batting:
Paul Murray run out 25
Nick Koomen lbw b Andy Whaley 8
Andrew Miller run out 39
Patrick Bellerby run out 3
Patrick Hannon b Greig Batty 17
Sean Hannon ct Nick Dymock b J Cooper 0
Extras 22
Total (all out) 114
 
Dearne Bowling:
Andy Whaley 3-0-44-1; Greig Batty 3-0-14-1; Joe Cooper 3-0-40-1; Mike Williams 2-0-11-0