UK Indoor Cricket Competition:

Neyland Cricket Club will once again play at the home of cricket after winning their latest regional final at Bromsgrove School.
They fended off the very best sides from Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire to make it to the national indoor final at Lord’s on Sunday, March 29.

They will play Swindon (Taunton) in their semi final and should they win, will face either Woodlands (Yorkshire) or Broadstairs (Kent) for the right to be crowned UK champions.

"We were delighted to win obviously," Hannon told Telegraph Sport.

Due to availability we had to play in a small hall in Bromsgrove School as opposed to Edgbaston’s seven lane net facility. We beat Hook Norton at Edgbaston last year but knew the new hall could have been a leveller, thankfully we got through that game after a little stutter in the run chase. 

"Flitwick looked a good team in their semi so we knew we had a tough game ahead. Our boys were fantastic. It was arguably our best ever performance in indoor.

"Our focus now is Lord's. Having been losing semi finalists on three occasions our ambition is to win it all. We all have the experience of lords before so will know what to expect."

Match One: Neyland CC (94 for 4) beat Hook Norton CC (93 all out)

After making the long journey to Bromsgrove, Neyland took on Hook Norton in the first semi-final and showed all their talents with ball, batting and in the field.

Neyland skipper Sean Hannon won the toss and after inviting his opposite number to bat he had great support from opening bowler Nathan Banner, who conceded just a solitary single in a fiery first over to rock the side from Banbury back on the heels.

Then Hook Norton were further put on the rack as no fewer than five of their six batsmen were run out as Nathan Banner started the action by running out opener Giles Inghall for 4 –and Patrick Hannon then ran out David Knight for 6.

Ian White held the Hook Norton batting together to reach 28 (one six, 2 fours and 4 threes before he was run out by Banner’s speed of thought and action – but it was Andrew Bennett who looked their best batsman, retiring at 25 and then returning to end up run out by Hannon for 38.

McPhee followed in similar fashion, scoring 3 before Bellerby ran him out – and only Glazier fell to a bowler as he scored 4 runs and then gave a return catch to Henry Durrant!

Neyland started positively as Nick Koomen and Patrick Bellerby put on 70 in the seventh over before the latter retired with 27. Banner added 14 with excellent running between the wickets but was bowled by Knight for 27 – and at this stage Neyland suffered a wobble as the Hannon twins had ducks and Bellerby was unable to add to his earlier tally.

But Koomen showed just why he is regarded as such a top player in this discipline as he was joined by Durrant in taking their side to victory with 11 balls in hand – with Durrant on 6 not out and Koomen undefeated on 35, which included eight threes and two boundaries.
 
Hook Norton batting:
Ian White run out 28
Giles Inghall run out 4
David Knight run out 6
Andrew Bennett run out 38
John Glazier ct & b Henry Durrant 4
John McPhee run out 3
Extras 10
Total (all out) 93
Nathan Banner 3-0-18-0; Patrick Hannon 1-0-14-0; Nick Koomen 2-0-21-0; Henry Durrant 3-0-21-0; Patrick Bellerby 2-0-12-0
 
Neyland batting:
Nick Koomen not out 35
Patrick Bellerby b David Knight 27
Nathan Banner ct & b John Glazier 14
Sean Hannon ct Andrew Bennett b Dan White 0
Henry Durrant not out 6
Patrick Hannon run out 0
Extras 6
Total (4 wickets) 94
Dan White 3-0-24-1; John Glazier 3-0-32-1; Andrew Bennett 2-0-21-0; David Knight 2-0-12-0
 
Match Two: Neyland CC (114 for 5) beat Flitwick CC (83 all out)

Neyland were asked to bat first and suffered an early blow when Patrick Bellerby was caught in only the third over for 3 – and Nathan Banner departed for just two runs to leave them in a bit of bother at 29 for 3 in the fourth over.

But Nick Koomen was again on top form with his ability to steer the ball into space and he joined Henry Durrant in an excellent stand of 45 where the latter scored 18 from 21 balls as the score stood at 74 for 2 in the ninth over.

Then Sean Hannon joined Koomen in another productive stand where his 21 not out was made from only ten deliveries, including 5 threes and a four.

He and Koomen added 35 in only 3.4 overs.

Koomen finally departed after another top innings of 48 when he was run out off the last ball, having stroked 13 threes and a four – and with ‘Mr Extras’ chipping in with  19 the final score for Neyland was 114 for 5.

Flitwick never found it easy to build a head of steam as Nathan Banner led the very accurate bowling attack and the fielding was again superb despite the loss of Patrick Hannon, with George Evans standing in and doing well.

Only M Pateman (23) and T Pitkin (27) shared a second wicket stand of 41 but were unable to raise the tempo sufficiently and when both departed there was little further resistance as Banner claimed a fantastic 3 for 25 and Sean Hannon bowled well before donning the keeper’s gloves and taking an excellent stumping.

It was another memorable day amongst many for Neyland and as well as the team itself there was the usual support from club chairman Martin Jones, first aider Peter Davies and press officer Tom Pritchard.

Neyland batting:
Nick Koomen run out 48
Patrick Bellerby ct M Thurstance b A-M Hassan 3
Nathan Banner b L Peters 2
Henry Durrant ct A-M Hassan b M Thurstance 18
Sean Hannon not out 21
Patrick Hannon run out 3
Extras 19
Total (5 wickets) 114
A-M Hassan 3-0-16-1; L Peters 3-0-30-1; M Thurstance 3-0-28-1; M Pateman 3-0-32-0

Fishwick batting:
M Thurstance c & b Sean Hannon 8
M Pateman ct N Banner b Nick Koomen 23
T Pitkin b Nathan Banner 27
L Peters st Sean Hannon b Nathan Banner 0
C Thurstance run out 12
A-M Hassan ct sub b Nathan Banner 5
Extras  8
Total (all out) 83 
Nathan Banner 3-25; Sean Hannon 1-18; Henry Durrant 3-0-25-0; Nick Koomen 2-0-15-0