PHOTOS:
Haverfordwest A - who had five batsmen retiring when they reached 25
Neyland B - who made their first appearance this season
Kieran O'Connor - best bowler on the day
Participating teams: Haverfordwest A, Neyland B and Haverfordwest B
Venue: The Meads Leisure Centre, Milford Haven
Umpire: Neil Croucher
Scorer: Martin Jones
Match One - Haverfordwest A (157 for 1) beat Neyland B (81 for 5)
Haverfordwest A gained valuable batting practice before their regional final against the Herefordshire winners at The Meads next Sunday as they elected to bat first against Neyland B and amassed a huge 157 for only one wicket before restricting the opposition to only 81 for 5 wickets.
A feature of their performance was the fact that their first five batsmen had to retire once they had passed 25 runs so that only last man Clive Tucker was out, caught by Gregg Miller off Rod Murphy for 14, having hit a six the ball before.
Sean Williams scored ten threes in his top score of 30 whilst ‘Mr Reliable’ Nigel Delaney had a string of threes in his unbeaten 26 and Simon Holliday smashed four threes and two sixes in his 25 not out.
Ben Field (four threes, a four and two sixes) was joined by skipper Danny Potter (four threes, two fours and a six) in taking The Town to their mammoth total.
Neyland B got off to a dreadful start as Scott Jones was run out by Delaney from the very first ball he was quickly followed by Rod Murphy and Tom Pritchard, who shared eight runs.
Gregg Miller batted well, including two fours and a six before he was run out in the late chase for runs where Luke Ryan belted four sixes en route to 31 not out as Delaney and Holliday were the pick of The Town A bowlers.
Haverfordwest A Batting:
Sean Williams retired 30
Nigel Delaney retired 26
Simon Holliday retired 25
Dan Potter retired 26
Ben Field retired 27
Clive Tucker ct Gregg Miller b Rod Murphy 14
Extras 9
Total (1 wicket) 157
Neyland B Bowling:
Gregg Miller 2-0-26-0; Scott Jones 2-0-13-0; Tom Pritchard 2-0-33-0; Nathan Sutton 2-0-36-0; Rod Murphy 2-0-39-1
Neyland B Batting
Scott Jones run out 0
Rod Murphy run out 4
Tom Pritchard b Nigel Delaney 4
Gregg Miller run out 29
Nathan Sutton b Simon Holliday 10
Luke Ryan not out 31
Extras 3
Total (5 wickets) 81
Haverfordwest A Bowling:
Simon Holliday 2-0-9-1; Nigel Delaney 2-0-12-1; Clive Tucker 2-0-20-0; Sean Williams 2-0-13-0; Dan Potter 2-0-7-0
Match Two - Neyland B (101 for 3) beat Haverfordwest B (77 for 3)
Neyland B batted first and Scott Jones batted well before he was run out for 19, with Luke Ryan promoted to opener and retiring on another hard-hitting 27, which included a couple of sixes. Greg Miller also chipped in with 23 and Nathan Sutton was there at the end on 11 not out as Kieran O’Connor was the pick of the Haverfordwest bowlers with a 2 for 11 analysis.
Neyland B ended on 102 for 3 and it was always likely to be too big a score for Haverfordwest B, despite useful runs from Kern Cunningham (retired on 25) and Lewis Rhead (20 not out) – but Neyland fielded really well and restricted the opposition to only 18 runs in the vital middle-five overs – so that they were good value for victory by 24 runs.
Neyland B Batting:
Scott Jones run out 19
Luke Ryan retired 27
Gregg Miller ct Kern Cunningham b Kieran O'Connor 23
Nathan Sutton not out 11
Tom Pritchard ct Kern Cunningham b Kieran O'Connor 0
Rod Murphy not out 4
Extras 18
Total 101 for 3
Haverfordwest B Bowling:
Archie Thomas 2-0-12-0; Kieran O'Connor 2-0-11-2; Warren Evans 2-0-23-0; Lewis Rhead 2-0-32-0; Kern Cunningham 2-0-22-0
Haverfordwest B Batting:
Kieran O'Connor run out 8
Kern Cunningham retired 25
Archie Thomas ct & b Rod Murphy 2
Lewis Rhead not out 20
Jack Scriven ct & b Luke Ryan 12
Extras 10
Total (3 wickets) 77
Neyland B Bowling:
Tom Pritchard 2-0-12-0; Scott Jones 2-0-19-0; Nathan Sutton 2-0-10-0; Rod Murphy 2-0-8-1; Gregg Miller 1-0-11-0; Luke Ryan 1-0-10-1
Match Three - Haverfordwest A (144 for 4) beat Haverfordwest B (53 for 4)
Haverfordwest A rounded off a relaxing afternoon’s cricket for them as they beat their B team by 91 runs in preparation for next Sunday’s regional final.
Although Simon Holliday fell early to Simon Williams there were runs aplenty for Ben Field (35 not out) and Nigel Delaney (40 not out) as skipper Dan Potter also chipped in a speedy 27 before he was bowled by Archie Thomas.
A score of 145 to win was always going to be too big for the B team but a feature of their innings was a cracking 34 not out by Jack Scriven after they had lost their first three wickets for only three runs. Lewis Rhead was another talented teenager in double figures.
There were wickets for skipper Potter and Delaney and now The Town A must gear themselves up for a far tougher contest this Sunday!
Haverfordwest A Batting:
Simon Holiday ct Archie Thomas b Simon Williams 14
Ben Field not out 35
N Delaney not out 40
Dan Potter b Archie Thomas 27
Sean Williams ct Kieran O’Connor b Archie Thomas 10
Clive Tucker run out 3
Extras 15
Total (4 wickets) 144
Haverfordwest B Bowling:
Archie Thomas 2-0-28-2, Simon Williams 2-0-19-1, Kieran O’Connor 2-0-20-0, Lewis Rhead 2-0-45-0, Kern Cunningham 2-0-32-0
Haverfordwest B Batting:
Kieran O’Connor run out 1
Kern Cunningham run out 0
Archie Thomas bowled Delaney 1
Jack Scriven not out 34
Lewis Rhead ct Nigel Delaney bowled Dan Potter 11
Simon Williams not out 1
Extras 3
Total (4 wickets) 51
Haverfordwest A Bowling:
Simon Holiday 2-0-11-0, Nigel Delaney 2-0-3-1, Sean Williams 2-0-19-0, Clive Tucker 2-0-7-0, Dan Potter 2-0-10-1