Janice Webb can justifiably be proud of the fact that in her long stint as scorer with Whitland Cricket Club she earned a reputation as being one of the best scorers in Pembrokeshire but would also certainly qualify as the most travelled scorer because since husband Paul became involved with the Wales over 50s squad she has used her scorebook in all parts of Wales and Southern England – and done the same thing in St Lucia and Kenya!
 
Indeed, Janice has now scored for Wales over 50 times and to mark her personal half century the Welsh team presented her with a cake, specially baked for her, and since then also helped out the English team on one occasion by scoring for them too!
 

Family matters

 
Ironically though, Janice would readily admit that although she followed husband Paul to matches when he was a long-term captain of Whitland Cricket Club, she wasn’t over-fussed when she met him first and couldn’t really believe how long games went on for!
 
But their three sons have also grown into the game like Paul. Bob is the oldest and after playing for Whitland and Cresselly is now kept very busy as a Cocktail barman at the Belfry Golf Resort, whilst Matthew is now doing well at Burton after previously playing at Whitland and Cresselly – and that leaves youngest son Tim, who is now with Cresselly after his spell at Whitland.
 

A raw novice in 2006 . . .

 
“It was in 2006 I started when there were about five matches left and Paul asked me if I would score because they had no-one to do it. He said it would be ok because they were playing St Ishmaels and Wendy Bradshaw would help me out – and he was right because Wendy was brilliant – as was Joy James when we played Hook!
 
“I didn’t have a clue when I opened the scorebook, especially with regard to all the different signals for strange words like ‘bye’, ‘wide’, ‘no ball’ and loads of other things so I started out using only a pencil so I could rub out any daft mistakes – but I soon got into the swing of things and I have to admit that I was soon enjoying being involved.
 

. . . And then a fully qualified scorer at two Bowl finals!

 
“Eventually I took the Scorers’ Course which had previously been held in Pembrokeshire but I had to take it on a correspondence format and I was lucky that Trefor Evans was very helpful and I even sat the exam in his house before he sent the paper off for marking.
 
“I must admit that I was nervous but I passed with flying colours and I was involved for 11 years at Whitland before Paul decided to take on new challenges and in that tie I scored in two Harrison-Allen Bowl Finals where we beat Carew in 2012 and lost to Neyland in 2015 – with Ceri Davies and John Laugharne as respective scorers for the other clubs. They were great occasions and I have since been able to tease Paul that I was involved in two finals; something that he never managed as a player!”
 

Welsh over 50s involvement

 
Paul then played some cricket for Cresselly and Burton but his focal point became the Wales Over 50s’ team, where he was honoured with the captaincy for two years – and when he reached his 50 appearances (two before his better half’ she actually baked a cake for him as part of the celebration
 
Janice has also scored for the Wales over 50’s team in three cup finals in their section as they have taken on English counties like Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucester – and more recently to other counties like Worcestershire and Shropshire.

“We lost in 2013 and 14 but won in 2015 at Trowbridge in Wiltshire, where we stayed overnight and enjoyed the company of good friends Steve and Jean Jones (Burton).
 

Now a much-travelled scorer

 
2015 proved to be a memorable year because Janice and Paul travelled out to St Lucia with Wales not expecting to be the scorer – and when she was asked she didn’t even have a pen with her.

“So I managed with a pen I was given and since there were three more games (two of them on the old and new test match grounds there, I made sure I bought my own set.”
 
Then last year we travelled to Kenya for more international matches and this time I knew I was going to score so I had all my own kit, including my own scorebook!”
 
The intrepid pair has also been on tour to India but this time Janice didn’t have to score and just enjoyed being at the games without any pressure.
 

And finally . . .

 
Closer to home Janice has also scored for another country, in this case England, when  the Wales first team were taking them on in Neath and Paul was in the side.

“I knew John Davies would be scoring for Wales, as he always does for the senior side but England arrived without a scorer. I was soon roped in to do the job for them and I was able to tell Paul that he had never represented England – but I had!”
 
What is nice that Janice has made so many friends amongst scorers in this county like Wendy Bradshaw, Jayne Cole, Joy James, Ann-Marie Jenkins and Julie Davies, to name but a few – and a lady in her 70s who scores regularly for Gloucestershire.
 
Her name is Eileen Phillips and after Wales had lost to her team, Janice and Paul decided to support them in their next game – and Eileen and Co made a huge fuss of them – proof indeed of the camaraderie that exists amongst the scorers like her and Janice Webb!