The Beamer

Hopes for the season Paul and Janice Webb Pembrokeshire County Cricket Club Chairman Paul Webb wants Pembrokeshire’s best cricketers to prove just how good they are this season ahead of the six senior County Cricket fixtures planned for 2017. Looking forward to his first season in charge of the local game Webb (who will play for Cresselly this year after a long standing association with Whitland) hopes Pembrokeshire’s best can help raise playing standards and numbers to help put an end to the perennial pessimism surrounding our Summer sport. “I want every single player to get on with the game, play the game hard but fair and commit themselves to their clubs so we can have successful season. “As an executive, we’re working hard with the clubs to try and raise interest and standards in the game and one of the ways we feel we can do this is to arrange more fixtures for our County’s senior side. “In days gone by, playing for the County was an honour and for one reason or a...

Back at Cresselly. Dan Cherry pictured with Eleri Williams Dan Cherry has been in work since 7am. He’s liaised with the club’s stewards, checked the security, ensured the maintenance of the ground is up to scratch and he’s linked in with the umpires, ground staff and the cricket liaison officer from the ECB. It’s been a busy morning for the 37-year-old and it’s been an even busier morning for the Glamorgan batsmen. For the second game in succession, their top order has capitulated. Last week it was away at Northants, this week it’s at home to Worcestershire. At the time of speaking with him, they were 82-6 Ten years ago, Cherry would have been in the thick of the action opening up for the Welsh County but any dreams of doing so now have long gone. “Three or four years ago, yes,” says the club’s head of operations. “I would have liked to be out there but I don’t feel like that anymore. I’m busy enough with this job and to be honest it’s the next best thing to playing. I...

Mummy Gibbs and Callen enjoy an ice cream at Broad Haven but will she encourage him to play cricket? (Hopefully she will!) She’s the archetypal cricket widow, a woman who thinks a cricket term with golden in it is to be celebrated even if it’s followed by duck and comes out in welts at the thought of making teas. She scorns at you when you ask nicely if she fancies coming over to watch later and feigns sympathy when things don’t go your way; yet according to the English and Wales Cricket Board she and others like her could be the ones to save our summer game. A new initiative aimed at kids aged 5-8 called All Stars Cricket is being launched this summer in a bid to raise participation numbers and the ECB are hoping mothers across the country can get enthused about the game. They’ve even partnered up with parenting website Mumsnet to help spread the message. Mumsnet CEO Justine Roberts says: “We all know that kids (not to mention grown-ups) benefit from regular exer...