Report and Pictures by Jon Willington

Hook 274 for 7 beat Narberth 256 for 5

by 18 runs

In a very competitive county under 11 cricket final played at Haverfordwest racecourse recently, Hook overcame a strong challenge from Narberth to secure the county champions tag for a third consecutive year.

This year’s success was extra special, with Hook fielding four sets of brothers in Lewis and Liam Miller, Owen and Rhys Phelps, Jacob and Luc Owen and Seth and Oscar Willington. Has this happened before in a county final?

In a repeat of last season’s final, players from both teams produced a match full of high quality cricket, a credit to the players themselves and to their respective coaches, Andrew Miller and Richard and Jordan Howell. Rain threatened to ruin the evening at one point, but umpires Allan Hansen and Jon Twigg managed the situation well and saw the match to a conclusion in late evening sunshine.

This 10-a-side format sees players bat in pairs for four overs and permitted to bowl a maximum of three overs. Hook were invited to bat first, posting a competitive total of 274 in their 20 overs. The Narberth bowlers did an excellent job to grab seven wickets, each wicket seeing six runs deducted from the Hook total.

For Hook, it was once again Jacob Owen who led the way with an excellent 19 runs who along with brother Luc ran superbly between the wickets. Owen Phelps contributed a solid 12 runs alongside a hard-hitting 15 from Seth Willington and Niall Griffiths with eight.

For Narberth, Jake Thomas made an early breakthrough and Will Nicholas picked up 2 for 11. Ollie Hough and Shay Norcross both bowled tight spells, supported by all of their fellow bowlers and a good fielding performance.

In reply, Narberth set out positively and for long periods frustrated the Hook bowlers. Will Nicholas batted well for eight runs, while Ollie Berry and Ollie Hough keept the chase going with seven runs each.

Lucas Davies (1 for 8) took a key Narberth wicket and then Seth Willington came on with his leg spin to take 2 for 6 to really dent the Narberth chase. Dillon James bowled tightly, as did Luc Owen and Lewis Miller.

The chase came down to the final two overs, with both sides in with a chance. Shay Norcross batted really well, but two run-outs in those final overs from excellent ground fielding finally secured the victory for Hook, Narberth finishing 18 runs short.

Paul Webb, vice-chairman of the county club, congratulated everyone involved on an excellent advert for junior cricket, groundsman Andrew Williams and the Haverfordwest club for hosting the competion.

It was left to Colin John, on behalf of junior cricket sponsors Llewellyn Davies, to present the winner’s trophy to Hook captain, Lewis Miller, in front of his delighted teammates.