Lives in Cricket No 11 - CP Lewis

park, where they still play. Until recent years the rugby side played there as well. In 1889 Llandovery played at Swansea in July. Lewis made 0, but had three wickets, all bowled. The match was notable for an early appearance for Llandovery by F.E.Chapman, uncle of the Ashes winning captain of 1926, Percy, whose carefree attitudes owe much to the tradition his uncle and father tapped into at Llandovery in the 1890s. Frank Chapman was a master at the College from 1886 to 1896 and his brother, C.E., Percy’s father, was a clergyman who followed him to the area. The club averages for that year appear in the red Lillywhite annual. Lewis, who was captain and secretary for the sixteen-match programme, was second in the batting averages, but heaviest scorer with 361 runs from 17 innings, and top of the bowling, with 71 wickets at an average of just 6.33. Indeed, C.P. was still good enough to play for M.C.C. against county sides and other decent elevens. In fact, in 1890, now 37, C.P. accepted an invitation to play for M.C.C. against Glamorgan at Swansea: he might also have helped assemble the M.C.C. side, perhaps with the hope of settling a few old scores with J.P.Jones and others in the county hierarchy. The M.C.C. team included Edwin Powell, who played some cricket with Llandovery but had also been Llanelli full-back in a Challenge Cup rugby final, and Powell’s brother Frank, a Welsh international centre and crisp middle-order bat. He duly batted at number five but scored just 24 and one, and when it came to bowling, he failed to claim a wicket, though by now, he was more of a change bowler with his days as a ‘strike’ bowler way behind him. Nevertheless, M.C.C. got the upper hand against the Glamorgan amateurs, winning by three wickets ‘after playing about half an hour over time by request of the captains.’ The match at Swansea seems to have re-ignited his appetite to play at a higher level, as he also accepted an invitation to play for M.C.C. against Leicestershire at Lord’s a fortnight later. However, he met with less success and was dismissed by A.D.Pougher for 3 and 5, and did not take a wicket. He continued to enjoy much success at club level with the Llandovery Town side, whose fixture list by now included a pleasant sojourn to the seaside resort of Tenby. The two-day contest saw the latter make 84 and 69 whilst Llandovery amassed 94 Sporting Solicitor