Good winning starts for Neyland ‘B’, Pembroke Dock ‘A’ and Neyland ‘A’

 
Venue: The Neyland Hub Community Centre
Umpires: Rob Bellerby and Alan Hansen
Scorers: Rod Murphy (Neyland) and Rachel Sander (Pembroke Dock)
New competition organiser: Patrick Hannon
 
Our men of the matches – Lewis Page (Neyland B), Rhys Daley (Pembroke Dock A) and Ross Hardy (Neyland A)
 
The new men’s indoor cricket season began with matches in the top section and Neyland B started well against a new-look Haverfordwest A side, Pembroke Dock A beat Llanrhian and Neyland A served notice of intent as they easily overcame Pembroke Dock B.



 

Match One: Haverfordwest (69 all out) lost to Neyland B (70 for 4)

 
Haverfordwest’s inexperience showed in this opening tussle as they used only 8.1 of their allotted ten overs and four of their batsmen were run out in the process against a Neyland outfit where Gregg Miller and George Evans set the tone in the field.
 
As a result, The Town lost Jack Peters (8), Ashley James (6) and Peter Soulsby (0) to run outs and Jason Phillips (1) also departed in that way as Jason Stobbs  was their only batsman who looked comfortable.
 
He top scored with 34 before he was last out and a gritty 15 from Dan Hopley helped The Town to their final tally as George Evans was the pick of the Neyland bowlers with 2 for 10.

A target of 70 to win was well within Neyland’s range but they also lost Callum Power (9) and Gregg Miller early but  Lewis Page led the way with  29 not out as he returned late on to join Tom Pritchard in seeing their team home after Evans (10) and Sam Laugharne (5) had departed.
 
Neyland had five fours and two sixes in their total, which was achieved at a rate of knots in only 6.4 overs as Ashley James grabbed 2 for 4 with support from Hopley (1 for 10) and Peters (1 for 15) as the successful Town bowlers.
 
 

Match Two – Llanrhian (87 all out) lost to Pembroke Dock A (89 for 3)

 
Llanrhian and Pembroke Dock A are old rivals and on this occasion it was The Dock A who came out on top as they passed their opponents’ 87 all out with three wickets and eight balls still hand.
 
Llanrhian batted first and lost ace run-maker John Strawbridge for a duck as he gave a return catch to Rhys Daley but then Daf Williams and Evan James batted really well before Williams was removed by Neil Gregory for 22 and James was eventually run out for 34 after earlier retiring on 25 not out.
 
But Russell Watkins (3), Karl Davies (3) and Llion Williams (9) were unable to maintain the momentum as Rhys Daley (2 for 16), Tom Grimwood (1 for 15), George Smith (0 for 13) and Neil Gregory (1 for 10) bowled well so that only the addition of 16 extras took Llanrhian to a decent, but not huge, tally.
 
The Dock made an even worse start to their reply, however, as openers Jake Davies (2) and Scott Griffiths (0) were bowled respectively by Llion Williams (1 for 19) and Daf Williams (1 for 13)in the opening two overs. George Smith (6) became another cheap scalp for Llanrhian as he was bowled by Karl Davies (1 for 18) but Rhys Daley was comfortably man of the match as he top scored with a classy 32 not out and gained support from Neil Gregory (25 not out) and Tom Grimwood (16 not out) in a very good Dock A victory.
 



 

Match Three – Neyland A (124 for 1) beat Pembroke Dock B (53 all out)

 
Neyland A showed their class with victory over Pembroke Dock B by a massive 71 runs, with all their batsmen looing in good nick and their bowling and especially fielding strength came to the fore against a Dock B team which battled all the way in the circumstances.
 
They included 27 threes, two fours and four sixes as they sped to 72 without loss at the half-way stage and the only wicket lost came when Andrew Miller (21) was run out from some good work by Anton John.
 
Patrick Bellerby (26) and especially Paul Murray (29) set the innings off with a high run rate, both hitting the back wall with regularity before they retired, but Sean Hannon (23 not out) also batted well and Ross Hardy provided even more impetus with two late sixes in his unbeaten 22 as Ollie Hughes conceded only three runs in the first over of the innings as the pick of his team’s bowlers.
 
Hardy then bowled really well early on to remove Adam Phillips (12) and Anton John (4), assisted by Andrew Phillips, who also pouched a third catch when Sean Hannon shifted Luke Murray for 7 runs so that they could only muster 30 runs at the half-way stage.
 
Worse was to follow as Nick Daley and Owen Hughes were run out for 7 runs apiece and when Connor Carroll (8) was caught and bowled by Patrick Bellerby the Dock B were shot out thanks to Ross Hardy (2 for 14), Bellerby (1 for 8) and Sean Hannon (1 for 6), alongside tight little spells from Miller and Patrick Hannon.