Pembrokeshire U13s cricket team participated at the Bromsgrove Cricket Festival recently and the team played two T20 and two 40-over games against other county teams, each game being very closely contested.
 

County disappointing against Dorset

 
Pembrokeshire’s opening game was a T20 versus Dorset on Sunday and they put the opposition in to bat. Pembrokeshire were pleased with their efforts after 10 overs, when Dorset had only reached 45 for the loss of 3 wickets, with Harry Dunn bowling two and Ewan Griffiths claiming a caught and bowled chance.

Nicholas Jones bowled very well too, only conceding four runs from his four overs. Unfortunately, a poor last five overs in the field by Pembrokeshire, allowed Dorset to jump from 74 for 5 after 15 overs to 136 for 7, a much larger total than looked likely for much of the innings.

Pembrokeshire’s reply was disappointing; with openers Geraint Rees and Harry Cook, then Jacob Lay and Che Thomas all losing their wickets without reaching double figures. Kyle Williams (16), Max Brindley (16 not out) and Nicholas Jones (20 not out) restored some respectability to the scoreline, with Pembrokeshire finishing at 88 for 9 at the end of the game.
 

Cracking win against Cardiff & The Vale

The next game was another T20 against Cardiff & The Vale, where Pembrokeshire were put in to bat and Max Brindley and Nicholas Jones continued their good form from the opening game with 14 and 30 not out respectively. Kyle Williams was run out for 14 and Geraint Rees was 10 not out at the end, with Pembrokeshire reaching 111 for 5.

Cardiff’s reply was built round Jamie Goodwin’s (son of Glamorgan’s Murray Goodwin) excellent 43 before Jacob Lay held a juggling catch on the boundary off Kyle Williams’ spin bowling (1 for 14). A run out and two wickets for James Davies (2 for 11), alongside steady bowling from Harry Cook (0 for 10), Che Thomas (0 for 11), Geraint Rees (0 for 15) and James Thomas (0 for 26), restricted Cardiff to 90 for 4 and Pembrokeshire deservedly won by 21 runs.
 

Jacob shines in narrow defeat

 
On Monday, Pembrokeshire faced a strong Oxfordshire outfit, which elected to bat after winning the toss. Their batsmen collected runs steadily throughout their innings of 233 for 8 from 40 overs, notable for the 75 runs scored by Tom Bacon. Pembrokeshire’s wicket takers were Geraint Rees (2 for 23), Ewan Griffiths (1 for 5) and Harry Dunn (1 for 23) , whilst excellent work in the field resulted in four run outs.

Max Brindley and Nicholas Jones opened Pembrokeshire’s innings well before Max fell for 20 and both Geraint Rees and Nicholas (16) fell in successive overs with Pembrokeshire on 55 for 3.

Enter Jacob Lay and Kyle Williams with an excellent partnership of 115. Kyle played a very supportive innings of 20, giving Jacob the strike as often as possible. Jacob was in superb form, hitting the Oxfordshire bowlers to all parts of ground in one of the best innings ever seen at this level of Pembrokeshire cricket. He finished on a fantastic score of 110, which included seven enormous sixes and 11 fours.

Che Thomas was the only other Pembrokeshire batsmen to reach double figures, including a big 6 and Pembrokeshire couldn’t quite reach the Oxfordshire total, finishing on a best-ever score for this team of 219 for 9, only 14 runs adrift.
 

Disastrous start

 
On Tuesday, Herefordshire were the opponents in the final 40 over game, where Pembrokeshire won the toss and batted. The innings began disastrously with both openers Max Brindley and Nicholas Jones not troubling the scorers and worse was to follow as Jacob Lay, the previous day’s centurion, fell for 6 with Pembrokeshire on 9 for 3 after three overs. Geraint Rees and Kyle Williams batted very sensibly to lift the score to 56 before disaster struck again with Kyle being run out for 21 and Geraint bowled for 21 in successive balls.
 

Brave fight-back

 
It was time for the tail to wag, and wag it did!  Daniel Llewellyn scored 11, James Davies 22, James Thomas added 8, but the team were really cheered by Ewan Griffiths hitting five boundaries in his 30 before being caught off the final ball. With Harri Dunn 4 not out, Pembrokeshire reached a creditable 164.

Dunn took an early wicket and Pembrokeshire’s hopes were high. Steady scoring by Hereford’s batsmen, particularly George Nicholson (49), swung the game in their favour for a time before a run of wickets swung the game towards Pembrokeshire again.  
 

Useful bowling but dropped catches

 
A late innings of 23 not out, including four boundaries, edged Hereford to victory by two wickets in another exciting game where Pembrokeshire didn’t quite do enough. The team will be reflecting on the five dropped catches which might have made the difference!

Pembrokeshire wicket-takers were Harry Dunn (1 for 14), James Davies (1 for 14), Nicholas Jones (1 for 39), Max Brindley (2 for 19) Che Thomas (2 for 27) and James Thomas (1 for 12) with Jacob Griffiths (0 for 16) and Geraint Rees (0 for 18) also bowling well.

Coach Andrew Williams was very pleased that the team was competitive in each game, despite only winning one of their four games. Areas for players to improve on were batting with more patience, concentration in the field and taking those vital catches.

Pembrokeshire U13s: Max Brindley (Kilgetty), James Davies, Nicholas Jones, Daniel Llewellyn (Burton), Geraint Rees, Ewan Griffiths, Jacob Griffiths (Neyland), Kyle Williams (Narberth), Che Thomas, James Thomas (Whitland), Harri Dunn (Crymych), Harry Cook (Carew).