Round the Wicket

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Our grand Centenary Dinner and Dance is well and truly over. If we would maybe have been happy to sell a few more tickets, we had a very respectable turnout and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Bill “Faff” McFarlane of Rossie Priory Cricket Club kept up his high standards as MC while President Alan Duncan had plenty to say about his fellow players, but the star was undoubtedly our principal speaker, Bill “Bearded Wonder” Frindall, of BBC’s Test Match Special team. His tales of life in the commentary box and players and commentators past and present were a joy for all, perhaps especially for those of us who used to listen spellbound to the lugubrious tones of John Arlott.

Pleasing, too, to report that the event was well supported by our players, with visiting luminaries of Scottish Cricket to add even more to the occasion. The Lomond Hills Hotel made sure we were well fed and watered, the band “Rough Diamond” that we got plenty of exercise to keep us thirsty, while John Thomson of Roundtrip Solutions Ltd. provided some photographic records.

Bill had presented us with a signed limited edition of his circular chart of Brian Lara’s famous 400 not out against England - an unlikely-to be repeated event, captured here in elegantly succinct form. This was auctioned by Bill himself, raising £100 for club funds.

Our sincere thanks to Bill, to Faff, to Ronnie the hotel, to John T, to the band and to all the people who made this a memorable evening.

Technorati Tags: Bill Frindall, Lomond Hills Hotel, Roundtriip Solutions

No - it’s not Christmas already, just some shockingly belated notes about our Centenary Cricket Festival.

So many people did so much to bring the Festival about, not least our main Festival Sponsor, Belhaven. More of that in a moment, recognising at the outset that my sieve-like memory is likely to do a grave injustice to many who helped.

The first of our games was on Tuesday 17th June (I’m only a month late in writing this!) against a Scottish President’s Select. Captained by Euan McIntyre from Cricket Scotland with luminaries such as Pete Drummond and Bill Scott from Meigle with a big partnership from Gregor Maiden of Grange and Ian Young from West of Scotland, the Select was a bit much for us, despite a brave innings from Arun Trivedi.

Just in case you missed it, information and photos from this match were posted earlier.

Wednesday was the Big One, our visitors Sussex Ladies. For anyone who might have thought that Ladies’ Cricket is a kindergarten pat-about, this would have come as a revelation. Technically superb, commanding batting, excellent bowling, crisp throwing-in. Just a pleasure to watch. However, our 239 for 8 (half centuries for Scott Galloway and Stevie Rowley) was a bit much for the ladies. They finished 175 all out, Ebony Rainford-Brent top-scoring with 53. We hope Katherine Brunt has fully recovered from her altercation with a cricket ball.

Photo: Freuchie Cricket Club & Sussex Ladies photo call 

Photo: Timeout for a wee break and a drink…. note the marquee

Fife Scouts had put up a marquee for us and Belhaven had equipped it with a bar. We planned a barbecue, hoping for one of these balmy evenings, but it was decidedly cold. We moved inside and the Milenberg Jazz Band got the dancing going. “Let Ebony play the drums,” cried the ladies. That’s usually a cue for all-round embarrassment, but not this time - Ebony’s drumming was up to the standards of her excellent batting. (Our drummer was lucky to get his sticks back at all).

Photos: Ebony on drums and the Milenberg Jazz Band in full swing 

Thursday brought us Falkland Cricket Club and the Archie Cowan Memorial Trophy match. I think we’d have to confess that getting out a mid-week team three days in a row was a struggle, and like the President’s Select, Falkland, with pro Tim Lythe, proved a bit much for our somewhat depleted side. Family Watson (Brian, with 30-odd not out and next generation Graeme and Paul) provided a solid core that we could not match on the day.

Although we may have failed to recapture the Archie Cowan Cup, the presentation of a centenary celebration gift to the club by Falkland’s Paul Watson, graciously accepted by Alan Duncan, demonstrates the close links and comradeship between us and our local rivals. Perhaps next year they’ll remember to bring the cup with them so as to save us the trip to retrieve it!

Photo: Paul Watson presents Alan Duncan with a gift from Falkland Cricket Club 

So - at risk of forgetting major contributors - big, big thanks to Harry ‘The Barbecue’ Barclay, The Scotsman, the BBC, to Belhaven, whose generosity covered the travel costs for the Sussex Ladies, to the local families who provided bed and breakfast for the ladies, to our own committee, who put in so much work, to the Lomond Hills Hotel who loaned us a barrel of Best for our beer tent, to the Scouts for the beer tent, to the Milenberg Jazz Band for their good-time music, to all the players, visitors and our own, to visiting photographer Alan Richardson and our own John Thomson of Roundtrip Solutions …. The list just goes on and on, but it really has to include our President, Alan Duncan, who was the means of our having Sussex Ladies here, and also who provided many of the ideas that made our three-day Festival a success.

Now, when we get to the bi-centenary …..

Technorati Tags: Cricket Scotland, Belhaven Brewery, Cricket, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, The Lomond Hills Hotel, Sussex Ladies’ Cricket Club, Falkland Cricket Club, Meigle Cricket Club, The Scotsman, BBC

Our Centenary Year Cricket Festival starts on 17th June with a match against a Scottish President’s XI, with some of the Scottish stars of yesterday (yet to be named) playing against us.

Wednesday is really special - our match against a Sussex Ladies’ team, which includes a number of the England players. There’ll be a barbecue in the evening, with the Milenberg Jazz Band providing gentle background music. (Aye, right! The Milenberg? Gentle?)

Thursday sees us face a Falkland Select, so there’s three days of varied and entertaining cricket in store. All three games start at 1 pm.

Roll Up! Roll Up!

Well, near the school - along the schuill wall, and round the park to learn a bit about cricket.

Catch her report in The Scottish Review - good pics of the park, the lads, and star of stage screen and radio, Mary Low. Well, star of Islay’s report.

What we should have told Islay is that this was the first round of the Patent Attorney Murgitroyd & Company’s Caledonia T:20, and a fine match it was. We batted first for a tolerable score of 157, with DHSFP always pretty much up with the clock when it came their turn. Things could have gone absolutely either way, but a truly stunning one-handed catch from skipper Alan Wallace off the bowling of Scott Gourlay (once again - see Islay’s report in The Scottish Review for some comment on each of them) tipped matters in our favour and we ran out winners by nine runs. (I think the lower right of Islay’s pictures is Alan W getting back on his feet from taking that catch, Scott G in the background saying “YES!!” and I think we scored two runs more than Islay credits us with, but I’m not going to argue with a lady).

Stoneywood Dyce next …..

Technorati Tags: Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Murgitroyd, Stoneywood Dyce CC, The Scottish Review

The Fixture Cards are finally with us. Bigger and better than ever. However, for those who can’t come to the clubhouse to pick one up, here’s the list, including those already played. This is a long bit of copy typing for somebody noted for careless errors, so if anybody sees wrangities, sing out.

Junior Club Cricket:

Junior District Cricket: 

Senior Cricket:

Archie Cowan, father of Dave, grandfather of Dale, was one of Freuchie Cricket Club’s notable characters. To quote the late Andrew Grant, famous both for wicket-keeping and for recitations “Ye aye get somethin’ special frae Airch, supposin’ it’s juist the wey he gets oot!” There was more to Airch than that, though. He scored his runs and took his wickets, and you always knew when he was on the park. The side had a more confident feeling when he was playing. And a few more laughs.

Sadly, Airch is no more, but as you will have gathered, is warmly remembered. Mary and the family put up a trophy in his memory, to be contested each year between us and our old rivals, Falkland Cricket Club. The extent of the various league and cup involvements for both clubs has made it difficult to arrange this season, but we are delighted to say that it’s on for this Sunday.

One o’clock start at Freuchie Park, Sunday 16th September. A Last Hurrah for the 2007 season. Be There!

Technorati Tags: Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Falkland, Falkland Cricket Club

Do or Die, we said.

Sadly, more of a whimper than a bang for the Firsts. A win on Saturday would have seen us in a play-off for promotion to Premier Division, but it was not to be. We fared poorly against Aberdeenshire Cricket Club’s attack then took only four of their wickets, giving us the proverbial nul points. Meanwhile, Stenhousemuir scored ONE SINGLE POINT in their match against Watsonians, to nudge us into fourth place. The ‘Sair tae Bear’ reported against Arbroath a few weeks back is now mair sair - we lost then by a single run, when just two more would have seen us firmly in second place. Anyway, no moaning!

The Twos did better, though. At home to Holy Cross with an injury-depleted team, they held the visitors to 170 runs, then batted resolutely to reach 171. Blair Forrester’s excellently struck 71 not out was a huge part of this. Indeed, he and Graeme Christie looked totally in control for a while until Blair called for a single of a smartly driven cover drive and Graeme was run out. Had Blair been a little more cautious in his call, had Graeme been backing up better, they might have made it a six wicket victory. The main thing is that we think this is enough to keep them in the top division of the East League, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Technorati Tags: Scotland, Cricket Scotland, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Aberdeenshire Cricket Club, Stenhousemuir Cricket Club, Watsonians, Arbroath Cricket Club, Holy Cross Cricket Club, East of Scotland Cricket Association

For most of our members, the over-riding aim is for the Club to be playing at the highest possible level, which puts the First Eleven’s results at the top of the sheet.

Our win over Stenhousemuir at the Tryst on Saturday was therefore just what the doctor ordered. While we have been in third position in Division I for some time, those in slots four to seven were uncomfortably close behind, but this win put a slightly healthier margin into the gap. Rain-affected again, and on a pitch difficult for both sides, what must have seemed a pretty easy target of 111 Stenhousemuir runs turned out to be tough enough. We lost seven wickets in getting them, in what the papers termed “a nervy run-chase.”

Not so good was the loss of the Twos’ game against Grange Twos. We weren’t seriously expecting to make many points from this one, but what really counts is games, and this goes down as yet another victory for the weather. The game was called off on Friday evening, our pitch like the proverbial pudden.’ (”Pudding,” for those of a more refined background).

And even less good was Sunday’s nPower Village Cup game against Wolviston. All the weather forecasts said there would be no cricket that day, but we made the trip. The game was in fact badly affected, but according to the old guy who played at Balmoral the week before, “there to be won.” Combinations of two dropped catches, the call of the T in the Park sirens to some of our players and a few other things saw us fail to do ourselves justice. However, that’s the truth of most matches - if only this, if only that etc. The plain fact is that we didn’t do enough on the day.

So next Saturday, the First away to Renfrew, the Twos at home to Heriots. Better weather, please.

Technorati Tags: cricket, Cricket Scotland, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club,  Stenhousemuir  Renfrew Cricket Club, Heriots Cricket Club