Tom takes a wrong turning . . .

 
We’ve mentioned a few faux pas from Tom Bevan with regard to his football refereeing in the past but it seems he was at it again in this story as he got lost whilst going to play for Narberth Cricket Club at nearby Llanddewi Velfrey – and ended up in a village where there isn’t even a cricket pitch!
 
Tom Bevan is a vociferous young wicket-keeper with Narberth Cricket Club as well as a useful goalkeeper with Clarbeston Road AFC but it seems that his sporting skills are not matched by his sense of direction.
Tom must be the only cricketer who can boast that he set off from home in Clarbie for a game in Llanddewi Velfrey and after more miles than he expected discovered he was in Llanddowror, way off-track and totally bemused about which wrong turning he had obviously taken.

But he refused to let it affect his performance on the day because he top scored with 52 runs before he actually returned to celebrate at Narberth – and found his way back home at Clarbeston Road afterwards!
 

. . . And Wendy needs a county road map!

 

Another sports person who it seems has little sense of direction is Wendy Bradshaw, that lovely lady who does so much amazing work at St Ishmaels. She went from Tish to attend a celebratory party and after successfully achieving that feat she set off again in plenty of time to act as scorer for son Peter and the rest of The Tish clan – and after driving around near Pembroke, way off track, she eventually reached her destination as the teams were sitting down for tea . . .
 
Spare a thought for Wendy Bradshaw, who does so much brilliant work for St Ishmaels Cricket Club but hasn’t quite got her sense of direction honed to such high levels.

Wendy was really delighted to be invited to a special Saturday lunch to celebrate the late, great Stan Richards’ 90^th birthday at The Harp in Letterston but, good Tish girl that she is, couldn’t wait afterwards to get to Lawrenny to act as scorer for the Tish first team.

She made a good start as she reached Canastan Bridge without mishap but then the problems began. Perhaps it was because she followed Maurice Cole, the president of the Pembroke County Cricket Club, who was also at the party, thinking he would be returning to the Quay pub in Cresswell Quay, just down the road from Lawrenny. But Maurice turned left to get petrol at Dickie Parry’s garage in Robeston Wathen – and then the fun began for Wendy!

She toured a number of the villages in South Pembrokeshire, starting with Templeton, Redberth and others close to Pembroke before she eventually found a road she knew and arrived in Lawrenny in time for tea. Luckily for Tish, Pat Williams was a capable reserve in the scoring stakes so all’s well that ends well, but if anyone in St Ishmaels wants to know what Wendy wants for her birthday then a SatNav would feature high on her list of priorities!

 

Simon strikes for the third time

 

The worst thing for cricket supporters is to have their car being struck by a boundary hit – and it makes matters worse when it your own son who commits the deed – and even more horrible when it is the third time – and absolutely dreadful when his car sits quietly alongside and escapes without a tiny scratch!

Simon Cole was deservedly man of the match in the Duggie Morris Cup Final at Burton for his superb 107 not out against St Ishmaels, an innings which included nine huge sixes, one of which landed flush on the bonnet of his parents’ car!

It was all the more galling for Glyn and Pauline because this was the third time that he has managed to single out their cars for his target practice in matches – and even worse because his car was parked next door but he managed to avoid hitting that.

They would have to admit, however, that it was a smashing innings and the only consolation was the fact that he didn’t single out their windscreen to make it an even more smashing innings!
 

Well done Blaen Bill!

 

I always loved watching Andrew Morris play rugby because he was real terrier of an open-side forward who proved that you don’t have to be a monster in size to play good quality rugby. Size is a help but what you really you need skill, total commitment and fitness – and he had them all!
 
Congratulations next to Andrew Morris, the veteran flanker who plays so well for Crymych RFC after a number of years at Narberth RFC, who can now boast that he has played in every section of the Division One to Five (West) in Welsh Rugby’s pyramid set-up. Known to all as ‘Blaen Bill’ because of the family farm, Andrew played for Narberth in their early days in the old Heineken League, as it was then known, and was a speedy back row man who could be counted upon to be first to the break-down and quick to set up possession for the rest of the Otters’ pack.

But then small back row men fell out of fashion in favour of bigger, bulkier players and eventually Andrew joined Crymych, where he has spent the intervening years confirming his ability as their No 1 choice in his position.

Even now, when he is one of the oldest players in the squad at Parc Lloyd Thomas, he has been chosen this season as man of the match a number of times – so well done Blaen Bill – and keep up the good work!
 

The robot was wrong - Steve is intelligent!

 

Steve Holmes loves the Pembrokeshire County Show and for many years has worked there in his summer holidays from being a Maths teacher at Milford Haven School alongside Arwel Phillips in organising the trade stands, a role where they have really shown their ability to think on their feet. But it seems his thinking power wasn’t recognised by the ever-popular robot which creates so much interest over the three days!
 
One of the highlights at the County Show this year was the all-singing and dancing robot which was paraded around the grounds and made witty comments about people in the crowd. One such person who was approached by the Tin Man was Steve Holmes, who was one of the best-known second rows at Milford Haven RFC and is now chairman of the Mariners - and teaches Maths at Milford Haven School. The Robot walked up to Steve and a couple of mates, peered intently at them for a short while and said,
            “There is no sign of intelligent life on this planet!” before moving on.

Steve hooted with laughter alongside everyone else around but we would like to go on record in saying that Steve is a very intelligent being – considering he was a second row for so long!
 
 

Steve Junior loses a glove but scores runs galore

 

As I’ve said before, they are a great bunch for pulling practical jokes on each other at Johnston Cricket Club and on this occasion it was one of their best young players in Steve Mills (Jnr) who suffered . . .
 
Another very promising teenager in cricket is Steve Mills (Junior), who opens the bowling for Johnston first XI and also scores lots of runs as a stroke-making middle order batsman – and he also lost some kit recently, albeit only a batting glove. 

Steve was playing for Pembrokeshire under 17s against Wales over 40s at Whitland and when he was due to bat discovered that one of his batting gloves had gone AWOL. He had to borrow a pair from a team mate but it made no difference to his batting since he scored a smashing 91on his seventeenth birthday to prove what a good young player he has become.  Of course, it was dad, Steve (Snr) who somehow managed to get the blame as well as the other players in the county team but he is made of stern stuff and naturally made sure that Steve (Junior) was properly attired for his next match, where he also bowled and batted really well.

In the meanwhile, the missing glove suddenly turned up for Johnston’s next home match so the blame for its absence might lie with one or two jokers there!