Clarissa totally committed as a scorer for Herbie - supporting husband Johnny

 
Clarissa Lewis has been scoring in cricket for almost a decade at Herbrandston but her first involvement came a lot earlier when she lived as a young girl in Marloes and her father Bernie used to play for the; and mum Rosemary helped with the teas and older sister Claire was already scoring.
 

Family matters . . .

 
Clarissa often sat alongside Claire and learned the scoring system for an old-fashioned village team where teas were taken out on the grass (no pavilion there) and it was falsely rumoured amongst visiting teams that the eggs for the delicious sandwiches came from seagulls on Skomer Island!
 
Bernie also played cricket for nearby St Ishmaels and the wheel is turning full circle because Clarissa’s husband Johnny Lewis is now a junior cricket coach there and son Dillon (11) plays for the team after representing Pembrokeshire last year. Their other son Jack (7) has yet to take an interest in sport but there is no doubt that sport is part of the family’s genes!
 

Quickly roped in to score

 
Jonny is now captain of Herbrandston’s second team after a number of years at Burton, with Clarissa as scorer, and after they had met 16 years ago on a civil service training course it was, he admits, an added bonus that when they got together, that she loved the summer sport after she had gone along to watch him play with Herbie!
 
Of course, the Herbie players already knew of her scoring capabilities and it wasn’t long before she was roped in to take charge of their scorer’s book. It was at a time when talented youngsters like Nathan Banner, Ryan Davies Sean Williams and Robert Hood were beginning to play in the seconds alongside Jonny – and, apart from a short spell when the kids came along, she has been involved ever since. Of course none of her scoring and the matches would be possible without the endless efforts of grounds man Andy Williams., who was captain of the seconds when she first started scoring for Herbie all those years ago.
 

Interesting weekend with Herbie

 
As well as her scoring duties, Clarissa has also set out the teas for the players prior to the pandemic, taking over from Dianne Davies and Josie Owens, who did a great job, with her own mum Rosemary involved until her health prevented her from continuing.
 
When Herbie lost their second team for a while Clarissa scored for the first team and one of the highlights came when they reached the Alan Brown Cup Final before losing to Kilgetty.

“It was a busy weekend for me,” Clarissa told us, “because on the Saturday Jonty Bennett split his hand in Hook and although he didn’t want to go to Accident and Emergency I spent all afternoon with him there.
 
“Then on the Sunday I scored in the final with the late Hazel Poole, who was a lovely lady, and Ross Hardy was Kilgetty’s star as we lost – but we had a great day out together!”

 

 

Families’ involvement

 
Clarissa is now back with the seconds after they restarted with Jonny as captain and says being involved in what has become a family team is lovely.

“We have Dai Malloy and his son Charlie, Rob Kingston with sons Atticus Kingston and Ferdy Stevenson, Ashley Britton and Callum.
 
“And it is fair to say that both Johnny and I are looking forward to the day when Dillon joins him in the team, albeit in a few years’ time!”
 

Involvement with juniors at Tish

 
The family is also involved at St Ishmaels, where three years ago Johnny took over the junior section’s coaching reins from Peter Bradshaw and Phil Cockburn, who had done a very good job.

“I’ve managed so far to steer clear of any admin work with the juniors because Wendy Bradshaw is amazing at accessing any funding on offer alongside everything else she does at Tish – but I take the register at the weekly training sessions to keep a check of that.”
 

And finally . . .

 
Clarissa is well aware that Johnny is a larger than life character from his cricket involvement and in football at Hakin United – and is now able to see the lighter side of things when others watching him make comments about him, totally unaware that she is his much better half.
 
“So I just tell them quietly that he is my husband and it is interesting to see their response, which is often one of embarrassment, sometimes with an apology, but not always. It happened when we played Fishguard at the start of this season, when the person about to say something, was stopped in his tracks!
 
“We are a close-knit family and proud of the good work he has done in cricket.”
 
What she doesn’t mention is her own very positive contribution to the summer sport and there is no doubt of her commitment to cricket at Herbie and Tish – and long may Clarissa Lewis stay so involved!