The Beamer

There'll be no love lost in the winner takes all game between Neyland and Haverfordwest today yet in the day's other big game  at Cresselly, friends and family members will do battle in a game that means a lot to one team and not much else to the other. Lawrenny have played their part in how this year's first division title race has shaped up and they could still play their part today but with nothing riding on the game for them, will they go all out to win the game or just enjoy the last game of the season and take the field with the air of a side playing in a charity match? In other words, is the game a foregone conclusion? Will Lawrenny do their chums a favour, pile their second team with first team players to ensure their survival in division three and let nature take its course against the current division leaders? According to the wife of one Lawrenny player, the answer is no. The rivalry between Cresselly and Lawrenny may not be as intense as the one b...

Johnny Bap - he can catch It was appropriate that Jonathan Lewis A.K.A. Jonny Bap appeared on TV last night securing a crowd catch during Glamorgan's home game against Hampshire as during  last week's Harrison-Allen final he was on standby to guard a friend of his from being hit while he slept on the boundary's edge. Little wonder as Brad Jenkins was batting and his friend was sleeping in one of his hot zones at cow corner. Brad was on fire, hitting the ball hard in a losing cause and probably bemoaning the fact he hadn't batted sooner. The ball didn't come his way but had he been sleeping at deep mid-off or deep mid -on it would have, given that's where the majority of sixes were hit during the day. They were big ones too. Jenkins, Joe Kidney, man of the match Alex Bayley and a few others absolutely smashed it there, the true Cresselly surface lending itself to pure, clean hitting. The Harrison-Allen final showed Pembrokeshire at its best; frien...

One of the great trophies in amateur sport. Pic taken from www.westerntelegraph.co.uk  It's been sat on, thrown around, drunk from, spewed in and even left for dead in a taxi but from here on in, any tales that the Harrison-Allen trophy has to tell will be confined to history as whoever wins it on Sunday will have a different trophy to display in their trophy cabinet come Monday morning. The decision to provide the winner with a new one was made some time ago, the simple reason being the current trophy is far too valuable for clubs to look after. It's no surprise. It's 68 years old; made from solid silver, took one year to create and is valued at a price close to that of a high end luxury car or a small terraced house in the Valleys. To some, it's priceless and with good reason too. It's a work of art, a delicate one at that. The roses on the side have been soldered on more than once and even today often fall off while the shell is far from solid and is...

Listening to his every word. Nick Shelmerdine at a Lamphey training session last year Across the county the season is coming to an end, for our All Stars cricketers at least. It's a short season for them, only eight weeks but an enjoyable one nonetheless.  The weather has helped of course but from the myriad of social media posts sent out on the ether its plain to see that games such as yes, no, wait, wheelbarrow races and having them run through a guard of honour from grown ups makes the kids smile, assuring the first aim of the programme, that of enjoyment, has been met. Whether or not those kids will go on to play for their respective senior teams in the future remains to be seen, but for now, cricket is in their consciousness. Running a junior section is not easy, it requires dedication, organisation, understanding and a way with kids that doesn't come easy to some. I know this from exerience. Looking after your own kids is hard enough, trying to...

Nothing much was expected of Lawrenny this season, not at the start at least. Lawrenny's Joe Kidney taken from www.tenby-today.co.uk/ Some of their star players were getting on a bit while their younger players were trying to establish themselves making them a team in transition. A mid-table finish would have been a success while few would have had them down to make an appearance at this year's Harrison-Allen. They have proved people wrong. A couple of weeks into the season Brad McDermott-Jenkins stepped down from being captain handing over the reins to Joe Kidney. I'm not sure of the reasons for this but it immediately paid dividends. Jenkins produced a starring role with the ball against Neyland leading to an unlikely win against the then division one leaders which led to them beating Cresselly and Haverfordwest in the weeks to follow. Because of their Giant Killing feats they have completely messed up any predictions for who will win this year...

Midway through the rugby season and the end of the game is in sight. Rugby is starting again and our summer sport is going to suffer. The Welsh Rugby Union, believing the junior game is not in good shape in Wales and that skills among our 7-year-old are not fit for purpose has decided to launch Summer Rugby in a bid to grow playing numbers in that age group. It's not gone down well with Welsh cricketers. Former Glamorgan aces Steve James and Mark Wallace have both Tweeted disgust saying:  This is an utter shambles, nothing more, nothing less. Cannot believe @CricketWales are allowing this to happen.. https://t.co/apFP5ZxQhG — Steve James (@sjamesjourno) 16 June 2018 Ok...so are you supportive of this happening??? https://t.co/HOSsrfB6c0 — Mark Wallace (@MarkWallace18) 16 June 2018 Welsh Rugby legends on the other hand think it's the best thing since they woke up with a hangover following their Six Nations Grand Slam wins: Love this idea...Great ...

The biggest news coming out of England's bounce-back win over Pakistan at Headingly this week wasn't the fact they actually won a game, it was man of the match Jos Butler's reminder to himself on the handle of his bat. It's seems inconceivable that a man of his talent would need a written cue to remind himself how good he is but given the biggest opponent you face on the cricket field can often be yourself, the two words at he wrote make sense. In writing 'Fuck It' on the top of the handle, Butler said in corresponding interviews: "I think it’s just something that reminds me of what my best mindset is – when I’m playing cricket, and probably in life as well.  ‘It puts cricket in perspective. When you nick off, does it really matter? ‘It’s just a good reminder when I’m in the middle, when I’m questioning myself, and it brings me back to a good place.’ Butler's attitude is a good one to have especially if you're not having a good ru...

As batting collapses go, Kilgetty’s capitulation against Neyland  on Saturday ranks right up there. From a seemingly decent position of 80 odd for two, the remaining batsmen were removed with ease as the hosts were dismissed for 95. Only Dafydd Bevan with 40 and Ross Hardy with 45 showed any real resistance against the victors who have built up a 30 point lead at the top of division one as they strolled to a nine wicket win. Being part of a poor batting display is demoralising. At that moment in time, if nothing else is going wrong in your life, you feel it’s the worst. First your opponents greet every wicket with glee, then mocking humour and then a sense of pity on the rabbits that come in last; annoyed that their not going to get a decent game of cricket in that day. That wasn’t the case in Burton though as wickets were as scarce there as runs were at Kingsmoor. In Pembrokeshire cricket, if you score 239 most weeks you feel you have enough in the tank to win the game, un...

Kyle Quartermaine It’s fair to say Narberth’s Kyle Quartermaine is not a big fan of Carew. Anyone who follows his Twitter feed can attest to that. A couple of weeks ago he was lambasting them on the social media platform calling them all of the names under the sun following an ill-tempered league fixture and this week, he backs it up with a scintillating performance with the bat to help his team beat the Rooks in the Harrison-Allen cup. David Lovell used to say ‘sledge me if you’re good enough’ and after those tweets (which led to County Chairman Paul Webb tweeting ‘easy Kyle’) Carew would have been forgiven for giving him a send off had he failed against them in the cup. He didn’t. This time he let his cricket do the talking in what could possibly be the most exciting game of the season so far. According to some well respected judges, Quartermaine is a proper player; a batsman of style, substance, power and flair. A player of colour if you will, someone who can light up a ga...

Second week of May, we’re about to start our fourth league fixture and yet it feels as though the season has yet to move out of first gear. Last weekend aside the weather hasn’t helped and neither has the fact that the football and rugby seasons seem to be never ending leading to fixture clashes and player unavailability. If the Welsh Rugby Union have their way this will happen more often as plans are afoot to move the junior rugby season from a winter to summer sport in the belief it will encourage more people to play the game. If it did move, and the talk is that in Pembrokeshire this will definitely happen, it will have a huge impact on our summer game. The fear is such that high ranking Cricket Wales officials have already met with Welsh Rugby Union bigwigs including former Grand Slam winning skipper and all-round Welsh hero Ryan Jones to try and thrash out some form of agreement. I’m not sure what the outcome of those talks were but it seemed constructive enough with Cricket Wales...

Brad McDermott Jenkins. According to him he'll be batting with MS Doni soon! Name. Ryan Davies What Team are you leading into Battle? Herbrandston Where did you finish last year? 3rd in division three. Any new players? Leigh Marchant (hasn’t been playing for 5 years.) Any players left the club? Not at the moment, but there are rumours. What are your hopes for the coming season? Getting 11 players every week Apart from you, who else could win your division? Carew 2nds What are you most looking forward to this season? Having less rain than the winter What are you least looking forward to this season? Trying to get 11 players to Laugharne in time for an Alan Brown game If the league title was determined by the quality of teas produced, who would win your division? Carew Name. Phil Cockburn  What team are you leading into battle? St ishmaels 1st team   Where did you finish last year? 4th  Any new players? Signed Jack and Harry Nicholas from Herbrandsro...

Aled and Tom Davies When Aled Davies took the tenth Kilgetty wicket to fall during a division one league game last season no-one knew it at the time but it would be the last wicket he would ever take in an illustrious career. With the 2018 cricket season almost upon us, few would have bet against the quality all-rounder taking more over the coming months yet instead, the flags are flying half mast in his memory. His illness was known about in Carew circles although his passing has still come ‘as a bolt out of the blue’ according to the Rook’s cricket secretary Nick Scourfield. At 55 there was still cricket in him. He will always be known as a Carew cricketer although his first forays into Pembrokeshire cricket came in Cresselly colours where he joined his brothers Ceri and Gari in making up part of the first team. In 1990, all three defected to Carew a move that caused ripples at the time yet for Aled it was a move that made sense given he was dating Wendy at the time who is...

The worst kept secret in Pembrokeshire cricket was made public on Thursday (Feb 22) when Cresselly announced via Twitter that Daniel Sutton would be joining them for the forthcoming campaign. Last season’s best batsman by a distance, he’ll be joining up with a team that already boasts an impressive lineup of capable willow wielders and will more than likely open up the innings with Adam Chandler, a magnificent player in his own right. Sutton scored 936 runs in league cricket last season, add that to Cresselly’s team total of 2579 and that would have amounted to 742 runs more than Whitland, last season’s top team run gatherers. He virtually carried Johnston's batting on his own and his departure will leave a gaping hole in a line up that was already depleted after Steven Mills moved up to the South Wales Premier League. Take his runs off Johnston's team total and they would have scored just 1775 moving them from second in the run gathering table to second from bottom. ...