How Jinks Jinxed Cresselly

Graham Jenkins with wife Rose
who is as good a scorer as he is a cricketer.
There was big news emanating from a cricket match in Prague last week. A team was bowled out for 54 with 9 players being dismissed for a duck.  A performance of that ineptitude cannot be dismissed however we do have something to rival it in Pembrokeshire although it did happen 26 years ago.

Following a week of heavy rain leading up to the match it was a surprise the game between Kilgetty and Cresselly managed to go ahead at all given the propensity of the Kingsmoor pitch to flood. The rain relented for long enough to allow the sun to dry it out a little and Wallace Poole did just enough to get the wicket playable even though it was a bit of sticky pudding.

Cresselly had a good attack at the time, led by the Davies brothers Aled and Ceri, before they caused shock waves throughout the county by moving to Carew. They were joined in the team by third brother, Gary who took his place behind the sticks.

Memory doesn't allow me to remember who won the toss but it’s unlikely that Kilgetty skipper Graham Jenkins would have elected to bat given the quality of the attack they were facing and the conditions of the pitch.

Kilgetty were sent in and opening the batting was former Carew great Brian Morgan, a man of immense experience and enormous hands. He finished his career with Kilgetty after having made his debut for Carew when he was 11.

Alongside him was a chap called Ian Hardy who had moved to the county form Worcestershire and claimed to have played for them as a youth although one wise cracking Kilgetty player disputed this claiming it may have been Worcester sauce and nothing else!

Neither lasted long as Aled snared Brian and Ceri snared Hardy, both without a score on the board.

Simon Wood who would have been around 18 at the time managed to hang around for a bit showing how to play on such a tricky wicket but Alan Hurst failed to trouble the scorers as he too went for a duck.

Enter Huw Lewis, captain of Pembrokeshire U19’s and a former colleague of Robert Croft with West Wales at schools level, he too went for a duck while Mark Wood, a player of immense all-round talent failed to show it on the day as he became Aled’s fifth victim of the match, again without scoring

While wickets fell (at one stage Kilgetty were 7-5), Jenkins was at the crease, curbing his natural instincts to attack by diligently defending his wicket whilst sporadically showing his talent and power with shots to the boundary.

Slowly his score crept up helped by Ian Poole’s reluctance to surrender his wicket.

Although he only scored 6, he helped Jenkins put on some runs however it wasn't to last as he became Keith Griffiths’ only wicket of the afternoon.

Enter yours truly although I didn't last long as Terry Harvey got me as he did Emyr Christopher, both without scoring while last man Wallace Poole, a reluctant batsman at the best of times but a proud Kilgetty player defied expectation to put on 33 precious runs with Jenkins who was in such command of his innings by then that he had raced to 95 before Ceri Davies bowled him denying him a brilliant and deserved hundred.

It would have been 96 but I ran one short.

One hundred and twenty five all out then, a competitive score on that pitch but given the strength of Cresselly’s batting at the time not one Kilgetty were expected to defend, but defend it they did as Cresselly fell short after Jenkins played the innings of his life while the rest of his team were dropping like flies.

Unlike the match in Prague, this didn’t make national news, neither did it whizz around the world as the Prague story did although it did have a big spread in the Tenby Observer, which would have been good enough for all concerned, unless of course you happened to be playing for Cresselly that day.

There was no internet back then, no mobile phones either and the word blog would have been met with a perplexed look should you mention it. This of course meant there was no team of the week however Jenkins would surely have made it and Aled Davies too.

Sadly there is no team of the week this week due to the rain but given as there was no team of the week the week before, here it is, better late than never.

It's not that clear but this is the day Cresselly were Jinxed.
See it for yourself the next time you're at Kilgetty

Team of two weeks ago:


  1. Toby Poole (Kilgetty 2nds) 165 v Llangwm 2nds
  2. Daniel Sutton (Johnston) 152  v Llanrhian
  3. Ben Jones (Llanrhian) 106 not out v Johnston
  4. Steve Mills Jnr (Johnston) 100 v Llanrhian
  5. Matthew Morgan (Cresselly) 94 v Llangwm
  6. Andrew Waddup (Fishguard) 81 v Whitland 3rds
  7. John Evans (Burton 2nds) 78 v Narberth 2nds
  8. Ian Poole (Kilgetty) 62 not out and 6-69 v Hook
  9. Matthew Lewis (Cresselly 2nds) 6-14 v Camrose and Spittal
  10. Adam James (Haverfordwest) 23 and 5-60 v Whitland
  11. Anthony Cousins (Fishguard) 8-13 v Whitland 3rds







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