Awarding excellence

Now that the season is over and the crazed appeals of Howzat have fallen silent cross the shire, the only cricket action to be had across the county comes in the shape of celebratory dinners and award ceremonies.

With this in mind it’s only right that we have a crack at it here on the Pembs cricket blog so here goes.

Team of the year

Haverfordwest may have won the league but let’s face it, no other side has dominated the local cricket scene quite like Neyland.

Duggie Morris, Harrison-Allen and Jubilee Cup, the county exec may as well just hand the same trophies over next year given the average age of the team is less than 30. They’ll dominate for the next ten years unless someone steps up to the plate.

Best team ever? Some are suggesting it but Carew in the 80’s won’t agree.

Batsman of the year

Three players scored a hat-trick of centuries in a season that saw players raising their bats at will.

Johnston had two in Daniel Sutton and Steve Mills Jnr while down the road at Hook, young Tom Blaxland caressed the ball around the park as he too celebrated three figure three times.

That said, was anyone more consistent than Adam Chandler or indeed Doc Holliday?

I’ll sit on the fence for this one but I’ll go for Chandler all the same!

Bowler of the year

Having taken objection to my text commentary of the Harrison-Allen clash between Creselly and Haverfordwest where things didn’t go to plan for him Adam James bounced back to take three five wicket hauls in a row and in the next game took four.

Charging in with purpose and venom the Haverfordwest quick proved too hot to handle for the majority of Pembrokeshire’s batsmen and proved himself to be the county’s premier pace bowler.

Well bowled Watto!

All-rounder of the year

James may not have scored the runs that he would have liked this year but he’s still a top all-rounder, so too is Carew skipper Rhys Davies and cousin Tom however Neyland’s Nathan Banner has to take this one for producing performances week in week out.

Became a dad at the end of the season too so will he get enough sleep over the next year to dominate again? Time will tell.

The, it’s a funny old game award

In a year in which the batsmen dominated instances of unbelievable batsmanship seemed commonplace but in the game between Carew and Neyland nothing surpassed Banner launching five consecutive sixes in the last over of their innings.

Poor old Timmy Hicks was the man at the receiving end, no mean bowler himself but Banner obviously liked his bowling as he not only reached his hundred with a six but struck four more in the over giving his team the momentum to go on and win the match.

The, it’s a funny old game award number two

If nothing causes footballers to chuckle more than watching a keeper celebrate after scoring an unlikely goal then surely the same can be true of wicketkeepers taking wickets.

St Ishmael’s Peter Bradshaw proved that he could lay claim to being the county’s best all-rounder when injury prevented him from his usual keeping duties so he had a go at bowling and promptly took 5-27 v Llangwm.

Not since Lamphey’s Mark Yea took seven against Cresselly in 2005 has a keeper celebrated so much.

The batsmen were not so happy though.

The, it’s a funny old game award number three

Despite losing against Haverfordwest, the game between the Town and Cresselly would have produced fond memories for Mike Shaw.

If you need advice on how to clean your teeth, this unassuming dentist would be just the man to talk to and it seems he could dish out advice on spin bowling too after taking a hat-trick in that game and following it up with another later on in the season.

The, it’s a funny old game award number four

It’s not uncommon for players to switch from bowling seam up to spin but the number that do it successfully is relatively small. Narberth’s Ian Hughes did it with his left arm loopers, Haverfordwest’s Nigel Morgan the same and Narberth’s Jordan Howell too, with much success it has to be said.

Narberth stormed division two with Richie Adam, Kyle Quartermaine and Howell all shining with the latter’s spin wizardry perplexing many in the division.

How will he fare next year in division one? Only time will tell.

The, where did that nickname come from award

Given Shaw’s profession his nickname of Flossy doesn’t come as a huge shock but does anyone know how Lawrenny’s nickname of the Gavenyards came about?

Is it even true? Well, despite appearing in the Tenby Observer from time to time no-one seems to know, not even their local councillor Rob Lewis.

If anyone knows the answer then speak now or forever hold your peace. In the meantime, it will no doubt continue to be used and may in time be adopted by the club itself.

The age is no barrier award

Cricket has always been a game that allows the more experienced members of society to test their mettle against the young brash upstarts of today and this season again showed that the sliver haired among us can still perform with bat or ball.

Cresselly’s Selwyn Cole and Lyn Richards  seemed to score runs at will so too did Stackpole’s Robert Mathias while Richard Harris, Phil Sutton and Steve Jones often show why they are regulars for the Wales over 50’s but was there a better performance than that of Johnston’s Richard James?

Jammer, as he is affectionally know has been a mainstay of the Tigers for years and was rewarded for his loyalty by taking 8-10 against Carew 3rds in division 4. He also scored 41 in the same game while brother Steve struck 70!

Team of the season award

So, if Pembrokeshire were called upon to fight for the Ashes who would make the team? Picking teams like this is a thankless task as they are subjective and someone always takes offence hence why I asked my dad to do it for me.

Despite being a wise old sage of the county game he refused on the basis that he’ll never be offered tea in Carew or Cresselly again should he not pick enough of their players. Actually that’s untrue his real reason being that he hasn’t seen enough teams to make judgement which is a fair comment.

There have been some standout performances throughout the divisions and just because some players decide to ply their trade lower down the leagues doesn’t mean they are not good enough to cut the mustard with the big boys.

Stackpole’s  Josh Davies is a classy batsman, so too is Crymych’s Richard Thorne and the aforementioned Mr Blaxland and those from Narberth could lay claim to making the team but for this purpose, the team will be made up of division one stars.

1. Daniel Sutton (Johnston)
2. Adam Chandler (Cresselly)
3. Simon Holliday (Haverfordwest)
4. Steve Mills Jnr (Johsnton)
5. Jonathan Thomas (Whitland)
6. Simon Cole (Cresselly)
7. Peter Bradshaw (St Ishmaels)
8. Nathan Banner (Neyland)
9. Rhys Davies (Carew)
10. Adam James (Haverfordwest)
11. Mike Shaw (Cresselly)

So there you go, a team to represent Pembrokeshire. Some players will feel aggrieved not to have made it and rightly so any other suggestions will be gratefully received.

And finally

Good luck to Ashley Sutton as he embarks on a trip of the lifetime to play cricket out in Australia with Dave Lovell's team.

Having been fortunate to have experienced playing cricket out there Sutton will no doubt come back and even better player than he already is as the cricket is hard, uncompromising and brutal in the heat.