1. Village debut
Piers' first game for Mill Hill Village was in 1988, an away fixture against Ruislip. "I was batting at six and scored 13 for the Sunday 3s,” Piers remembers.

2. Y Wal Goch
Piers follows Wales’ national football team around the world and reckons he’s seen them about 75 times. He went to the Qatar World Cup in 2022 but his favourite memory was watching the Dragons defeat Belgium 3-1 in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals in France. Y Wal Goch? That means the Red Wall by the way, the name given to the ranks of Wales fans decked out in replica shirts.

3. Vetch visits
Piers is an avid Swansea City FC fan and his first Swans memory is watching Tommy Smith,
the former Liverpool hardman who finished his career in south Wales, et al defeat a Spurs
team including Ossie Ardiles 3-1 at White Hart Lane in a League Cup replay in 1978. Famously,
in the first fixture between the two sides at the Vetch, Smith made his chest-high tackle on Ardiles, forcing him to be stretchered off.

4. Ton up
Piers has scored an impressive 20 tons for Mill Hill Village Cricket Club, notching his first in
1992 - 109 not out for a Village 3rd XI against Harrow St Mary’s 2nd XI. Unfortunately, he hasn’t looked like racking up three figures too often in recent times! His last century was in 2012, against Southgate Compton for the 2nd XI. “So I’ve scored a ton about once every 18 months,” Piers estimates.

5. Pitch perfect
It’s a little-known fact around the club that Piers has perfect pitch. “If you sing a note, I can tell
you what that note is,” he says. “I also have grade 8 in cello and in piano but I haven’t picked up either instrument since I was 18. I prefer playing sport,” he adds.

6. Nickame at school
“My nickname at school was Welshbloke,” says Piers. “Welsh is my first language and my
parents spoke Welsh to me at home, growing up in London. I went to the London Welsh
School for a while and then Uxendon Manor in Kenton, Harrow, where I first picked up a cricket bat, aged 8. Maybe I’ll introduce a Wales Day at the club as president!

7. First cricketing memory
Piers’ first crickteting memory is watching Alan Knott hit a six over midwicket for Kent at Lord’s
in around 1975 when he was around 10 years old.

8. Trundlemania
Piers’ favourite ever Swansea FC player is Lee Trundle, and not just because of his blonde
mullet. Piers fondly remembers one Trundle super strike from 2005 on a Friday night at Liberty Stadium against Yeovil Town, in which the goalscorer brought the ball down on his chest and let rip with a dipping volley over the opposition goalkeeper from 40 yards out. “An unbelievable player,” reckons Piers.

9. Don’t go breaking his heart
Many club members will have met Piers’ lovable pet Ci Ci Du, not named after Elton John’s one-time collaborator but for the fact that the miniature schnauzer is black and “ci du” means “black dog” in Welsh. “She’s 8 years old now and we’ve had her since she was a puppy,” Piers says. “I remember we took her puppy training in Acton for three years because it was such a laugh. Most people stop after three months!”

10. Favourite Villager
My favourite Mill Hill Village character? The late Bruce Maclaughlin. He always made me laugh. He was around the club in the 1980s and ‘90s, a larger-than-life character who sadly is no longer with us. In the modern era, I’d pick out Godders (Andrew Godfrey), for his infectious sense of humour.