Never gonna give you up

It’s only natural for people to reminisce be they good times or bad. In popular society the trend is to look back 20 years to see how times have changed with the fashions for those eras sometimes coming back into fruition.

During the last decade it was the 80’s that came into dominance and now the 90’s are having their time again.

Forgive me for not knowing the exact date of the record but as the 80’s turned into the 90’s a chap called Rick Astley had a big hit called ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. Astley was a bit of a dude of the time, a reticent star but a star nonetheless with a penchant for swaying his hips as though they were on puppet strings.

He certainly stood out, as did his big quiff.

He was singing about love in the song, I’ve no idea who about but a few decades later, in 2013 to be precise, legendary Aussie fast bowler Glen McGrath used a similar phrase when presenting the baggy green to an unknown spinner from Western Australia called Ashton Agar. As he handed it over to the fledgling spinner, he muttered the words ‘never, ever give up’.

Ashton heeded his advice and although he took a couple of wickets in his debut test he made history by posting the biggest score ever by a test number 11. He scored 98 and a fabulous 98 it was too. He was dropped for the third test for not taking wickets but we’ll no doubt here from him again.

On Saturday, Cresselly took on that mantra as they tried to chase down Neyland’s 214. As wickets fell mid-innings and with the scoring behind the run rate they could have given up and settled for a draw but they didn’t, they went for the runs picking off singles and hitting boundaries off bad balls (and in the case of Iwan Izzard some good ones) in pursuit of the win and they very nearly pulled it off too.

They drew in the end but only after losing their ninth wicket at deep mid off. Had the ball cleared the ropes, the win would have still been on the cards.

It was a terrific game and the standard of both teams was superb. Neyland’s fielding was sensational while Cresselly’s batting, which is their strength, was a joy to watch. The difference between watching that and what I regularly watch in division three was stark. There was absolutely no comparison and while there are players in division three who could cut the mustard in division one (Kilgetty’s Ross Hardy for one) put any team in division three against those two on show on Saturday and there would only be one winner.

There are many players in the lower divisions who could play a better standard than they do and the side that possess the most of them is Johnston. The current leaders of the second division they have an awesome batting line up that could score runs against the best of them. Daniel Sutton is one of the county’s finest, Steve Mills Jnr is as talented as they come while Lee Summons is Mr Consistency itself, then of course there is Ross Dewstone who is a destructive batsman when in the zone. They play a fearless brand of cricket that is good for the game, just like Neyland and Cresselly dished up on the weekend.

If Johnston go up and let’s face it they should, they could spring a surprise or two next season and could threaten the traditional powerhouses of Carew, Haverfordwest and Cresselly just like Neyland have done in recent years. It would be good if they could. Pembrokeshire cricket needs variety to keep it fresh and having different teams competing for silverware can only be a good thing and while we’re on the subject of up and coming teams, never dismiss Camrose as a potential first division team in the future either.

So, on to the important bit of the blog, who makes this week’s team of the week? Well, given that the only side to make 200 while batting first was Neyland, at least one of them will sneak in as do some from Cresselly but some other good performances were seen in division two also, so for the first time this season, the team of the week spans two divisions.

Team of the week

  1. Alex Bailey (Cresselly 2nds) 113 not out v Llechryd
  2. Dan Sutton (Johnston) 77 v Carew 2nds
  3. Ashley Sutton (Neyland) 98 v Cresselly
  4. Gareth Davies (Llanrhian) 74 and 5-20 v Carew
  5. Simon Cole (Cresselly) 66 v Neyland
  6. Nick Davies (Cresselly 2nds) 71 v Llechryd
  7. Chris Inward (Llangwm) 66no and 3-18 v Hook
  8. Steve Lewis (Lawrenny) 55 v Haverfordwest
  9. Simon Holliday (Haverfordwest) 54 not out v Lawrenny
  10. Adam James (Haverfordwest) 6-27 v Lawrenny
  11. Megan Jenkins (Cresselly 2nds) 4-40 v Llechryd 


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