An old scrap book of cuttings found in an attic in the South of England has provided us with a wealth of lovely stories about what cricket was like in the St Ishmaels area in 1924, over 91 years ago.
 
Our first newspaper article, from  the 19^th June that year, contains many names from Tish and their opponents Hook, that linger in the clubs even today through their descendants – and it is a nice snap-shot of how cricket was in those days, including the low scores as Tish reached only 29 all out but still managed to win by three runs!
 
We also include the introduction to the article, which is well worth a read – as well as the comments about the Tish Thirds versus Hasguard Firsts’ match!
 
“A very sporting and friendly match was played at St Ishmaels on Saturday last between Hook and St Ishmaels.
“There is no doubt that these village matches, as long as they are played in such a sporting spirit, do a large amount of good, as in this case.
“Before the match Hook didn’t know St Ishmaels and St Ishmaels didn’t know Hook, but now they are so friendly that they are looking forward to meeting again.
“The scores were not big, but close enough to make the game quite exciting at the finish, which also adds to the fun, especially for the onlookers, who turned up in good numbers from the village and took a considerable amount of interest in the game.”
 
St Ishmaels Innings:
J Gwylliam ct T Edwards b  J Bell 2
E Rayner ct W Davies b E Goodridge 5
W Llewellyn ct Edwards b E Goodridge 0
C Harries b J Bell 7
CP Watkins ct C Bowen b J Bell 0
J Richards run out 2
J Devonald run out 4
T Mathias ct C Bowen b T Edwards 2
S Reynolds b T Edwards 0
C Jenkins ct W Davies b T Edwards 3
A Bowen not out 3
Extras 1
Total (all out) 29
 
Hook Bowling:
J Bell 3-11; E Goodridge 2-7; T Edwards 3-10
 
Hook Innings:
R Harries b C Harries 1
C Bowen b J Gwylliam 4
L Bowen ct T Mathias b C Harries 0
J Bell run out 1
E Goodridge b J Gwylliam 0
W Martin b J Gwylliam 1
T Edwards ct T Mathias b C Harries 3
W James ct S Reynolds b J Gwylliam 2
W Davies not out 11
W George ct T Mathias b J Gwylliam 0
H Jenkins b J Gwylliam 1
Extras 2
Total (all out) 26
 
St Ishmaels Bowling:
C Harries 3-14; J Gwylliam 6-10

We hear that another sporting event took place at Hasguard on the same day, when St Ishmaels Third X1 played against Hasguard First XI.
Fortunately, St Ishmaels took a couple of real bats with them as the Hasguard Sportsmen only ran to 'Withies cut in two' (branches cut out of the hedgerow!)
St Ishmaels ran up a great score of 123 to Hasguard's 13.
Evidently there were some returning players for St Ishmaels, the top scorer making over 60.