Fifty years with same club and 2,000 wickets – the remarkable story of cricketer Dafydd Timothy

Fifty seasons with the same cricket club and 2,000 wickets.

That stat alone is a magnificent standout that tells its own story – yet there is so much more to Dafydd Timothy’s career in the game of bat and ball than that.

Saturday, June 21, 2025 will go down as the date where Carmel and District CC legend Timothy picked up his 2,000th wicket for the club.

His landmark victim? Well that is a tale of remarkable coincidence we will tell separately.

Dafydd, who hails from Rhyl, has been a Carmel player since 1975, a year which saw Queen’s classic song Bohemian Rhapsody reach No1, Brian Clough appointed manager of Nottingham Forest and West Indies win cricket’s inaugural World Cup.

It also marked the start of a remarkable relationship between Carmel CC and their stalwart bowling hero D Timothy, right arm over.

Being a prolific record keeper ensured Dafydd’s producing his career stats was no problem at all – manna from heaven for Grassroots North Wales!

Here are some highlights…

• 936 games
• 10,799 overs
• 2,758 maidens
• 27,003 runs conceded
• 2,001 wickets
• Economy Rate 2.5
• Average 13.49

Best bowling figures: 8-16 versus Llai in 1980 (Dafydd – ‘it should have been 9, but the short leg dropped a sitter off the last batsman but then ran him out in the resulting confusion!’)
108 x five-wicket hauls
6 x eight-wicket hauls
12 x seven-wicket hauls
Hat-tricks: 2 – against Hawarden and Llangollen

Most Productive Seasons
1984: 406 overs, 78 wickets
1994: 333 overs, 75 wickets, 9 five-wicket hauls

So, how did this remarkable career in local cricket all unfold? In Dafydd’s own words….

I was a keen young cricket fan from the age of around 10 – our Year 6 class teacher at Ysgol Dewi Sant, Mr Selwyn Prichard, encouraged us to play in the schoolyard.

My Taid, R.E. (Bob) Price, a dispensing chemist, played for Rhyl back in the 1920s.

My first contact with Carmel CC was seeing a poster on the sports dept. noticeboard in my first year at Ysgol Glan Clwyd in 1967, advertising a Junior Single-wicket Competition at Carmel’s old ground, Y Golch, the fledgling club then in only their second year of existence.

Being a townie born and bred on Rhyl High Street, I had absolutely no idea where this seemingly remote outpost in Flintshire was, but mam and dad kindly took me, seeing as I was so mad keen!

That’s where I met the iconic Stan Taylor, Carmel founding chairman and coach. Although I went out in the first round, Stan kindly thanked me for coming and told me to keep in touch in the future.

I never thought much more about Carmel until Stan selected me once for Flintshire Schools under 18s against Denbighshire at Colwyn Bay, in around 1972… and that for my batting, which many would find hard to believe now!

I ran the school cricket team for about 5 years and we were fortunate to be allowed to play a game at Llanelwy (St.Asaph’s) ground, courtesy of our Biology teacher, the St Asaph wicketkeeper and Cymru and GB Olympic hockey goalie, Austin Savage.

Ironically, that game was against Holywell High School, some of whom were to become my future team-mates at Carmel.

Austin encouraged me to sign for Llanelwy, being most convenient travel-wise from Rhyl, but for those 3-4 years, it was difficult to get opportunities to bowl and bat since they were among the strongest and most successful clubs on the North Wales circuit – the 1st team were littered with Flintshire caps and both 1sts and 2nds regularly won their respective divisions.

It was very frustrating for such an enthusiastic teenage cricketer. Someone offered me a lift to Dinbych to play, but hardly anyone spoke to me and I didn’t enjoy my half-season there at all.

In the meantime, Stan Taylor had kept many youngsters’ details and we were contacted to go for coaching at Flint Leisure Centre and offered opportunities to play for Flintshire Colts – a real bonus and a chance to play with some of the county’s best young talent.

The big break with Carmel came when Steve Garnett, who lived just behind us in North Drive, left Prestatyn and joined Carmel… he had a car and offered me a lift if I wanted to join. I jumped at the offer and the rest, as they say, is history!

Stan was a brilliant coach to youngsters and I’ll always appreciate my first captain, Tom Woodward, who kindly gave me my first opportunity to bowl.

I probably made my debut in 1975 and 50 seasons and 936 games later, they still can’t get rid of me!

On his bowling stats (Dafydd admits he is strictly a No11 bat) he said: “Bearing in mind that in those early years, there were no restrictions on the limit of overs each bowler could bowl in the North Wales League, I would invariably bowl between 15-23 overs per game ! (often partnering the Carmel legend, the late Pete Ferguson).

“No wonder I had to have a knee replacement in 2022… and I still haven’t learned my lesson!”

Tributes and thanks

I am eternally grateful for my health and having been able to achieve my numbers.

I am forever indebted to Carmel (the late Stan Taylor initially) for giving me the opportunity to play this game I love, but most of all I can’t thank my family enough – Jil, my long-suffering, but cricket-loving wife, Heledd and Mared, my daughters, dragged to far-flung places in Gogledd Cymru on a few Saturdays over the years, and 1st teamer Gwion, my son, who features in Carmel’s top-ten all-time run scorers – at least someone in my family can bat who had an ever-ready father to bowl at him!

Last of all, I could not have achieved anything whatsoever without my faith in God, whom I hope I honour in the way I have endeavoured to conduct myself on the cricket field, celebrating life by playing competitive but fair and respectful cricket for the sheer joy of it.

Remarkable tale of coincidence – told in his own words by DT

Back in August 1987, I was playing for my club, Carmel, away at Dolgellau, in the North Wales League.

My dear wife, our 3-year old daughter and 4-month old baby daughter came along too as it was a pleasant day out and the weather was good.

My wife had made the usual circuit of the ground and stopped with the pram to watch under the eaves of the home side’s pavilion. A young, 18-year old, belligerent Dolgellau batsman was at the crease… let’s say for argument’s sake that I may have been bowling at the time.

The bold young lad launched the ball for a massive six which landed on the pavilion roof and, like some scene from a film or cartoon, time seemed to mysteriously stand still as all watched the ball rolling slowly down the tiled roof, dropping directly into our baby daughter’s pram, landing and nestling right next to her head, within a whisker of causing either a serious or even fatal injury.

Our baby was completely unscathed, thank the Lord (and is now a GP in Conwy)… but all present were in stunned shock, albeit extremely relieved.

At the time, I never knew who that batsman was…

Fast forward to around 6-7 years ago. Our son, who is now one of our club’s main batsmen, but who was yet to be born in 1987 (he was born in 1992), was undertaking teaching prac at Ysgol Maes Garmon in Yr Wyddgrug.

As you do, chatting away with other teachers in the staffroom, he and another, older teacher, named Aled Owen, got talking: sport cropped up… cricket especially, and he asked my son for whom did he play.

On hearing the reply, Carmel, the man said: “Oh, you must know Dafydd Timothy!” My son said: “Er, that’s dad!” “Oh, my goodness,” was the startled response and he went on to recall the events of that unforgettable day back in 1987, saying that he was indeed the batsman that oh, so nearly caused a disaster when he hit that 6 and that he had been haunted by the trauma of the scenario since then – and had even contemplated giving the game up, it had so upset him.

However, he now played for Rhuthun – I have since met him a couple of times as adversaries on the cricket field and there are no hard feelings – he just expressed sheer relief that all was well.

Fast forward to Saturday, June 21st, 2025. I was playing for Carmel 2nds away at Rhuthun. I arrived needing 3 wickets to claim my 2,000th for Carmel, having toiled away for 50 years for this small, friendly, family-orientated club.

I managed to grab 2 to make it 1999… next over, a certain gentleman opposing me at the end of the batting strip kindly nicked a lifting ball to slip, thus giving me the euphoric moment of jubilation – 2,000 wickets!

Yes… of all people, it was none other than Aled Owen, that same belligerent youngster from way back in 1987!

Tongue-in-cheek, I told him that I had finally “got him back” for that incident – he greeted me with a congratulatory handshake, smiling ruefully, saying that it was an ironic privilege to coincidentally be my 2,000th victim – everything had come round full circle!

Furthermore, knowing that I was closing in on this milestone, my family had come to watch, so incredibly, the culprit got to meet that 4-month old baby for just the second time, 38 years later, and share his fearful experience… and relief, however oblivious my daughter was at the time.

All hail Dafydd Timothy – a one-off, a credit to North Wales cricket. There will never be another