Carew fly county flag (From Western Telegraph)

Carew fly county flag

Carew Cricket Club recently went down to valiant defeat against Oxfordshire side Shipton Under Wychwood in the quarter-final of the National Village Cup competition.

Although they were disappointed to lose they could at least say they really carried the Pembrokeshire cricketing banner with pride.

They travelled many miles as their journeys took them to Bronwydd and then nearby Lawrenny to play the zone final, then down to the Exeter area to play Feniton before they became the first team in Pembrokeshire to fly to a match when they were drawn away to Paul, just ten miles from Land's End.

This was before they took on mighty Shipton, twice winners of the competition for village clubs the length and breadth of Wales and England.

That particular flight will surely be long remembered in the Carew clubhouse because at first they intended to travel by bus.

That would have meant a nightmare 14-hour round trip leaving at 4.30am on Sunday and arriving back 24 hours later having paid out £1,000 for the cost of travel.

Then Rowena Lloyd suggested they fly to the match and after giving the matter some thought, club chairman Gethin Evans was deputed to seek sponsorship for the £1,400 cost and found it!

It meant that they flew from Withybush Airport at 10.15am on the Sunday, arrived in Newquay 45 minutes later and were whisked to the Paul ground, played the match, had a few pints with the opposition and were back in the Carew Inn at 10.40pm!

But all that seemed a million miles away as Carew were awarded a bye in the first round against Hook before facing Bronwydd and winning with three balls to spare. Steve Cole's 59 not out helped them to reach their target of 160 for the loss of four wickets.

They won comfortably at Lawrenny, where they dismissed the opposition for 132 as Steve Ive (4 for 36) and Simon Wood (3 for 26) did the damage and then good knocks by Tim Hicks (36) and Wood (35 not out) saw them home at 133 for 3 in 33 overs.

Carew edged home by one wicket against Feniton, a village outside Exeter, with John Canton the bowling star as his off spin earned him figures of 5 for 31 alongside Wood (1 for 47), Ive (2 for 33), Rob Scourfield (1 for 29) and Kerry Waters (1 for 28).

The Carew batting card makes interesting reading because Brian Hall anchored the innings with 57, Phil Jones chipped in with 30 and keeper Aled Griffiths reached 28 not out as they won with only two balls left when John Canton took a risky single and there were five overthrows!

Carew B Hall ct M Simic b R Witton 57 M Scourfield ct S Bond b S Bright 10 S Wood lbw S Bright 0 S Cole ct S Bond b A Pullin 7 R Scourfield ct S Bond b S Bright 5 P Jones ct B Cann b D Carnell 30 S Ive run out 2 A Griffiths not out 28 M Phillips ct B Cann b J French 17 K Waters ct B Cann b R Witton 0 J Canton not out 6 Extras 22 Total (9 wickets) 184

Then it was on to Paul and the club amazingly used two small planes to ferry the players and another six seater to carry their intrepid band of supporters to the south-western tip of the British Isles.

Paul scored 178 for 7 as Tim Hicks (3 for 22), Canton (2 for 37) and Kerry Waters (4 for 25) bowled well.

Carew were looking comfortable on 173 for 5 with four overs left but, although they lost two late wickets, they were still good value for victory as Ian Sefton returned from injury and blasted five sixes and three fours in a match-winning innings of 63 not out at exactly a run a ball.

Carew B Hall b R Hall 25 M Scourfield ct A Snell b R Hall 19 S Wood b P Osborne 24 T Hicks run out 11 I Sefton not out 63 S Cole lbw P Osborne 13 R Scourfield ct & b P Osborne 5 A Griffiths ct A Snell b P Osborne 0 S Ive not out 0 Extras 18 Total (7 wickets) 178

Carew had already reached the last eight of the competition against Troon (1984), St Fagans (late 80s) and Shipton (1996) and set off for Oxfordshire to play Shipton again, a journey of a mere four hours, before taking on one of the strongest teams in the competition for years, with players attracted from far and wide to play for them.

The home side showed just how strong they are when they amassed a mighty 296 for 7 in their 45 overs.

Carew did well to hold them at that score since they were already 205 for 2 in only 29 overs. Skipper Steve Bates opened with 85, before he was caught by Aled Griffiths off Ian Sefton, sharing a second-wicket stand of 157 with Simon Hol.

Hol raced to 92 before he was adjudged lbw to Tim Hicks, who finished with 2 for 47 alongside Sefton (3 for 48) and Rob Scourfield (1 for 42).

The pressure of having to score at almost seven runs per over put pressure on Carew and they were in trouble at 48 for 4 but recovered to a respectable 174 for 7 as Martin Scourfield (58) and Robbie Hicks (55) were their batting heroes.

Carew I Sefton ct P Herring b J Constable 4 B Hall ct C Porter b I Lewis 16 M Scourfield ct & b P Herring 58 T Hicks lbw I Lewis 0 P Jones lbw J Constable 0 R Hicks lbw J Constable 55 A Griffiths not out 21 N Cope b J Constable 4 R Scourfield not out 9 Extras 7 Total (7 wickets) 174

The match finished at 7.30pm and ironically the bar at the Shipton clubhouse ran out of lager at 8pm.

Nick Scourfield and the home chairman set out to borrow a keg from one of the two nearby village pubs.

They failed to achieve their aim so the players all moved into one of the pubs for the evening and had a rattling good time, before arriving back at Carew at 4.15am. It brought to an end another odyssey for Carew.

Having flown the Pembrokeshire colours with style and credit, everyone at the club - players, officials and supporters - deserve a huge pat on the back.

The Carew sponsors for the Paul trip wereThomas Scourfield and Son Quarries; Tony Pidgeon; Pembrokeshire Financial Services; Broadmead Hotel, Tenby; Lewis and Lewis, Solicitors, Tenby; and Blueberries Restaurant, Tenby.