Viva Lewes Issue #153 June 2019

ON THIS MONTH: CRICKET WORLD CUP
Girl Power
Arwyn James, fast bowler
“I was… surprised,” says Arwyn James, Lewes
Priory CC’s secret weapon, on her reaction to
getting her first wicket for the club’s first team.
This month is the Cricket World Cup, and we
decided to mark it by interviewing a remarkable
local star. So I’m sitting in the Stanley Turner
clubhouse, with Arwyn and Jay James, Priory
groundsman and proud dad.
“It was the last day of the 2017 season, and
Arwyn, despite being a 13-year-old girl – was
picked to play.” he adds. All the other players, it
must be said, in both teams, were adult men.
“I was given the ball to bowl the first over,” says
Arwyn. “You should have seen their opening
batsman’s face when he realised he was up
against a little girl,” continues Jay. “And you
should have seen it when she clean-bowled him,
first ball.”
“All his team mates were laughing,” she
remembers. But not for long… soon it would be
their turn to face her.
It became a familiar routine last season when
Arwyn became a fixture in the second XI, for
whom she won the ‘Outstanding Player of
the Year’ award. And no wonder: her bowling
stats were outstanding, with a collection of
five wicket hauls, including an incredible
season-best of five wickets for four runs against
Tunbridge Wells side Crowhurst Park.
Arwyn discovered cricket four years ago when
she joined in a scratch game on the Convent
Field, and loved the experience. She joined
the Lewes Priory under 10s, and progressed
through the age groups, until she was deemed
good enough to play with the adult teams, and
help out with the coaching.
Now 14, she is about to make her debut for the
Sussex CC Under 15 team. “It’s long been my
ambition to play for my county, and hopefully
my country, too,” she says. “It’ll mean a lot of
training and work, but it’s where I want to be.”
She’s no slouch with a bat – last season she
posted scores of twenty-odd not out on the
two occasions she was called upon – but it’s
her consistent pace bowling which sets her
apart. “I have reached a top speed of around
60mph,” she says. I ask her, but she won’t reveal
the secret of her ‘killer ball’, a surprise action
which flummoxes the best of batsmen. “Let’s
keep it a secret,” she says. Alex Leith
Photo by Jay James
JOIN THE FUN
Lewes Priory CC are recruiting players of all ages, and are particularly keen for
young girl players to play in their many age groups, from Under 9s upwards. Initial
games are ‘soft’ ball, and there are drop-in sessions every Friday evening at
5.45pm (weather permitting). On Sunday 9th June, as part of a celebration of the
World Cup, teams are coming to the Stanley Turner from all round the county to
perform in a ‘soft’ ball tournament: there will be stalls and bouncy castles, and
everyone is welcome for a family day out. lewespriory.play-cricket.com
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