My Ton is better than yours

Has there ever been as many centuries scored in a season as there was in 2014? In league cricket alone, on 47 occasions batsmen raised their bats, doffed their caps and lapped up the applause of their team-mates after reaching three figures; surely this is a record?

The amount of players scoring hundreds has definitely increased over the years. Back in the late 80’s when I started my senior career with Kilgetty they were as rare as a Lamphey victory, unless of course your name was Peter Hall or Barry Wood then it was unlikely you would ever reach that milestone.

That’s an unfair assessment to make of course but the names of people who raised their bats back then didn’t exactly roll of the tongue.

I remember once when news filtered through that Bomber John had scored a century for Burton against someone, Kilgetty were playing them (him) the following week and we entered the game with trepidation thinking that he must have been in such good form to get one that surely we’d be pulverised too. It looked that way as he raced to 20 with five boundaries but then Roger Burns ran him out and all was good again, for us at least.

Today, that’s different, many players have scored one and this year Johnston’s Steve Mills Jnr racked up the most with three. In a season that saw them score over 3,262 runs he, alongside Daniel Sutton and Lee Summons were the mainstays of their run making. Such was their dominance that the Tigers scored 533 more runs than Pembroke who could only muster 2,729. Pembroke incidentally finished in a mid-table position, Llangwm were the champions of division two and their run making amounted to 2,664. This would have placed them third in an alternative table providing run making was the criteria on which leagues were won.

But, of all the centuries that were scored which one was the best? Well, without witnessing each and every one of them that is impossible to say but we can work out which was more valuable to their team on the day by calculating their innings as a percentage of runs scored for the team.

So, who scored the most valuable century of 2014? Mills, Sutton, Jonathan Thomas? No, that accolade goes to Robert Hood of Herbrandston seconds after his innings of 102 v Haverfordwest Thirds. In a team total of 155 his innings accounted for 66% of the runs.

An unlikely name to top the most valuable century mark maybe but cricket is an individual sport played within a team and sometimes the unlikeliest of names have the game of their lives.

The full list of century makers is below. Well batted sirs.

Batsman	Runs Scored	Team Total	% of runs
Rob Hood v Haverfordwest thirds	102	155	66%
Richard Simon Stackpole 2nds v Pembroke Dock 2nds	153	241	63%
Josh Hicks v Narberth thirds	108	187	58%
Harry Phillips v Camrose and Spittal seconds	132	230	57%
Steve Campbell v Llangwm seconds	122	215	57%
Lee Summons v Pembroke	145	257	56%
Martin Jones Camrose and Spittal v Crymych	103	183	56%
Richard Thorne Crymych v Camrose and Spittal	102	182	56%
James Adie v Lamphey	123	221	56%
Jonathan Thomas Whitland v Cresselly	111	200	56%
Paul Davies v Narberth	100	184	54%
Kyle Quartermaine v Carew	137	254	54%
Josh Davies v Pembroke Dock	108	201	54%
Phil Hay v Hook	101	188	54%
Luke Ryan v Carew thirds	109	203	54%
Steve Mills Jnr v Hook	115	220	52%
Wayne Jones v Cresselly seconds	128	251	51%
Rob MacKay v Narberth seconds	109	216	50%
Phil Williams v Lawrenny	122	244	50%
Richard Reed v St Ishmaels seconds	102	209	49%
Ross  Hardy v Saundersfoot seconds	132	273	48%
Josh Davies v Herbrandston	114	236	48%
Gareth Davies 108 v St Ishmaels	108	225	48%
Nigel Phillips v Hundleton seconds	116	244	48%
Richard Thorne v Saundersfoot	124	261	48%
Steve James v Herbrandston seconds	119	253	47%
Rob Weston v Cresselly seconds	106	226	47%
Dan Wilkes Cam v Narberth seconds	107	230	47%
Scott Arthur v Llangwm	126	274	46%
Nick Jones v Pembroke	100	218	46%
Will Beresford v Llechryd	125	273	46%
Steve Mills Jnr Johnston v Whitland 2nds	162	362	45%
Rhys Beard v Hundleton	100	225	44%
Keiran Griffiths	109	250	44%
Nick Koomen v Lawrenny	107	246	43%
Ashley Sutton v Lawrenny	107	246	43%
Geoff Harries Camrose v Neyland 3rds	104	240	43%
Steve Mills Jnr v Cresselly seconds	118	274	43%
Jake Marsh v Stackpole	115	268	43%
Andrew Edwards v Crymych seconds	118	275	43%
Luke Murray v Neyland seconds	130	315	41%
Daniel Dutton v Haverfordwest seconds	101	249	41%
David Dunfee v Llechryd	109	272	40%
Jonathan Thomas v st Ishmaels	105	264	40%
Alex Bailey v Llechryd	113	285	40%
Chris Thomas v Llechryd	108	273	40%
Aaron Keane v Haverfordwest fourths	101	273	37%