Ann-Marie does a great job for Whitland Cricket Club!

Cricket Scorers Feature:

 
Today we start a new feature series for cricket which we have called ‘The People Who Count’ as we chat to some of the well-known cricket scorers who do such a great job around the county – and we start off with a short trip to Whitland to talk to a smashing lady indeed!
 
 
One of the best-known, and most respected scorers in the top echelon of Pembrokeshire Cricket is Ann-Marie Jenkins, who looks after the scorebook with military precision and it could be considered something of a work of art with her use of colour-coded details that provide great feed-back for players and supporters.
 
She has been involved for well over a decade after a chance conversation with current county club chairman Richard Merriman when he was involved at Whitland.
 
Ann-Marie’s son Gethin was playing county cricket for his age group and Richard (who lived next door to her and partner Rob Benjamin) asked how he was getting on. She happened to mention to her neighbour that when she had been a lass of nine or ten she had sometimes scored for St Clears CC – and he persuaded her to score for Whitland 2nds that weekend.

Understandably nervous to start but has loved every moment since

 
She was understandably nervous but he explained that opponents Hook had Joy James as their experienced scorer who could help Ann-Marie: and she enjoyed her involvement – and the rest is history, as they say!
 
“I knew the likes of Huw Davies and Stuart Harries, who were playing for Whitland after previously being with St Clears, and I stayed with the seconds until about five years ago, being involved in three Alec Colley Cup finals and two Ormond Youth Cup Finals.”
 
When regular first team scorer Janice Webb stepped down Ann-Marie was roped into action there and still enjoys being involved.

“My partner Rob Benjamin is also involved at the club and scores for the second team, whilst Gethin captained the third team to promotion last season (but they weren’t allowed to go up a division because the second team was relegated!) – and our other son Sion also plays alongside him.”
 

Other sports

 
Outside of her scoring skills it isn’t generally known in in cricketing circles that Ann-Marie has been a talented all-round sports person in her earlier days. She was the youngest-ever athlete to represent Wales in the Celtic Games at the old stadium in Swansea against Scotland, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, competing as an 11 year old in the under 14 category for 80 metres hurdles against older competitors as far back as 1980.
 
She also played hockey and netball – and when Whitland RFC started a ladies’ team 26 years ago she played as a second row for a while.
 
Loves her involvement with players, scorers and umpires
 
Ask Ann-Marie about the best thing about being so involved at the club and she would answer without any hesitation that the players show her great respect and really make her feel part of the match-day set-up.

“It has been great because I have also made so many friends amongst the scorers, like Wendy Bradshaw (St Ishmaels), Jayne Cole (Haverfordwest) and Julie Davies (Carew) amongst many others and some of us now use the ‘Play Cricket’ computer programme to update our scores on a national web site where people across the UK can see our scores.”
 
What Ann-Marie doesn’t mention is the fact that she is now one of a relatively few qualified scorers in Pembrokeshire and it is typical of the way she underplays her part in what goes on at Whitland Cricket Club.

We in journalistic circles think she is marvellous!
 
She is clearly appreciated by the players in Whitland CC and the umpires who rely on the help of quality scorers, several of whom have told me that she is a real pleasure to work with in cricket matches!