Lives in Cricket No 11 - CP Lewis

The match report in Swansea’s new daily paper, the Cambria Daily Leader , also contained a glowing tribute to Lewis: Their best all round man, C.P.Lewis, did not meet with the success anticipated as he became a victim, when he had scored 4, to a very frequent misfortune among cricketers, viz run out. Mr Lewis, it will be remembered, is an old Oxford man, and has had the distinguished cricketing honour of having played in the University match. In fact when he figured as one of the Oxford team, he was in that year their most reliable bowler. Consequently C.P.Lewis has been, in South Wales, a household cricketing word. Llandovery can well be thankful for having such a man in their team. The second-round tie was also held on neutral soil at St. Helen’s against Morriston, the metalworks town on the western outskirts of Swansea, and one of a growing number of working men’s clubs coming into what had basically been a competition for teams dominated by public school old boys. Llandovery duly upheld the honour of the old school ties, scoring 169 with C.P.Lewis making 85 (some sources say 86) before Morriston made just 49. Their next opponents were old rivals Christ College, Brecon. The arrangements for their annual inter-school match had prohibited masters from playing, but in the Cup they could play. Llandovery had the worst of a draw but, possibly because it was late in the summer, Brecon withdrew from the replay. Aided by this piece of good fortune, Llandovery took their place in the final at St. Helen’s against the Swansea Working Men’s Club. To reach the final for the second successive summer was something of a feather in C.P.Lewis’ already quite sizeable cap, and although all of the other premier clubs had fallen by the wayside, they could not treat their opponents lightly, especially as they had the Gwynn brothers – W.H. (‘Bill’) Gwynn and brother David – who were two of the most capable young sportsmen in the town, half-backs for the Welsh rugby team, as well as talented cricketers. It proved to be a memorable match for C.P.Lewis, who proceeded to take five wickets as the Swansea side were bustled out for just 31. The students then secured a first-innings lead of 27, before Bill Gwynn showed the sort of form with the bat that was later to attract the attention of the Glamorgan selectors and resulted in his appearance for the county side in the 1890s. He struck a resounding 58 before being clean bowled by Owen Jones. C.P. then A Cup Held Aloft 63