At 21 years of age Shaun Whitfield has developed his all-round cricketing skills to such a degree that he has become an established member of a very strong Carew Cricket Club side where he is a more than useful pace bowler with a string of wickets to his credit, as well as being able to launch sixes with a power that belies his slight frame.

An example of this came during an earlier Harrison-Allen Bowl match against Narberth where his team was in dire trouble as he strode to the wicket at No 7 and he fell over as he launched into a vain attempt at sending the ball out of the ground.

But after a quiet word from batting colleague Brian Hall he then managed to send the other five balls of the over the boundary ropes and helped them chase down a target of 141 which earlier had looked too much of a challenge!

His performances also earned him recognition for a young County senior team which took on the Wales' under 17s on his home pitch recently and he bowled well in his ten-over stint that earned him figures of 1 for 31 in a total of 299 for 4 - and he belted a typically swash-buckling 18 (two sixes and a four) as he batted at No 7.

Shaun also serves Carew in football during the winter months and at 21 is captain of a very young Rooks' team (average age 22) that did well last season to finish in sixth place in the Manderwood Pembrokeshire Football League First Division.

"We had Jordan Richards and Scott Ferney join us from Tenby and we were well managed by Rob Scourfield, who has been a good servant of the village in football and cricket," Shaun told us.

Shaun would be the first to admit that he has enjoyed total support from his family, with his dad Clive managing his team in small-pitch football when he started out, whilst mum Jackie was always ready to taxi him to county training and Welsh trials in both sports – and the family sporting connection is further continued because his older brothers Matthew (25) and Robert (27) have both played a lot of sport.

“At county level we were coached by Angie Nicholls and Matthew Price as we moved onto full-size pitches and took on teams from all over Wales. It was a great experience and I was involved from age 10 to 16.

"When I eventually moved into senior football I started out with Tenby, who had Peter Roberts as first-team coach, and I was made really welcome by the likes of Billy Vaughan, Sam Christopher, Alex Harley and the rest.

"I learned a great deal from Jack Christopher, who was always ready to give advice, and I really enjoyed it as we finished third in the table."

At 17 Shaun returned to Carew and has been there ever since, starting on the wing with Adam Hughes and then switching to the heart of the defence, and playing with cricketing rivals Alex Bailey and Iwan Izzard from Cresselly as good pals!

“When we got promoted we struggled in Division One as several players had left us but we stuck together and beat Tenby and West Dragons late on we managed to stay up – and then when Adam Hughes moved house Rob Scourfield did a good job last season as manager and we did well overall.

In contrast in his cricket, Shaun has only ever played for Carew after starting out as a real nipper with Tony Scourfield as coach and was soon called into action at under 15 level when the team was a man short – and he bowled the final over in an easy win.

Shaun played for the county under 10s team coached by Richard Howell and included Lewis Hicks, John Curran and Jordan Howell as captain – but in those days mainly as a bowler who batted quite low down the order.

“Then I lost a bit of interest and took a year out,” admitted Shaun, “but started again with Carew Thirds and we won the Ken Morris Cup by beating Whitland Thirds. I took three wickets in each innings in the final as Robbie Hicks was man of the match after hitting a hundred – but he gave me the trophy because he thought I had done really well!

“We won three Ken Morris Finals on the trot and I also won an Ormond Cup Winners’ medal as we beat Narberth, with Ceri Brace as captain – but in my only appearance in the Alec Colley Final we were stuffed by Cresselly as Nick Davies starred, and is now a cracking team-mate in Carew.

“I was also chuffed when I scored 118 at Llechryd in an Ormond Cup tie off just 52 balls with a heap of sixes, my first century!”

Then about four years ago Shaun made his first-team debut and astute captain Rhys Davies moved him up the order and told him to play his shots, as he had done against Llechryd.

“I learned so much just watching the likes of Tim Hicks and Ian Sefton batting, and both Nick Scourfield and Brian Hall were always telling him not to throw my wicket away by trying impossible shots.

“Then in a National Village Cup quarter final against Newton Linfield I grabbed 5 for 17 and against Pontarddulais in the Welsh Cup I scored 75 so I finally felt I was beginning to earn my place in a very good team.”

Ask Shaun about ambitions in cricket and they naturally centre on Carew continuing to do well and he would love to start picking up silverware, starting with the coveted league championship this campaign and hopefully a Harrison-Allen Bowl success in the future.

“I love being involved at Carew and I’ve been so lucky to have had terrific support, not only from the players I’ve already mentioned but from other old-timers like Martin Cole in cricket and Gerald Hicks in football.”

There’s no doubt that Shaun Whitfield will serve sport in Carew for many years to come in his inimitably enthusiastic manner and we wish him every success, especially in cricket where we have already thoroughly enjoyed watching the attacking way he plays the game!