Morgan is making his name at Cresselly

 
Morgan Lewis is part of the Lewis family which contributes so much to cricket at Cresselly and at 19 is very much a member of the next generation of talented teenagers at the club who will surely continue to fly the flag with as much distinction as has been done for many years in the cricket-mad village.
 
He is the elder son of Matthew Lewis, who captains the second team and been heavily involved at the club for many years, whilst his younger brother Corey (17) also plays well for the seconds under dad - and on the female side sister Caitlin (15) is heavily involved in football with Johnston Jets, Ysgol Dyffryn Taf and the Carmarthenshire Schools; whilst mum Claire is the organiser and supporter of everyone else and rightly regarded as the mainstay in the family’s sporting life.
 

Early start at Cresselly

 
It was only natural for Morgan to play cricket  as he went to the field to watch so often and at nine years of age he started playing ‘soft ball’ cricket under the watchful eye of dad Matthew and uncle Ryan, who is still a key player at Cresselly today.
 
He took to it like the proverbial duck to water and was soon in the Pembrokeshire team at under 11 level, where he opened the bowling and scored 47 runs against Carmarthenshire to serve notice of his potential.






 

Senior debut at 13 – and Ormond Youth Cup success

 
Morgan played well throughout all the age groups and at 13 began playing for the Cresselly third XI that was coached by Steve ‘Spongey’ Davies - and when he made his debut he hit the winning runs as they played their home league games on Carew’s second pitch that overlooks Carew Castle.
 
He was a regular in the youth team that won the Ormond Cup Final two years in succession and was lucky to have constructive advice from senior players as he moved through the ranks and joined the second team.
 

Hits the ball hard – and often!

 
He certainly caught the eye with his ability to hit the ball hard and scored 91 for them at home to Kilgetty and 71 away at Narberth with a strike rate of over 170 - and played in two Alec Colley Cup Finals where Cresselly 2nds lost to their counterparts from Neyland.
 
Morgan eventually made his first team debut at the end of the season and began to feature more at the top level of Pembrokeshire senior cricket at the start of the next campaign received every encouragement from club captain Ian Izzard, and other senior players like Simon Cole and Phil Williams.
 

A ‘Borderer’ in rugby

 
Outside of his cricket Morgan is also a keen rugby player who has completed his first season of senior rugby at Whitland where he has played on the wing and enjoyed some game time at Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn, including a try in one of his first appearances..
 
Indeed, his debut this season was eventful because a received an early yellow card for a high tackle and when he came back on was one of The Borderers’ try scorers!
 
He started out at under 12 level with the Junior Borderers and played regularly until he was 15 - and after a bit of a break returned to play for them at youth level alongside players of the quality of Harry Fuller, Luca Setaro, Rhys Nicholas and Owen Griffiths, with Phil ‘Stretch’ Morgan as an excellent coach.




 

Scoring runs at the top level

 
Back on the cricket front, Morgan has now established himself as a member of the Cresselly first team squad but readily admits that he needs to build innings for more consistency alongside his powerful stroke play.
 
“I had 71 in the league against Narberth, 45 against Narberth in the Harrison-Allen Bowl, 36 when we lost to Neyland in the Duggie Morris Cup and 22 when we beat Lawrenny in the league but I know that I lost patience in some of them and was trying to slog big sixes rather than staying in and playing every ball on merit!”
 

And finally . . .

 
But as dad Matthew says,
“Morgan has the skills to score big runs and I think a first century is just around the corner but that will come as he gains in experience and not feel he still has something to prove to others.
 
We at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk have seen Morgan Lewis playing this season and we have no doubt that he is already an asset for Cresselly because he is also an excellent fielder - and we are going to hear a lot more about this talented young man for many more years to come with the village club!