The 2020 Pembrokeshire Indoor Cricket League got underway last night – and there were two wins for champions at Neyland at their new state of the art facility.

But despite the obvious in gulf in class between them and newcomers Narberth and Hundleton, of greater importance to the league was to see different teams involved, and overall 10 sides will take part between now and Christmas in what will be the most well participated indoor campaign for some considerable time.

Game one: Neyland (146-5) beat Narberth (28 all out)

It was the hosts who batted first in the opening game as Nick Koomen and Patrick Bellerby got things ticking straight away, but in the second over Narberth received a boost when Bellerby (10) got a leading edge off Llew Jones – and Jordan Howell produced a super scrambling one handed catch.

Koomen made 25 which meant having to temporarily retire, and No 3 Ashley Sutton did the same.

Nathan Banner made 7 before Jones struck again, having him caught behind by Kyle Williams, and Ross Hardy made a rapid 22 before holing out to Loui Davies off Howell’s bowling.

In the meantime Brad-McDermott Jenkins worked his way to 22 not out and Koomen returned to reach 36 before being caught by Jones off Dyer – and the same combination also removed Sutton as he failed to add to his earlier 25.

It gave Dyer figures of 2-34 in his two overs, while Jones finished with 2-24, and Howell took 1-40 – with Neyland ending up on an imposing 146-5 in their 10 overs.

The tally was always going to be a huge task for Narberth and Neyland’s experience in the field then shone through as they dismissed the visitors for 28.

Opener Howell fell for 5, caught by Hardy off McDermott-Jenkins (1-7), and then both Banner and Sutton notched run outs to remove Davies (1) and top scorer Jones (13) respectively.

Banner (1-3) also had Dyer caught and bowled without scoring, and Hough also failed to get off the mark as he was caught by McDermott-Jenkins off Sutton (1-6). Banner then finished things off by influencing another run out as Williams (3) went, with the Narberth reply ending after six overs.

Game two: Hundleton (18 all out) lost to Narberth (20-2)

Narberth bounced back immediately though with a quick win over Hundleton.

Dyer did some early damage by having opener Jonathan Williams (3) caught by Hough before bowling Iori Humphreys (0), to take 2-7 from his two overs.

He also took a catch as Davies dismissed Ben Adams (1).

It was Howell who finished things off though as he took a remarkable 3-0 in just eight balls - trapping David Lockyer (0) LBW and having Steff Williams (0) caught by Jones, before clean bowling Ewan Davies (1) as Hundleton fell to 18 all out.

Howells and Hough then took just one over to knock off the total, as Hough twice hit the back wall on the full for sixes off Steff Davies on his way to 16 not out, with Howell 3 not out.

Game three: Neyland (125-0) beat Hundleton (55-3)

There was a better showing from Hundleton in the final game of the evening however.

Again Neyland batted first and all of their line up got some batting practice in, with opener Hardy racing to 26 not out having cracked three maximums before having to retire – and he would later return to crack a fourth six to finish unbeaten on 32.

And McDermott-Jenkins (27 not out), Banner (27 not out), Sutton (27 not out), Bellerby (26 not out) and Koomen (27 not out) all showed their class at this level as Neyland racked up 125 without losing a single wicket.

Hundleton dug in with the bat this time around though as opener Stuart McNiffe hit a six in his 18 before being caught by Bellerby off Sutton (1-8), and Jonathan Williams made the magic 25 not out and had to retire.

Adams (1) gave a catch to McDermott-Jenkins off Bellerby (1-10) - who then made no mistake with a catch to remove Davies (3) off the bowling of Banner (1-15).

It meant Hundleton finished on a much more creditable 55-3 to round off the opening night of the league campaign, with further fixtures this Saturday when Llanrhian, Pembroke Dock and Johnston are all in action.

Umpires: Allan Hansen, Steve Williams, and Chris Stapleton.

Scorers: Sean Hannon, Richard Howell, and Mike Price.