Julie does great job as scorer for The Rooks

 
Cricket scorers are a hardy, determined bunch because they give of their valuable time on weekends (and often at midweek cup matches) where league games can go on for six or so hours and they often sit in cramped little sheds or out of the way places, sometimes in extreme heat but more often in cold, damp, cramped conditions.
 
But they are a brilliant bunch in Pembrokeshire and we already have a lengthy list of them to present our new badges to in the course of time - and we are delighted to start with a lovely lady from Carew who I often tease that in the 12 years she has been helping The Rooks she has compiled an amazing  number of medallions because they are such a successful club.
 

Fully appreciated by the Carew players

 
Julie Davies has scored for them as they have won several league titles, in the Harrison-Allen Bowl, the Duggie Morris Cup, the Alec Colley Cup, the Ormond Youth Cup and even the Ken Morris Cup, which does so well to cater for their third team.
 
And the Carew boys are sometimes unfairly labelled as being quite a hard-nosed set of players who are fully focussed on playing - but last season, the lovely bouquet of flowers she received made even my eyes water a little - and in the past she has received some great gifts, including a so-called ‘Dry Robe’ which she had to explain to an old fogey like me was the perfect coat to keep her warm and dry on cold or damp cricketing days!
 

Took up scoring almost by accident

 
Julie started out those dozen years ago when she had gone to watch her son Rhys play ‘up the line’ in a Welsh Cup game where Rob Scourfield asked her if she wouldn’t mind scoring because they didn’t have one.
 
She was understandably reluctant because she had never been involved before but after a short spell of pre-match education got stuck in - and has been involved ever since.
 
“That day was made harder because I didn’t know the names of the opposition so our scorebook had descriptions for the players, rather than names, like ‘man with bald head, ‘portly gentleman’ or ‘red-header player’!
 

Totally committed to The Rooks

 
Julie started out using different pens for each batsman and bowler because it helps those taking part to identify facts and figures that might be harder to identify in just using one colour – and is still as committed to The Rooks as the day she started.
 
She has made many friendships with other scorers across the county, some of whom gave her great advice when she started out, and others like Adge John, who she knew before they both became scorers.
 
Julie is also a regular supplier of sweets from her special tin, is held in high regard by all she meets at cricket matches, and clearly loves her involvement in cricket.
 

And finally . . .

 
All we can say at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk is that Julie is a veritable pleasure to know and answers our query for scores during matches, even if it comes at a busy time during the game.
 
Our regular scorer friends are a special bunch and we will be awarding a number of them our special ‘thank you’ badge – and Julie Davies certainly typifies them as we say what a great job she does at Carew Cricket Club.