See ball hit ball

Virender Sehwag - a bit like Steve Mills Jnr!
Of the ten centuries that were scored on the opening weekend of the cricket season, two stood out for me scored by players at the opposite ends of their playing careers.

Nic Scourfield has been churning out the runs for Carew in his unflustered style for close on three decades now but his enthusiasm and class still manages to shine through as his unbeaten 100 not out against Whitland proves.

Never one to seem overawed by bowling no matter how savage it may be, Scourfield keeps his wicket intact as though it was his most treasured possession and picks off the singles amid the odd flurry of boundaries. He is an expert at building an innings.

At the other end of the spectrum stands Johnston’s Steve Mills Jnr, half Scourfield’s age and poles apart in terms of his attitude to batting.

While Scourfield could be classed as a product of the 1980’s coaching philosophy of risk aversion, Mills is definitely a modern day apprentice of Virender Sehwag’s see ball hit ball approach.

Mills scored three centuries last season with one being an epic of over 160 against Whitland seconds and on Saturday he did it again as he put Lawrenny’s bowlers to the sword.

He’s a talented player, one who plays without fear  and an uncluttered mind as he attempts to unleash all the shots in the book. He’s stylish too with a flowing follow through of the bat after the ball flies to the boundary following a whip snapping crack of leather on willow, a product of his extraordinary eye and bat speed coming together in unison.

Whether or not he’ll have Scourfield longevity in the game remains to be seen but one thing is for sure, both will no doubt be up there in terms of top run scorers this season despite their contrasting styles and both make the first tea
m of the week for 2015.

Team of the week 

  1. Steve Mills (Johnston) 169 and 3-40 v Lawrenny
  2. Simon Holliday (Haverfordwest) 116 not out v Llanrhian
  3. Nic Scourfield (Carew) 100 Not out v Whitland.
  4.  Nick Koomen (Neyland) 94 v Cresselly
  5.  Mike Jones (Johnston) 85 v Lawrenny
  6. Nathan Banner (Neyland) 79 and 3-43 v Cresselly
  7.  Rhys Davies (Carew) 82 not out v Whitland
  8.  Jonathan Pawlett (St Ishmaels) 71 v Llangwm
  9.  Clive Tucker (Haverfordwest) 6-32 v Llanrhian
  10. Andrew Williams (St Ishmaels) 5-29 v Llangwm
  11.  Brad McDermott Jenkins (Cresselly) 4-65 & 27 v Neyland

Due to so many centurions, this week’s team of the week comprises of first division players only but for the sake of promoting their brilliance on the first weekend of the season, here’s the full list of players who raised their bats to the adulation of their team mates.


Steve Mills
169 v Lawrenny
Scott James
145 no v Cressely 3rds
Tom Blaxland
128 no v Pembroke
Martin James
126  v Burton
Barry Evans
117 no v Hook
Simon Holliday
116 no v Llanrhian
David Dunfee
110 v Narberth
Adam Raymond
106 no v Kilgetty
Dan Richards
103 v Llangwm 2nds
Nic Scourfield
100 no v Whitland


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More than just a chip off the old block

Image
Batting against Whitland recently - pic taken  from www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/sport With over 700 runs and 32 wickets to his name it's fair to say Tom Davies is having a season to be proud of. Topping the batting charts at the half way point and second place in the bowling, he's the county's premier all-rounder at this point in time and arguably the county's best cricketer which is no mean feat given the names making up the list of Pembrokeshire best batsmen and bowlers. They're all impressive players. Now, aged 27 and in his ninth season as a first team player at Carew he's playing at the peak of his powers, opening the batting and bowling of one of Pembrokeshire's most prestigious clubs and revelling in the chance to bat in one spot and making it his own. It was at the end of last season that he was asked to open the innings and it was a move that immediately paid off being not out in every game he played.  The form hasn't tailed off...
Read more

Bees and Ben

Image
Ben Stokes . Pic from ECB webste This is Ben. Ben is Big Ben is Strong Ben plays cricket Ben is cool  He may be injured but Ben Stokes is quite possibly the most exciting cricketer in the world. He bats, he bowls, he takes ridiculous catches and according to Graeme Swan he’s as hard as nails. He’s everything every a young cricketer would want to be. The trouble of course is getting them to like cricket in the first place. With so many lifestyle choices vying for their attention a young person of today is spoilt for choice. According to a recent study, the majority of teenagers in 2016 place cricket 7 th in the list of what they would like to do in their spare time. Cricket however is fighting back and none more so than at Haverfordwest Cricket Club. I took my 13-year-old nephew to training there the other Friday and there were so many kids playing the game it was as though the field had an infestation of bees. They were swarming eve...
Read more

Top cut

Image
An industrious amateur groundsman from Somerset has ensured he remains a cut above the rest after designing and building his own range of cylinder mowers. Andrew Fox, of East Harptree Cricket Club, a small village around 15 miles south of Bristol, hit upon the idea after the supply of used Atco machines he sold after renovating started to run dry. The self-taught engineer, realising that many clubs could ill afford the higher end mowers that cost in the region of £4,500 - £7,000 started designing his own brand to satisfy demand from clubs that wanted a good quality product at a price they could afford. When his partner Louise took a job as an education advisor in Saudi Arabia, the 44-year-old businessman tinkered about in his garage and the 14 blade Fox Cylinder mower was born. “I’ve been renovating Atco mowers since the 80s,” said the self-confessed mower fantastic. “When I was 11 I took apart my father’s when he was at work one day and I’ve been working on them eve...
Read more