The Beamer

This time last year, Daniel Sutton had only scored 197 runs. This year (so far) he’s scored 601. For non mathematicians that’s 404 more than the corresponding period in 2016 and is just 194 less than Pembroke have managed so far as a team during this campaign. Johnston may be languishing second from bottom of division one but thanks to Sutton’s form they are the division’s highest run gatherers having scored 1428 runs at the halfway mark, 31 more than Whitland. He’s already scored four centuries and should have had a fifth having scored 80 against the Borderers a couple of weeks ago, “I hit a full toss straight to square leg,” he said. “Should have hit it for six.” He’s widely regarded as one of the county’s premier batsmen, many a pundit and player describes him as ‘class’ so his form doesn’t come as too much of a surprise unless you are the man in question himself. “I don’t know where it’s come from to be honest. I usually start poorly but finish well so to have ...

We’re a parochial bunch in Wales and perhaps even more so in Pembrokeshire. We tend to look at cricketers with rose tinted specs, thinking that maybe we’re better than we are. Every club will tell you that a member of their team is the fastest in the county or the best bat, best fielder, best drinker. Hyperbole is a given, it's a local trait that we’re all guilty of. So, when those involved in junior cricket rage on twitter about the injustice of having just one local player named in the Welsh junior training squads this season out of a total of 122, is that parochialism or realism? Is that annoyance justified? There’s no doubt about it there’s some quality players up the line but there’s also some players of quality here too. However players of quality have often missed out on Welsh honours from Pembs, while others, have managed to break that mould. When I was in school, I found it difficult to fathom why Alistair Platten, Mark Davies and Geoffrey Nisbet never...