The luck of the Lewis

Matthew Lewis: One wicket and he was away
Pic: www.pembrokeshiresport.co.uk
You need a bit of luck to get on in the world. Hard work certainly pays but ask any successful person how they reached the top and you’re pretty much guaranteed that luck has played its part.

Consider Matthew Lewis then. On a day that saw the all-rounders of the county come to the fore, this unassuming left arm swing bowler from Cresselly seconds was finding life pretty difficult at Whitland seconds with his first few overs going no-where.  He was due to come off after four overs to be replaced by Lyn Richards, an all-rounder of veteran status these days but no less effective as players younger than him.

Richards began to warm up eager to come on the over after next to try and snare a few of the Borderers’ batsmen when all of a sudden, Lewis took a wicket with the final ball of what was going to be his last over and was given another over as a reward.

He didn’t look back as the wickets soon started to tumble against his gentle, teasing, looping, lobbing in-duckers. One brought two, two brought three which led to five, to seven and finally to nine and to prove it was his day he played a hand in the tenth wicket falling as he was the player who caught the batsman out.

Richards could only look on in amazement but like the solid club man that he is he took it all in his stride. Lewis meanwhile makes the latest team of the week, Richards, sadly does not but he may have done had Lewis not taken a wicket with that ball!

It was a day to remember for the Lewis clan at Cresselly mind you as brother Ryan took 5-34 against Lawrenny.

On another note, two players raised their bats for centuries in the same match at the batting paradise that is Pembroke Dock as the club’s second team skipper Glyn Griffiths scored 123 not out against Fishguard while opposing batsman Andrew Waddup scored 108 not out and took 3-65 for good measure although it counted for little in the end as Griffiths’ innings ensured a win for the home side.

While these performances show the positive side of Pembrokeshire cricket there are a few negatives to report with the sad news that Herbrandston seconds have had to withdraw from division four due to a player shortage while Lamphey and Herbie failed to raise sides for their respective Harrison-Allen clashes.

Hopefully this is just a blip and the clubs will be able to strengthen as the season goes on, although I’m not placing any money on it and it would be a surprise if more clubs suffered similar fates.

Team of the week

  1.    Glyn Griffiths (Pembroke Dock2nds) 123 no v Fishguard.
  2.  Andrew Waddup (Fishguard) 108no & 3-65 V Pembroke Dock 2nds  
  3. Dave Lee (Whitland 78 v Llangwm
  4. Adam Chandler (Cresselly) 71 no v Lawrenny
  5. Tom Davies (Carew) 61no v Llanrhian
  6.  Joseph Kiff (Llangwm)  54 v Whitland
  7.  Dominic Wright (Llanrhian) 58no & 2-24 v Carew
  8.  Chris Inward (Llangwm)  55 & 5-53 v Whitland
  9.  Wayne Howells (Whitland) 43 & 4-50 v Llangwm
  10.  Rhys Davies (Carew) 5-23 v Llanrhian
  11.  Matthew Lewis (Cresselly 2nds) 9-30 v Whitland 2nds


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