DR Morris Cup Final Snippets 2019

** Neyland claimed their sixth win the past seven seasons with this victory over Lawrenny, who lost their third final, as they did against Carew in 2006. It was Haverfordwest who dominated the previous decade, with six wins, whilst Carew and Cresselly have also been successful with five and four victories since 1990. Overall, this was Neyland’s 20^th appearance since the competition started – amazing!

**The finals for this magnificent trophy are annually sponsored by Graham and Jane Morris in memory of the late Duggie Morris – and a terrific job they do of it. They provide a sumptuous tea for players, officials, county committee and others – and make everyone very welcome indeed.

**This season sponsors John and Sheila Hayman asked Steve and Jean Jones to be ‘Man of the Match’ adjudicators and Steve’s announcement of the decision was the shortest on record. “The winner is Nick Koomen of Neyland,” he said with his cheeky smile – and few would have disagreed with him!

**Mr Koomen is a fine all-rounder and was automatic choice as ‘Man of the Match, with innings of 37 and 18, a wicket haul of 4 for 18 alongside a miserly first-innings spell. Those wickets all fell in the space of five deliveries and completed something of a rare record.

We think he is the only bowler to achieve a hat-trick in both the DR Morris and Harrison-Allen Finals – and was chosen as ‘Man of the Match’ in both competition finals too – unless you know otherwise!

**The Oatfield Park ground was in splendid condition and veteran groundsman Brian Griffiths deserves a huge pat on the back for his yeoman work. If ever there was an unsung hero at a cricket club it’s ‘Griff’ and on the playing front he can say that he has played at least one game every season over the last 62 years. He turned out when the seconds were short recently and at nearly 79 took a terrific boundary catch.

**Congratulations to Paul Webb, the chairman of the Pembroke County Cricket Club, who officiated at the presentation and as usual did a great job, thanking a whole list of groups and making them all feel that they belong. This is Paul’s final season at the helm and he has maintained the work of some hugely respected chairman over that period, fully supported by his wife Janice.

**It was a real family day as both clubs are always eager to have wives, children and girlfriends involved – and Lawrenny had even gone to the trouble of turning everyone out in bright yellow tee-shirts. Rob Williams and his wife Kita brought their three day old daughter to her first game and there was a very nice shawl on the pram with the club’s name emblazoned on it.

**County Club life member Phil Thomas was there to cheer on his grandson Harry and the club had even sorted out a tee shirt for his smashing dog ‘Bono’

**Well done to umpires Dave Brandon and Richard Scriven, who did a good job in their quiet but efficient manner – and represented the old and new match officials. Dave has been involved now for 21 seasons after being involved in Lancashire, has had three Welsh Cup Finals and worked in India in the fore runner to the IPL. Richard, known to all as ‘Big Scriv’, is a relative newcomer after many years as a player, and his talents have earned him this recognition at an early stage in his umpiring career.

**Scorers John Laugharne (Neyland) and Malcolm Thomas (Lawrenny) were busy and did a great job – ably assisted in the first innings by Jen Seaton (Neyland) who manned the electronic scoreboard.

**The announcer was County Club vice-chairman Richard Merriman and he did well in keeping the crowd informed – and he had a real treat because he was ably assisted by elder son Robert, home on holidays and looking even taller than ever. Rob used to play for Whitland and was nicknamed ‘Windmills’ for the way he whirled his arms. Well done the Merrimans!

**It was a smashing day out for the press and the only downbeat matter for us was the attempts at playing music – although it was at least confined to the end of overs and during intervals. Does the County Club believe this spices up the day? Our view that it is the cricket that does that and not a lot of noise!

**It was also interesting to sit by a neutral supporter who had placed a sizeable each-way bet on Englishman Justin Rose – and when he was handily-placed in the top ten was keeping us informed via a sports app on his fine. By the end of the day though Rose had sunken to a tied 20^thplace and so the bet was lost. Never mind buddie, it was only money and you enjoyed the cricket!

**No doubt about the catches of the day – they both were pouched by Neyland. Patrick Bellerby took a superb catch on the long-on boundary in the first innings to shift big hitter Brad McDermott-Jenkins of the bowling of Patrick Hannon, whilst Nick Koomen’s in the second innings had a bit of luck attached as McDermott-Jenkins was again the victim. It looked as if Koomen had dropped the ball but it was somehow trapped between his knees!

**And finally, well done to both teams for making it a cracking day out – and Neyland can now focus on winning the league whilst Lawrenny will be looking for compensation by pouching the Harrison-Allen Bowl when they take on Haverfordwest!