Cricket anoraks Paul and Janice Webb have followed their fascinating statistics on the batting stakes in the first division of the Pembroke County Cricket Club over the last decade with similar facts and figures for bowling – and it is Neyland’s canny spin bowler Andrew ‘Windy’ Miller who takes the honours with not only the most wickets in ten years but also the best average.Most wickets and best average runs per wicket
At one stage he was rightly regarded as one of the best three batsmen in the county and the club captain who started Neyland’s surge to becoming the top team in the county – but he stepped down as skipper and dropped down the batting order but can still wield the willow when needs dictate!Andrew bowled the third-highest number of overs to claim a massive 335 wickets, which was 41 ahead of fiery fast bowler Adam ‘Viking’ James (Haverfordwest) and a further seven more that St Ishmael’s left-arm spin bowler Andrew Pawlett, whom we have always felt has been the most under-rated slow bowler in the county over that time.
James also had the second-best economy rate whilst Pawlett finished tenth in that area!
The bowlers who did well to reach the top 20 but conceded most runs per wake were Lawrenny’s Jamie Lewis (28.13), Matthew Davies of Whitland (26.15) and Dan James (then Whitland) with 22.34.
Palmer powers to best performance as Tish have three in first five places
No doubt about the best one-off bowling figures over the decade and that came from Andrew Palmer of St Ishmaels who went with his team-mates to Llanrhian and returned fine figures of eight wickets for a paltry six runs in 6.5 overs, four of them maidens! That occurred on the 2nd of July, 2016 and sadly Andrew stepped down from local cricket shortly afterwards, otherwise this talented all-rounder would surely have featured far higher than 15th place with 154 wickets.There were also four seven-wicket hauls that fell to Neyland’s ‘Mr Reliable’ Gary Lloyd (7 for 20) and Dan James, then with Whitland (7 for 38), whilst Tish claimed a remarkable three of the best five as Pawlett (7 for 21) and Andrew Williams (7 for 23) were sandwiched in at Nos 3 and 4!
Neyland top the team representation
It comes as no surprise that Neyland have the biggest representation in the top 20 places as Miller is joined by Henry Durrant (13th), Lloyd (18th) and Koomen (19th), with Haverfordwest joining Tish on three players, with Simon Holliday in seventh spot after being runaway winner as best batsman, followed by Clive Tucker (10th) alongside runner-up James.
There are two each for Lawrenny, Carew and Whitland, whilst Narberth and, surprisingly, Cresselly having one representative to complete the names who have played for just one club.
The final figures are great to study, although there are inevitably some surprise omissions, and we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk would again like to thank Paul and Janice for all their efforts and can’t help wondering – WHAT WILL THEY COME UP WITH NEXT?!
| Name | Club | Overs | Maidens | Figures | Runs | Wkts | Average |
| Andrew Miller | Neyland | 1341.4 | 138 | 6 for 30 | 4608 | 335 | 13.75 |
| Adam James | Haverfordwest | 1178.3 | 229 | 6 for 15 | 4179 | 294 | 14.21 |
| Andrew Pawlett | St Ishmaels | 1428.1 | 222 | 7 for 21 | 5166 | 287 | 18.01 |
| Robert Williams | Lawrenny | 1471.1 | 320 | 6 for 48 | 4879 | 244 | 19.99 |
| Tom Davies | Carew | 1071.1 | 201 | 6 for 15 | 3469 | 229 | 15.14 |
| Simon Holliday | Haverfordwest | 835.5 | 145 | 5 for 13 | 3195 | 213 | 15.01 |
| Rhys Davies | Carew | 1089.2 | 188 | 6 for 16 | 3756 | 208 | 18.05 |
| Nathan Banner | Herbie/HW/ Neyland | 1019.5 | 244 | 5 for 19 | 3070 | 203 | 15.12 |
| Ryan Lewis | Cresselly | 939.1 | 147 | 6 for 19 | 3453 | 198 | 17.43 |
| Clive Tucker | Haverfordwest | 948.2 | 171 | 6 for 15 | 3314 | 186 | 17.81 |
| Andrew Williams | St Ishmaels | 912.1 | 114 | 7 for 23 | 3685 | 171 | 21.54 |
| Jamie Lewis | Lawrenny | 1041.5 | 145 | 5 for 36 | 4698 | 167 | 28.13 |
| Henry Durrant | Neyland | 984.1 | 219 | 5 for 6 | 3156 | 165 | 19.12 |
| Matthew Davies | Whitland | 930.4 | 107 | 5 for 38 | 4185 | 160 | 26.15 |
| Andrew Palmer | St Ishmaels | 876.5 | 164 | 8 for 6 | 2906 | 154 | 18.87 |
| Brad McDermott-Jenkins | Lawrenny/Cresselly | 781.1 | 108 | 6 for 38 | 3255 | 148 | 21.99 |
| Dan James | Whitland | 840.4 | 148 | 7 for 38 | 3262 | 146 | 22.34 |
| Gary Lloyd | Neyland | 881.1 | 172 | 7 for 20 | 2730 | 143 | 19.09 |
| Nick Koomen | Neyland | 666.1 | 112 | 6 for 25 | 2489 | 141 | 17.65 |
| Ian Hughes | Narberth | 772.1 | 188 | 5 for 29 | 2135 | 137 | 15.58 |