Round the Wicket

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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

On the playing front, last year was just tremendous. We won the Scottish Media Indoor Six-a-Side tournament at the start of the year, the Firsts won Scottish National League Division II with a game to spare and the Seconds gained promotion from East League Division II.

Our own Scott Gourlay was named Scottish Club Player of the Year.

We had some amazing batting performances – notably 326 against Falkland to better what looked like an invincible performance from Falkland’s Aussies.

So what about this year? Opening bowler Robbie Mutch is back with us after a good season at home in South Africa, while our other overseas player will be Jason Seng, a twenty-year-old batsman from Brisbane. Two new senior players have joined us – Sanjay Rakshit, a top order batsman and wicketkeeper who’s been with Dunfermline this last few years, and Scott Galloway, another young gun who was with Perthshire last year. He’s been honing his skills in Australia over the winter; welcome back to a (chilly?) Scottish spring, Scott!

The troops are off on a pre-season tour in the North of England this weekend, with a home friendly against Rossie Priory on 21st April and the first league matches on 28th April – Firsts away to Penicuik and the Seconds at home to Murrayfield-DAFS. The first Village Cup game will be away to Kintore on 27th May; the 2007 Fixture Card will be available in the next few days.

It’s pretty amazing to think that we will be competing at a higher level than any other team in Fife, while our Seconds will be facing sides that our Firsts fought against not all that long ago. Can we keep it up? We’ll certainly be giving it our best shot. SNCL Division I, ESCA Division I, Scottish Cup, President’s Trophy, Village Cup – lots to see. Come along and give us your support.

All this, and never a word about our Juniors. Our hard-working Junior Committee has been arranging, coaching and wrestling with the things procedural that are so much a part of modern life. Arranging? No less than fifty-four fixtures for the year. Dave Christie’s tearing his hair out. Where can he find wickets for the best part of thirty Junior games? Dave’s concerns are real enough, but we all know that this is where the future of our Club lies – we must do all we can to get the kids out on the park. Just take a walk up to the park on a Friday evening and take a look at the numbers at practice. Is there anything you can do to help us?

Away from the park, there’s lots going on. Our Sponsors are supporting us as always, and we’ll be proudly carrying the ‘Kettle Produce’ logo on our shirts this year. Sponsors Day will be on 9th June, when we’re at home to Forfarshire.

Helped by John Thomson of Roundtrip Solutions at Freuchie Mill, we’re working on a website so that we can communicate with the world at large (not to mention the world at Freuchie) and do a bit more to give recognition to our sponsors. It’s not yet fully-fledged, but John’s doing his best to educate your secretary in the art of blogs. Talk about old dogs and new tricks! Go to www.freuchiecricketclub.com/blog

The Club will be supporting Freuchie’s Gala Day on 22nd June.

We are always looking for new members – players especially - but all ages are welcome. Player subscription is £30 (said to be bargain of the year), Social Members £17, Senior Citizens and Juniors £5. Talk about bargains – quite apart from enjoying the facilities of our fine clubhouse and supporting a great team, Senior Members get a ‘pairty’ in January – a dram when you come in, lunch and an afternoon’s entertainment – all included in the membership fee? Can’t be bad! Visit the Clubhouse, call John Anderson on 01337 857 292, or e-mail secretary@freuchiecricketclub.com

Remember too that the Clubhouse is available for members’ functions, so in addition to our wintertime Prize Bingo Teas (and Patsy threatening to organise steak pie darts and dominos events), this is a great venue for your own parties and celebrations - join us!

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