When a quietly-spoken newcomer turned up to practice nets at Pembroke Cricket Club in 2023 and said he would like to play cricket in the area they gave him a typical Treleet Ground welcome - and they must now be very glad that did so because Callum Davies has turned out to an extremely able pace bowler who already proved to be an asset in the league last campaign and more recently indoors.
 
He has already been busy working at his game and as he recaptures his full form after a five-year absence from cricket because of work commitments he is going to be a handful for any batsmen across the county to deal with.
 

Settled in well now the ‘language barrier’ has been broken

 
This is already the case in the 2024/25 indoor season because he has joined Jack Harries, Billy Wood, Sam Davies, Luke Butler, Jack Davies and Archie Hillier-Wood and in a good Pembroke attack which saw them win the division two title last campaign and is currently doing well in the top echelon - and he is certainly causing quite a few batsmen to leap around the crease as they try to negate his pace.
 
 As skipper Harries told us,
“Once we understood his rich Durham accent, we were delighted he was interested in joining us because his pace was evident from the outset and he grabbed three wickets in his first game, a local derby with Lamphey.
 
“Since then, he has returned to something like his full run-up and we are confident that there is still more to come from him next campaign outdoors.”
 

Started early in the North-east of England

 
Callum was first introduced to cricket by his father Christopher, who had played the game in school and had played volleyball for Great Britain at university level - and almost all the family were avid Middlesbrough FC supporters so Callum naturally went alongside them - and is still a fan of “The Boro’ who loves going to their Riverside Ground whenever time allows.
 
He has also dabbled in golf, rugby and football - and still enjoys a game of tennis as a form of relaxation - but for a while his main sport was American Football, which he started playing during his days at the John Moore’s’ University in Liverpool, where he certainly had to bulk up in terms of his upper body strength in readiness to play cricket for his local team when Uni holidays arrived.






 

Soon taking wickets as he was ‘drip fed’ into the first team

 
That local team was Langley Park Cricket Club, which plays in the Durham North-East Cricket League and after starting out in the juniors he was ‘drip fed’ into the second string at 15 and a while later had his first games in the first XI.
 
“I was a bit ‘weedy’ but knew I could bowl quickly and when we won the Seconds League in 2012, I took my share of wickets in helping them win the silverware.
 
“There were professional players in most teams and I can remember that in 2013 we played against Bournmoor CC and playing for them was a young Brydon Carse, now bowling quick for England. Even coming in off a couple of paces he was bowling about 75 to 80 miles per hour and we could see how good he could become, even then.”
 
Callum gradually broke through into the first team after playing his first games as a 16-year-old and had a few five-wicket hauls, and really enjoyed the challenge against some superb batsmen.




 

Started working at Folly Farm and eventually found Treleet

 
After completing his university degree he obtained some work at Knowsley Safari Park, on Merseyside.
 
“I worked with the bison, giraffes and tigers there, gaining valuable experience and really enjoying the work - and in 2019 I started my employment at Folly Farm, where I am now involved with the monkeys, lemurs, giraffes and the rhinos.
 
“But I became so busy with work that cricket inevitably took a backward step because of how busy we are on weekends - and it was only at the start of the 2024 season that I felt I was ready to return to the game and popped along to the Treleet Ground.
 
“It was great to get restarted but I had forgotten how tiring it can be coming off my long run for up to nine overs so I was very stiff in my upper body after the first couple of games
 

And finally . . .

 
“I didn’t get as many wickets as I had hoped but I am confident that will come as my confidence grows - and the other challenge is to polish my batting skills because when I was a nipper I scored runs consistently and at one time in league cricket I was batting No 4 or 5.
 
“I did score 20-odd against Burton, including a couple of sixes, which I really enjoyed, but I know I can do better in 2025.”
 
Having seen Callum Davies bowling indoors recently it is evident at outdoors he will have pace to burn and he has settled in now at Treleet and is ‘one of the boys’ as he has to survive teasing about his accent but is showing what an addition to their attack he is going to be.
 
And we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk wish him every success because he is going to be an asset to Pembroke and Pembrokeshire Cricket - and long may he continue to tend the rhinos at Folly Farm!