page revision date : 30th June 2010
Andrew’s still performing well with bat, ball, rod and line!
Andrew Skeels has played almost 40 years of cricket for his home village of Lamphey and is still going strong today – as well as being a very good fisherman who has been a Welsh champion and represented his country in the Home Internationals and European Championships.
Known to all as ‘Ikie’ or ‘Skeelo’, he was involved at Lamphey in the heady days when they were one of the top teams in Pembrokeshire, boosted by overseas players, known the hard times before that when they had lost very good players like the Rule brothers, and took 20 wickets for the first team last season with his slow left-arm stuff, despite being elected as the second team skipper. He also started this campaign with something of a bang as he grabbed 6 for 17 in Lamphey’s opening win. It still doesn’t match his personal bests, however, since he once took 8 for 28 against RAF Brawdy but lost the best bowling award because old pal Haydn Cole grabbed 8 for 24 the following week!
Almost 40 years’ involvement
Andrew played his first match for the club at Saundersfoot when he was nine years old and now, 39 years later, he is delighted that son James has joined him in the first XI and looks like being a far better player than dad! But Skeels senior can boast of a century with his right-hand batting, scoring 105 not out against Cardigan in Division Three when he was joined by Brett Johnson in a huge stand as the Aussie reached 157 not out. Johnson was a very good player and so were the likes of Brendan Nash, now playing for the West Indies, Vasbert Drakes, another West Indian regular and great guy, as was Australian opener Geoff Cullen. Tyrone Greenaway came from Montserrat to play and Dave Lovell, another Aussie, exerted the greatest influence as a brilliant all-rounder. He was playing in the Harrison-Allen Bowl when Andrew made his only appearance in a win against Hook. Ask him about other influences on the club and he would unhesitatingly name John Green, who he says spent so much time and effort in taking Lamphey to the top of Pembrokeshire Cricket.
Other sports
Football and rugby have also been part of Andrew’s sporting background because he played for Pembroke Youth and had one game for the first team at full back. He was also heavily involved with football at Hundleton where he managed the team with old friend Carl Smith and they enjoyed a couple of cup finals and a double in the lower divisions. He also had a spell as manager of Lamphey and helped them win the Third Division Cup, beating Hundleton 2-0 in the final!
Mackerel start and honours galore
But fishing has also occupied a great deal of his time after he started out with dad Kenny, fishing for mackerel at Barafundle Bay. He eventually started entering competitions and in the intervening years has enjoyed more than his fair share of success, including five wins in the Amroth Open, where there are upwards of 100 competitors each time. He has been selected to represent Wales six times and took part in the European Championships at Pwllheli, Tenby, Weymouth and in Ireland, winning a few medals that include a team gold and another gold medal when he was picked out to join competitors from Denmark and Ireland in a scratch team competition.
Further success
Andrew has also fished three times for his country in the Home Internationals and on one occasion, in Ireland, he was ahead after the first two days but only caught two undersized fish the final day – whilst well-known Milford angler Ken Gainfort caught a fish that was just big enough to push Andrew into second spot!
Not content with that little lot, he won the coveted gold pin in the Welsh Championships which were held at Freshwater East the first night and Tenby the second night – and in his most recent venture, to North Wales alongside Haydn Cole, John O’Connor, Phil Lustig and Terry O’Neill, he came a respectable fifth out of 20 in his zone to head the list of the Pembrokeshire competitors.
And finally . . .
He was delighted with his performance because he had taken a short break from competition and says that he enjoys his fishing as much as ever, especially when he can go off to a local beach in search of flounder or bass, which he says is ‘real fishing’. One only has to talk to Andrew Skeels about his love of fishing, and cricket, and it is easy to see what he gets out of both sports –but it is fair to say that he has certainly put back a great deal to both because no-one could be more involved in either!
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