Neyland A walk over but the B team win well - and Haverfordwest win their first game of the indoor season

 

Umpires: Martin Jones & Allan Hansen

Scorer: Rachel Sander

Venue: Neyland Hub Community Centre

 

Neyland expected a tough tussle against Llanrhian but sadly the village side was unable to raise a team because of unavailability by their regulars, despite the yeoman efforts of club sec Fraser Watson, and so the current champions picked up the points against one of their rivals for the title.

 

In the games played there was a good win for Neyland B as Callum Power and skipper Sam Laugharne excelled, whilst Haverfordwest were rightly delighted that they enjoyed victory over Pembroke Dock B in a cracking match after overcoming so many set-backs up until then.

 

Match One - Neyland B (126 all out) beat Pembroke Dock B (81 all out)

 

Neyland B showed just how much they have improved in this season’s indoor league campaign as they overcame the problem of playing a man short as they beat an experienced Pembroke Dock B team by 45 runs.

 

Leading the way for Neyland were openers Callum Power and skipper Sam Laugharne, who both sped to 25 before retiring - and then returning late on to take their team to such a challenging final tally.

 

John Tennick (8), Tom Pritchard (15) and Rod Murphy (9) were all run out in the inevitable chase for runs but not before Murphy was able to belt his first six of a long career, indooors and out - and that bought the opening pair back in and the run rate increased as  50 runs came in the final three overs.

 

Laugharne eventually departed for 38 when he smashed a ball into the ceiling net and Daley took a splendid one-handed return catch - and Power lived up to his name as he ran well and punished anything loose before being run out for a terrific 44.

 

Considering that they didn’t score from 17 ‘dot balls’, mostly in the middle of the innings, their belting three sixes and six fours alongside 19 threes certainly helped, assisted by 12 wides.

 

The Dock needed a good start via Rob Hearne (10) and Adam Phillips (11) but both felt to excellent catches as Tom Prichard pouched a hard-hit return catch and Murphy judged a one-handed catch off two walls to give Sam Laugharne his first scalp as he also bowled Luke Murray (3), and had Nick Daley (3), stumped Power as he danced about three yards down the wicket to give Laugharne the gift of a 3 for 15 analysis.

 

Peter Kingdom batted well for his 34 runs before giving John Tennick a wicket and Power showed his terrific all-round skills as he switched to bowling  and he caught and bowled Connor Carroll (9) - and there were 11 extras but it was Neyland B who took the honours as they shot out the opposition in 8.2 overs.

 

Pembroke Dock A (108 for 4) lost to Haverfordwest (109 for 5)

 

Congratulations to Haverfordwest as they finally claimed their first victory in what had so far been a turbulent season, beating The Dock A after the opposition reached a good total of 108 for 4 - but Chris Phillips’ boys won with three balls to spare as last man Jack Peters batted really well with 17 not out.

 

Dock skipper Scott Griffiths and No 4 Rhys Daley topped their batting with respective unbeaten scores of 35 and 30 after opener Tom Grimwood (20) also started well before falling to the enthusiasm of Ashley James - but then Neil Gregory was run out, George Smith (5) and veteran keeper Glyn Griffiths (4) fell with the space of ten balls as Smith was caught by James off Chris Phillips and the other two were run out.

 

But it allowed Scott Griffiths and Daley to return to action and the run rate shot up despite the efforts of Dan Copley, James, Will and Chris Phillips, as they ran really well between the wickets as well as striking three fours and four sixes in their final tally.

 

Chris and Will Phillips started well for The Town before the latter was run out for 12 but then the captain and side-kick James really batted well before they retired.

 

But Dan Hopley (6) was caught and bowled by Scott Griffiths  and Jason Stubbs (7) was bowled by George Smith - but with Jack Peters batting well and with skipper Phillips and James waiting in the wings The Town were favourites to win as 29 runs were needed off three overs.

 

But Phillips (32) was run out in a calamitous mix up and James clearly caught the bug as he tapped the ball back to the bowler and called for a non-existent run - and suddenly they needed ten runs and looked second favourites with only Peter left.

 

The Town No 6 batted really sensible, however, to need five runs with an over left and two good shots were enough, assisted by a wide, saw them to victory in a match that was highly competitive but played in great spirit by both teams.