Last Saturday was certainly a cricketing day to remember for the Phelps family of Hook as dad Jamie (52), plus sons Aled (22), Owen (18) and Rhys (15) all played key roles in the village club’s double win over the first and second XIs  of Llechryd CC.
 

Owen claims his maiden senior century

 
Leading the way, with his first century for the Hook first team as they sought to maintain their top-two place against opposition also eager for promotion was Owen, despite the fact that the young home side (average age under 23)  had been reduced to 15 for 2 when he joined big brother Aled, who is also captain, at the crease.
 
They advanced the score to 65, with Aled blitzing 39 that included some very big hits. And it was then that Owen took control as he moved smoothly to his 50 in 68 balls and then a string of boundaries, alongside two sixes, saw him add another 60 from 35 deliveries before he was finally out in the last over as Seth Willington and then Bradley Flood helped him put Hook in command on 249 for 9.
 

High praise from ‘Mr Hook Cricket’ Evan

 
No less a hugely-regarded figure than Evan Martin, the doyen of Hook Cricket and respected by cricketers across the county, told PembrokeshireSport.co.uk
“It was an outstanding innings, with a wonderful array of shots for such a young cricketer, and we are lucky to have players of his ability and maturity in our team.”
 
Quite superb fielding, led by vice-captain Callum James, then saw Bradley (3 for 24), Harry Makepeace (2 for 25), Jack Phillips (2 for 17) joining Aled (1 for 24) in dismissing Llechryd for 171 for 9 to earn Hook victory by 78 runs and a massive 19 points to stand only two points behind leaders Haverfordwest.




 

Jamie joins in Hook’s success – and so does Rhys

 
In the meanwhile, Jamie took a second XI to Llechryd which had seven players who can still play in under 15s cricket, and he told us,

“Myself, Matthew Holder, Daniel Hughes and Chris Holder had to play because none of the others are old enough to drive – and even after we had won the game and the four of us celebrated with a deserved pint of shandy they were all out in the excellent nets at Llechryd practising like mad!”
 
It was Jamie who led Hook by example after they had restricted Llechryd to 164 for 5 and then reached their target for only three wickets after 38.2 overs.
 
He and youngest son Rhys (15) shared an opening partnership of 80 before Phelps Junior departed for 29 but another talented junior in Oscar Willington (who had earlier bowled five maidens in his eight overs to claim fine figures of 1 for 11), added an undefeated innings of 42 as Jamie stroked 12 boundaries on his way to 81 before he was bowled by Johnny Lewis, who at one time was a useful player with Kilgetty.
 

And finally . . .

 
“By then we only needed nine runs so I shouldn’t have got out but it didn’t matter because we had won – and the real icing on our Hook cake came a little later when we learned the firsts had also won – and Rhys and I were delighted that Owen and Aled had played a big part in that win too!”