MIKE EDWARDS

I BOW to nobody when it comes to a love for cricket.

When people talk about it in Pembrokeshire, one name comes to mind. Melvin Helmet. Melvin has been a mainstay of Martletwy United FC and Coedcanlas Cricket Club for over sixty years.

His exploits on the field have become the stuff of legend.

In his youth, an exciting forward who once scored seven goals against Landshipping in the prestigious Pisgah Cup, as time passed, Melvin became a canny midfielder whose ability to pick out opponents’ ankles and genitals with his studs made him respected and feared from Cresswell Quay to Jeffreyston.

He became synonymous with Coedcanlas Cricket Club, where he started playing junior cricket under the watchful eye of characters such as Billy Shin and the muchmissed Larry Anthrax.

Melvin, a bowler of skilful medium pace and a hard-hitting opening batsman, helped Coedcanlas CC become one of the most feared sides in local cricket. This was mostly because the team ensured fair play by travelling everywhere with loaded shotguns.

And who’s to say the game wasn’t the betterr for the threat of imminent death if a Coedcanlas batsman was the victim of a debatable bowledout decision?

Batting down the order these days, Melvin still takes a keen interest in the

Coedc a n las side.

L a s t season, as we shared Coedcanlas’s traditional tea of spam and banana sandwiches, we shared many yarns about times gone by and his memories of some of the real characters he’s known.

“Back when I started playing, times were really tough. Young lads were leaving the village to work in the refineries and what-not. They’d get their heads turned by the bright lights of Hundleton and Maidenwells, and that’d be it. They’d never be seen again.

“It meant those left behind had to work twice as hard to make up. Laying all those mantraps and luring travellers to a hideous fate wasn’t easy, but we managed.

“When Barry Shin introduced tinned pork luncheon meat to the village, it greatly improved our diet.

“Despite that, I can’t help feeling the kids miss out on the smell of roasting “long pig” wafting on the breeze on a summer’s evening.”

And who was I to argue?

“Larry Anthrax shared his knowledge with us young people. We used to have so many laughs when he told us about how he used to put razor blades in the edges of his bat to ensure wicketkeepers stood back and about the time he accidentally severed Edgar Snott’s jugular vein playing a late cut.

“How we laughed! Even Edgar briefly saw the funny side.

“It’s not like that now, of course. It’s all about “technique” and “skill”. I can’t help but think that diminishes the game.”

I can’t help thinking about how much today’s youngsters have missed out on and how much they could learn from real Pembrokeshire gentlemen like Melvin Helmet.