page revision date : 30th November 2009
‘Chippy’ and Lyn – cricket statisticians supreme!
John Harries has been League Secretary of the Antur Pembroke County Cricket League for the past two years and his previous title was Assistant Secretary but he has performed the same service under both headings for local clubs and anyone else who wants information about league cricket in the county – and does a grand job.
He would be the first to say, however, that he could not be as efficient if it wasn’t for the work of his side-kick Lyn Smith, who starts the ball rolling while John is leading Pembroke Seconds in Division Four, taking in the early scores and best performances as clubs from Llechryd to Whitland phone the details in. Lyn is the human answer phone who takes down those scores before John, known to all as ‘Chippy’, arrives home around 8pm and the work collation really begins. They provide a list of the scores and best performances in each division before allocating the points and up-dating the league tables so that this information can be placed on the county club’s web site and for others to use around the county.
Bacon rolls at 10pm
This usually takes until around 2am on Sunday morning and then goes out as soon as possible, with 4am as the latest so far this season when there were a few more complex issues to deal with. The only break in proceedings usually comes around 10pm when bacon rolls are provided by Jayne Smith, who is Chippy’s fiancée and Lyn’s sister! It is a taxing job but they both enjoy it and have a Sunday lie-on, unless there is silage to be cut on Lyn’s farm!
The work doesn’t end there, however, because they also have to check that clubs not only phone in but send a result card as confirmation, they also check that players in every team are registered, and once a month provide information in the first division so that a sub-committee can decide on the Antur Insurance ‘Player of the Month’, prepare details for the management to deal with fines and disputes – and prepare their new sheets in readiness for the next week.
Stackpole cricketers
Both have always loved and played cricket, with much of their time spent together at Stackpole. John began there as a nine year old and played for the youth team that included Haydn Phillips and Steve Alderman before joining the senior sides, where he captained the Sunday XI, the second team for a season and then the firsts for four years, with a top score of 87 and a best bowling analysis of 4 for 18 in his 30 years at Stackpole. Lyn was a successful captain of the Stackpole second string for a number of seasons, taking a regular haul of wickets from his canny medium pacers. His best figures were 7 for 15 at Haverfordwest and 5 for 8 in 12 miserly overs against Neyland, with a best season’s haul of 38 wickets when he was a bit younger
Recent moves – and other sports
Then it was on to Hundleton for John for three seasons, where he captained the club’s second string – and more recently at Pembroke, where he not only skippers the seconds but is chairman as well! Lyn
Outside of his cricket, he also plays pool for the St Govans Inn, Stackpole, where he has helped the team gain promotion from third to first division – and he played rugby for Pembroke as a solid prop who moved from the third and second XVs to the first team to play alongside Peter Morgan, Richard Baker, Dai Gwyther, Steve Alderman, Gareth Davies and Martin Alderman in the first team.
Lyn was a very good darts player and scored plenty of 180s with the Alma pub and Monkton Swifts, where he was a striker who once scored 40 goals in a single campaign, including five goals against Clarbeston Road. He was also a regular with Angle AFC over a number of years and is a self-confessed Arsenal FC nut!
Well-earned rest
Both John Harries and Lyn Smith are now able to take a well-earned rest from their efforts to keep local cricketers and supporters up to date with scores, scorers and league tables but will follow other local sports throughout the winter. Then it will be back to next May to start their Saturday treadmill every week – and do you know what? These two smashing characters are eagerly anticipating their next summer Saturday stints already!
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