If ever there was anyone who deserves a rest now that the cricket season is over then it must be the duo which operates from their headquarters at the appropriately-named Cricket Grove in Hundleton every Saturday throughout the Summer months, often not finishing until the early hours of Sunday morning.
 
Because John Harries is the fixture Secretary of the Nicholas Insurance-sponsored Pembroke County Cricket Club league and one of his jobs is to take in all the results of league matches, work out the bonus points, collate the league tables and supply the information to the lurking press, plus sundry other interested parties, along with the league tables and best performances from each match.
 

Top trio at work

 
He is joined in this yeoman task by his old pal Lyn Smith, whose sister Jayne not only looks after him at Lynjay Farm in Monkton but is also fiancée to Mr Harries – and as well as helping take a few results is also a key worker because at 10pm she supplies the eagerly-awaited bacon butties to revive their flagging spirits!
 
John, who is known to all as ‘Chippy’ still plays for Pembroke Seconds so it is Lyn who sets the collating ball in motion at around 6.30pm when he drives up the hill to Hundleton to make sure that the answer phone in Cricket Grove is working well and then answers anyone who still needs to get their scores in whilst he is there.
 

Lyn takes an early look

 
Lyn writes these on to the carefully prepared sheets so that by the time John gets back from playing they are ready to start working out the bonus points which teams are awarded for every two wickets taken and for reaching certain batting milestones, both up to a maximum of five points.
 
They are added to the points awarded for winning or drawing a game (this aspect also on a sliding scale) so there is no margin for error and on completion the points have to be carefully re-checked before John enters them on the County Club’s web site and sends them out to the press.
 

Hard graft repaid

 
Computers are still something of a foreign language to Lyn so this is his signal to relax a little before returning to Lynjay farm and getting ready for an early Sunday start which might include feeding cattle on the range or making silage for the forthcoming Autumn and Winter months.
 
He is helped there by John, who repays the hard work done by Lyn on Saturday evening cricket scores with even harder graft on the farm!
 

Cricket players in their time

 
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. 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 plays for the seconds but is chairman as well!
 
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
 

Other sports for both

 
John also 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.
 
Lyn was a very good darts player and scored plenty of 180s with the Alma Inn 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 alongside genuine characters like Peter Thomas, Mike Hughes, the Richards Brothers, Kevin Jenkins and Dickie Phillips. He played in Angle over a number of years and is a self-confessed Arsenal FC nut after first supporting them when he was a nipper!
 

Ready for renewed action next season!

 
John Harries, Jayne 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!