Lives in Cricket No 11 - CP Lewis

box left behind by C.P.Lewis. No monetary riches were inside, but instead historical affluence. The 1890s scorebook, a big leather-bound ledger in copperplate clerk’s handwriting, not only recording matches ball-by-ball, but each with a handwritten match report. Also there was the Carmarthenshire scorebook from the second half of the Minor County years, and Lewis’ Carmarthenshire caps, with their gaudy circles of many colours, plus the regal orange and purple of the South Wales Club. The Carmarthenshire book is less impressive than the Llandovery one. It is a ledger of Stephens-ink blue, embossed, at first sight, with the unlikely legend ‘E.C.B. Cricket Scoring Book’, but on closer examination the initials are identifiable as G.C.B. – Geo.C. Bussey, the cricket supplier. It carries the written legend ‘Minor Counties Scoring Book – Carmarthenshire County, 1.8.1910 to 5.8.1920’, though the last few years are friendlies. Tucked in the first page is a postcard with a written ‘Order of Going In’ for one of the later matches. Sadly, there is no place for the scorer’s name, but, as C.P.Lewis did everything else, we can be sure he also did his spell in the box. Lewis, as a country solicitor of that age, was meticulous in filing things away. David Smith, uncle of England’s Ed Smith, found more of his effects, including a lengthy will. ‘One gets the strong impression that he drafted his own meticulous will, with its lament on the cost of living after the Great War,’ Smith wrote. ‘There on pages 3 and 4 appears “I give and bequeath to my said Trustees the South Wales Cricket silver Challenge Cup presented to me by the old South Wales Cricket Club upon its dissolution in 1886 ... upon trust that my Trustees shall permit the said ... to be used and enjoyed by my said great nephew Meryn Lewis during his life.”’ Meryn, also a lawyer, passed it to his nephew in about 1965. The cup had been kept in a wooden box for many years and was still in excellent condition. In 1983, as Llandovery College played the XL Club it was handed back to the College, to be displayed with their other cricketing heirlooms like the bails from the 1956 Test when Jim Laker took all ten wickets in an innings; presented by the match umpire Emrys Davies – the former Glamorgan all-rounder – who had sent his son Peter to Llandovery. Even when well into his sixties, C.P. still travelled up to London to watch cricket at Lord’s and rugby at Twickenham, but in the autumn of 1922, he was taken ill whilst watching the Varsity match. Sadly, he never fully recovered and he died peacefully at his Later Years 109