Carew went into the final round of fixtures top of the league after their win over title rivals and defending champions Neyland last time out. Carew were four points clear of Neyland at the start of play. However despite a comfortable win over Tish, Neyland picked more points than Carew and defended their crown.

This has all come about by Carew's decision to bowl first at the toss which meant they were unable to pick up full batting points despite passing Tish' score with seven wickets in hand. Without going into too much detail around the scoring system, had Carew batted first or indeed lost the toss they would more than likely have been celebrating long into the night. An error which has left much of the county stunned in disbelief and Neyland delighted at what has happened today. 

A somewhat bizarre way for the Champions to defend their crown but Carew only have themselves to blame, based on recent form Carew were looking set to be deserving of the title with Neyland not as dominant as they have been in previous seasons. However cricket is a game with lots to think about for Captain's and Vice Captain's and these decisions can be vital as today has shown. 

Neyland deserve plenty of credit however, a quality outfit who went into today just needing to pick up full points and hope for the best, they did just that scoring 211/8 thanks mainly to a brilliant hundred from Paul Murray. They then restricted Saundersfoot to 178 all out, with Gary Lloyd 3-31 and Geraint Rees 4-24 proving the stars with the ball. Carew then in many ways did the rest of the work for Neyland and the feeling in the village tonight will be one of disappointment for sure and with plenty of "what if"s. 

Photo from Neyland Cricket Club Facebook Page.

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