Weather permitting the curtain will open on the first competitive Pembrokeshire cricket game of the season at Cresselly next Sunday when Cresselly will play Haverfordwest for the Jubilee Cup. The match is played annually between the Harrison-Allen Bowl winners and the Division One champions. Last season Haverfordwest dominated the longer version of the game and won the league championship, while Cresselly proved to be the team of the season in the Harrison-Allen Bowl which the club won after a long gap of 21 years. Wickets will be pitched at 1 pm. Each team can bat up to a maximum of 45 overs in this 90 overs contest, which will be umpired by Barry Wood and Walter Dash. Both teams have strong batting line-ups, with the likes of Simon Cole, Julian Arthur and Lyn Richards likely to be at the forefront of the Cresselly run- getters, especially as Adam Chandler and Damian Arthur are both unavailable. Haverfordwest can call upon vice-captain Karl Rhead, openers Danny Potter and Dai Davies, together with pugnacious left-hander Phil Kirkby. Haverfordwest have probably got the best balanced bowling attack in the county, with the pace of Simon Williams and the guile of Adrian Griffiths backed up by a two-pronged spin attack. This season it will be a three-pronged spin attack, as spin twins Mathew Johns and Clive Tucker will be joined by newcomer Nick Dyer, a top class off- spinner, who has played international cricket for Scotland. By comparison, the Cresselly bowling line-up looks a little threadbare, but opposing teams have found it dangerous to write-off Cresselly's bowling attack and it was surprising how many wickets this under- rated attack took last season. Spinner Ryan Lewis led the way with 33 league wickets, followed by the line and length of skipper Lyn Richards with 29 wickets. Strike bowler Stefan Jenkins was not far behind with 22 wickets, while old hands Philip James and Richard Harris took 16 and 18 wickets, respectively. If the contest was over two innings of 20 or 22 overs, then the money would be on Cresselly. However, Haverfordwest are the acknowledged experts in the longer version of the game and as the match will be played on a similar basis to league matches, they must start as slight favourites. Although the Jubilee Cup has never captured the imagination of Pembrokeshire cricketers in the same way as the Harrison-Allen Bowl or the Duggie Morris Cup, the contest will be between two of the top teams in Pembrokeshire. The players of both teams will be up for it and the discerning cricket follower will find plenty of interest in an absorbing contest. Andrew Phillips, one of the senior players in the Haverfordwest squad, said:"The Haverfordwest players are looking forward to the game and will enjoy a close contest with the Cresselly team. "We had a good season last year and we will be looking to build on that success this season." Cresselly club chairman, Glyn Cole, said: "The Cresselly players will be looking forward to getting in some action on the field. Net practice is useful, but it is never quite the same as match practice against quality opposition." The club chairman also acts as the groundsman at the picturesque Cresselly pitch and he added: "Although we have carried out pre-season rolling, the weather has not been conducive to pitch preparation. Nevertheless, we hope to get the game on, and it would be nice to see some play again at Cresselly in order to get the season moving."
