Pembroke County Cricket Club held its annual presentation evening of awards at Pembroke Rugby Club, with a super buffet for those in attendance provided by their neighbours at Pembroke Cricket Club - and with all the clubs who had been successful in the 2024 chase for silverware in attendance, other than one which was unable to be there.
 

Nice trio of individual awards

 
There were also individual awards, with the outstanding performances with bat and ball amongst the younger fraternity saw Logan Hall (Carew) and Tyler James (Cresselly) as respective winners received their special awards off county club chairman Dave Brandon.
 
Another recipient of an individual award was Paul Murray, who received the George Cole Cup for the best player of the season from Helen Bowen, the granddaughter of the late county club stalwart, in recognition of his outstanding batting performances with Neyland and the county team.
 
Paul is renowned as a forceful opening bat and outstanding keeper who shares those duties with skipper Sean Hannon - and a deserved choice in our humble opinion as the recipient of this prestigious award.
 

Five out of six for Neyland in division one and another DR Morris Cup too

 
County Club chairman Dave Brandon was also responsible for the presentations of the awards for each division and once again it was Neyland’s long-standing skipper Sean Hannon who collected the James Morris Memorial Cup for the top echelon, something he has now done for five of the last six seasons, although he would readily admit that this was the closest finish, with Carew finishing level on points but just missing out on count-back.
 
Neyland first team also won the DR Morris Cup and they had to overcome the challenge of player unavailability at different times - but they had a surprising new recruit at the start of the season in Allan Webster, previously with Stackpole and then Pembroke. Alan also plays for Wales Seniors and he showed he could handle first division cricket so it was nice that Neyland asked him to collect the trophy, rather than Mr Hannon appearing again!
 

Amazing trophy treble for Burton . . .

 
Burton won Division Two and there to collect the trophy was skipper Toby Hayman, whose huge scores included four centuries, 97 and 95 in his total of 789, which helped the club to the title as Herbrandston also got promoted alongside them. Both teams had been relegated the previous campaign so it will be interesting to see how they fare in 2025!
 
There was a Burton double as their second string also won the third division and sadly skipper Jack Evans, who also plays rugby for Haverfordwest, had work commitments. But stepping into the breach on the night was Will Ridge, who had a couple of centuries as he batted really well - and helped coach the Ladies’ team to winning their title as well.
 
Burton Ladies completed an amazing treble as their Ladies’ team also won the Ladies’ First Division and Rebecca Barton collected their trophy. She had played well all campaign in a team that really enjoyed each other’s company. Well done ‘Bex’!
 

. . . And a Hundleton double!

 
Another team who claimed a deserved double on the night was the south-county village of Hundleton, which is very small but packs a punch in cricket as their first XI won division four and their seconds scooped the silverware in division six, with six of their players eager to attend!
 
Leading the first XI again was Ben Adams, perhaps better-known as a very good footballer but doing a good job of trying to get the best out of a team that certainly varied with its age group.
 
Accepting the trophy on the club’s behalf was someone who has served Hundleton really well since he came to the area in Craig Willamson, a useful pace bowler and big hitter who suffered a nasty injury in the Alan Brown Cup Final but soon recovered and was back in action. Craig also enjoys indoor cricket, where last season his flowing locks and huge beard made him look like a wild man of Borneo - but for this photo shoot they had almost all disappeared and I think he looks a ringer for the late Freddie Mercury!
 
Jonathan Williams was almost certainly one of the oldest Hundleton players involved who thought he would be leading the seconds until his experience was needed in the firsts after the first six matches. But he was delighted to collect the sixth division cup.  So well done ‘Taff’ - your club loyalty has been a wonderful example for others to follow.
 

Great success for Crymych

 
Sandwiched in between for the division five title it was great to see Crymych back amongst the trophies and there to collect was their top batsman in Richard Thorne and another very keen player in Dyfed Sion. Sadly, skipper Steff Williams, who had led the team really well, was unable to attend because he and wife Lucy have just brought baby boy into the world, hopefully as part of a future generation of cricket in Crymych, and we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk would like to say a huge congratulations to the proud parents!

 

And finally . . .

 
In the cup competitions Lawrenny won the Harrison-Allen Bowl, the premier event, with Chris and Rob Williams there, and that was nice because both have been amazing servants who could have joined a number of other clubs but were always loyal to their village team. Sadly, the trophy wasn’t available for them to collect but we are happy to use our picture of the Williams’ boys from the big day!
 
In the other cup competitions Carew won the Alec Colley Cup and Hook were victorious in the Ormond Youth Cup but sadly neither was able be at the ceremony to collect their trophies.
 
The ladies’ trophies were nicely shared as Pembroke Dock won the second division and Cresselly won the Clive Huxley Cup - and it is great to see the ladies going from strength to strength!