CHAPTER 1: Upheaval And Dirty Tricks In The Labour Club, And A Cricket Club Is Born
During the 1980’s Labour Club stalwart Willie Innes, a self confessed cricket nut, along with some colleagues, principally Jimmy “ The Cat” Yule and James “Teflon” McGuire fought a running battle with the club’s establishment to set up a cricket club in Prestonpans.
Cricket had long been an integral part of the Labour Club’s annual trip to Oldhamstocks with a cricket game as a traditional hangover remover following the weekend festivities. Innes and his cohorts had the idea to establish a club based at the Labour Club playing in the East League.
This laudable effort by the Gang of 3 (everything was gang of something at that time, especially in the Labour Party, although which one of the gang was Steele or Owen has always remained an argumentative point), were undermined for many years by a small cabal of members (allegedly led by John Russell: source W Innes), who suggested the cricket was an English Tory game (damming criticism indeed, a poof’s game would been less sensational) and that it was inherently anti-socialist.
These old timers suggested that whippet or pigeon racing were more appropriate activities for support. Perhaps a fair point, few if any subsequent members of the club could be accused of being whippets in the field and given the navigational ability of the team being traditionally around a level where exiting a paper bag is a problem, some of the qualities of a prize racing pigeon would not have gone amiss.
However even in the “Pans” the winds of change were moving in the direction of the “new” sport with a catalyst being provided as the gang of 3 became a gang of 6 with the arrival of Paul Ronan from Manchester and Kenny Black from Glasgow and the growing support of Jim Anderson a local school teacher. All with cricketing backgrounds.
Along with the original gang members the gang of 6 achieved the support of the club, and persuaded the Council to provide a wicket at Meadowmill and in late 1990 Preston Village Cricket Club was born bring cricket back to Prestonpans for the first time since the 1940’s.
CHAPTER 2: 1991 -1992 The Early Years - The Friendly Matches
Following the internal political machinations of the Labour Club Preston Village Cricket Club took the field for the first time on the 11th May 1991 at the Meadows captained by Jim Anderson against Morton. For the record the first ever Preston Village team read as follows.
J Anderson, D Ferrier, A Ferrier ,G Paxton, P Ronan, W Innes, H Cairney, J Yule, M Edmond, J McGuire, and A Dickson.
The Village club emerging from their first game with a win scoring 103 with the D Ferrier being the main contributor with 41 closely followed by Innes with 31. They then bowled Morton out for 76 using no less than 9 bowlers. Paul Ronan bowling the first 3 .2 overs of his long career with the club and taking 2 for 3 , with Innes bringing in a fine all round performance with 2 for 9 from 3 overs of Shane Warne esq. leg spin.
The following 2 seasons saw ups and downs for the Villagers including the infamous 17 in the Edinburgh evening league . This story remains apocryphal as it is unsubstantiated by any records other than the memory of former Captain Kenny Black who trots out the story on any occasion he can, generally at the Captains Supper after 2 or 3 pints. Not surprisingly any batsmen in the club from that era are generally reluctant to support the claim.
If you have been intrigued enough to read this far, both of you should be warned, that apart from improving on the cricket field the club has kept a healthy ethos of a total disregard for records, or at least an uncanny ability to lose score-books on drunken evenings which has made the compilation of this history more than a little difficult.
Thanks have to be given to both local papers for faithfully keeping the reports filed by W.G. Said Grace and Face in the Crowd the clubs correspondents which have filled in the missing gaps as far as has been possible. More of the correspondents and the web site later.
Some of the highlights of the earlier years were
1. Winning the first game
2. Are you sure you use a hammer to knock in a bat ? - a certain player who mistook a claw hammer for a mallet with extraordinary results on his new bat
3. That's it I’m off and you guys can xxxx off - a pissed off player disappears with the match (and only ball the cub had with them ) ball still in his possession
4. Some of the opposition team names - Morton - A football team from Greenock ? little wonder they won.
5. XXXX I lost the score book on Saturday night - Ronan , Black , Innes whoever, the team were good at it and obviously enjoyed some very good evenings.
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CHAPTER 3: The Grades League Years 1993-94
It is easy to poke fun at the first 2 seasons of the Club but the fact is that these guys set the scene for what is now a thriving Cricket Club and blazed a trail that led in 1993 to the club moving into the East of Scotland Cricket League, entering in the grades in Grade 5 of that competition , which was inhabited by he lower teams of well established clubs such as Grange, Carlton, Heriots and Corstorphine.
The first ever league match was played on the 29th May 1993 when the Village team traveled Corstorphine to play the local clubs 4th in the dizzy heights of Grade E of the East League, at that point effectively division 9. The forty runs scored by Preston Village were never likely to be enough and the host emerged with an 8 wicket win wickets but the first league campaign of Preston Village was underway .
8 weeks later at Meadowmill, the first win was established and Meadowmill was awash with champagne, well in truth no champagne but a well deserved piss up at the Labour club. Preston Village had won their first league win with victory in the return game over Corstorphine with Ian Storrie cementing a place in the clubs history with the clubs first league 50. The other significant fact that occurred during 1993 was the ascendancy of Kenny to the captaincy a position he was to hold until 2000. The Black era had begun.
1994 saw the club continue to improve under Captain Black as he maneuvered his mysterons into a promotion chasing position only to falter late in the season. The highlight of the season included the clubs first ever century by Jason Davie with 105 n.o. against Faulhouse 2. Within weeks Ian Patterson had claimed the highest score record with 180 n.o. against Heriots 4 ( Heriots Nuns XI). Earlier in the season Paterson had recorded the clubs first hatrick in a 7 for 36 haul against Mitre 2, the final wicket of the hatrick being a youngster called D Wright, of whom more later.
The traditional end of season impact of the football and rugby season saw the Villagers slip out of the promotion race but the potential of the team was such that the Preston Village in 1995 accepted a invite into the main East league and the dizzy heights of Division 4 , promotion by administration, leaping 4 leagues in the process.
1993 and 1994 had seen the changing of the guard as the club moved into increasingly serious league cricket , along with Davie and Patterson, Al Dobie was establishing himself as first choice keeper whilst promising youngsters such as Scott Murray and Ian Storrie were forcing themselves into the team whilst experience was increased by the snaring of Juggy Reid from Royal High, and with the opening bowling of Derek ( Summo) Tyson .
The high spot of the 1994 season as the clubs tour of Falkland, after a game against their seconds with a number of highlights emanating from that night.
1) Young Murray became famous, turning up with £3, being poured home with £4, and never in contact with any one-arm bandits or games of chance. Truly an amazing performance, which the older players have ensured has never happened again.
2) Patterson and Black pretending to be intellectuals tried to play travel chess on the way back at 12.30 a.m. after more than a few sherbets.
3) Jimmy “the cat” Yule celebrating 3 superb catches in one match by holding court on the bus on all matters political, sexual or other.
4) Perhaps the greatest tea of all time as the Preston Players demolished a huge pile of sandwiches and cakes only to find that the tea was for both the 1st and 2nds games.
5) The start of an unfortunate tradition of losing score-books , which throughout the Black era, the club maintained with astonishing consistency ( hint, Black was always involved)
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CHAPTER 4: 1995 -2000 - The Black Era In The East League
The first year in the East league was not a resounding success on the field although the club did thanks to the Labour club and the player’s natural drinking abilities establish the club’s reputation as the most hospitable club in the league. After a couple of draws and a lot of defeats the 12 August 1995 was cemented in the clubs history as the date on which the club won its first ever senior league match against Newburgh at Meadowmill.
Captain Black’s mysterons were as follows J Davie, E Smith , K Black , W Innes, A Dobie, J McGuire, A Robertson , P Ronan, A Berwick, B Mcleod, and I Patterson. The star of the show on this occasion, not for the first time was J Davie with a haul of 6 for 36 with the ball. He was well supported by E Smith with 3 for 27 as the Villagers defended a total of 120 ( Dobie 44) and secured 25 points for the first time.
However the brave win was not enough to avoid the Villagers having to copy Hartlepool and Queen of the South in applying for re-election at the league AGM. An emotive appeal from K Black along with the reminder of the hospitality of the Labour Club secured the league status.
The shock news for the club at the end of the 1995 was the retirement of the club correspondent W.G.. Said Grace. The actual identity of this individual remains a secret as does his successor Face in the Crowd. The collected works of W.G. will be available on the web site during the winter of 2002/03.
1996 to 1999 saw a gradual improvement in the clubs fortunes as the club grew into a force in division 4 narrowly missing promotion on 2 occasions as the change in membership and influence within the club took effect. Youngsters such as Storrie and Murray were joined by a certain Emanuel Belivanis( Mano), Andrew Marr, and Craig Kinross to begin to re-shape the club and sometime during 1995 to1997 The” Village People” were born as the club took on a new persona and a new approach. In the late 90’s the club also secured the services of 4 very influential members with David King, Alan Rapley, Alan (Guz) Grieve and Scott McMillan all joining to strengthening the playing ability of the club.
This was also the start of the Preston Village Web site established by Mano and Marr whilst on a tour of Australia, it is fitting that the “People” born in Prestonpans used the marvels of cyber space by establishing their site on an Australian server. The web site is now managed by Ian Storrie and contains all the vital information required to find out about the club including the now famous guest book.
The guest book like most club sites, has the club, but also the raving’s of a certain club member (in the legal profession), an ongoing commentary on Queen of the South, and famously in 2002 a link to a site of dubious (I’m told) quality.
10 Highlights of the Black Era
1) Peebles 1995,1996,1997,1998,1999 - Every time a lost player, score-book or both
2) Musselburgh 1999 - Preston Village 214 for 4 , Musselburgh 112 all out and relegated
3) The comment of the Black era - “XXXX Off your out”, followed by the next batsman attempting to lodge an official complaint - on asking for the captain and been pointed to Black he wisely chose to take it no further.
4) Willie Inne’s bravery at Dalgety Bay on a wet artificial wicket, as the other batsmen wisely choosing discretion as the ball constantly flew though at head height wherever it pitched. Followed by the comment “its OK for him he can hide behind a stump” from McMillan
5) The first league victory against Newburgh
6) The Kilroy cartoon painted with creosote on the Kirkbrae wicket.
7) “Should I be on the Tay Bridge” McMillan attempts to find Newburgh the long way
8) Davie racking up a hundred at Kirkbrae one week, then padding out the last over the following week only to find he was on 98 at the time.
9) Mano taking the coaching course at the end of the 1999 season with startling results (see next Chapter)
10) Last but not least- Blacks sartorial elegance and style
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CHAPTER 5: 2000 -2003 - The Dobie Era
The end of 1999 saw a significant changes in the future of Preston Village Cricket Club , firstly league re-organisation saw them promoted from East league 3 to 5 as the Grades and the East league merged. Honest it was a promotion, that season for Division 3 sides it was either 5 or 6 in the new league, but only this mob could be promoted downwards numerically, and more significantly Kenny Black shocked the club with his decision to resign the captaincy.
Black’s decision was as a result of his wife’s pregnancy, and the fact the twins were due to arrive in July 2000. The AGM elected Alistair Dobie as his replacement and the club entered the new era in some style led by a new captain, and a record signing (5 pints of lager) in D Wright snr.
The 2000 season was a little quiet as Wright set the league alight with his bowling and established a solid opening partnership with McMillan but the bating failed to take off except on a few occasions and the “Village People” ended up in mid table. The McMillan, Wright Partnership is a first glance a strange one McMillan 6ft odd and 16 stone, Wright 5ft 9 and 10 stone when wet. However in both 2000 and 2001 they were statistically the best attack in the league. Both seem to spend the Village innings strolling around the boundary leading to the comment in 2000 at Townhill as they wandered off that it was like the last scene of jungle book , Balou and Bagheera were re-born.
If the season was middle of the road on the field off the grass it was an epic, most famously with the famous car crash that ended the match against Edinburgh University Staff when a Uno turned into a ski jumper and took out a tree at Meadowmill. The swift reaction of the PVCC team led to them appearing the national press and soured relationships with the Staff side who tried to claim the points for the abandoned match. New technology came to the Villagers aid as a concerted E Mail campaign against the Uni Staff concerned brought the morally correct result, an abandoned match and a groveling apology from the captain of the Uni side.
2001 saw a further influx into the Club with D Wright jnr, and D Gow joining. D Wright jnr has already been mentioned as Patterson’s 3rd victim in his hatrick, Wright claims he was 9 at the time Patterson standing by his view that he was at least 12. Gow apparently a pillar of society and a bus spotter) not many clubs can claim one of them, immediately scandalised the club in June 2000 when he added his porn star Polaroid sun specs to his David Gower whites, circa 1978. In the mean time Wright snr became the first PVCC player to take the award for the best bowler in the leagues.
2001 saw the Villages narrowly missing promotion, but achieving some fame in Edinburgh cricket when they wandered to Raeburn Place to play Edinburgh Accies in the Masterton Cup, and found them selves chasing 218 in a 20 overs match. In truth most of the fielders were at the Grange fielding as the ball seemed to end up in that ground most of the time.
2002 saw a further influx of new players as C Mills and N Keirnan joined again from Wright old club Mitre, as the club went through another change in personnel with Marr, Kinross and Ronan moving out of the league squad into the second XI, captained by Steven Dixon.
Perhaps the natural evolution of the club has been established with a seconds containing some older player moving out of league cricket supplementing the growing number of youngsters coming through the youth section.
2002 has also been the most successful in the clubs history, loosing on 2 competitive games, and a mauling in the Masterton by Watsonians and Trinity in the league. With 1 league match to go we still have the chance of the championship, with promotion assured. This was the season of Rapley with the bat as the all rounder powered his way through a series of attacks. Mano also has developed from a bowler who can bat a bit to a genuine all rounder.
10 Highlights of the Dobie Era
1. 2002 season and promotion
2. The scene at Inverleith on the 22nd July 2000 as players armed with mobiles kept the umpires up to date with Mrs. Black progress in delivering the twins.
3. David Gow’s sun specs
4. “We paid £50 for that xxxxing coaching course ?“, “ run you haven’t xxxxin run for 6 years why now?” Patterson’s comments on his run out at Glenrothes Mao wasd the other batsman.
5. Derek Wright jnr’s quiche Meadowmill 17th August 2002- the first ready to cook quiche served at tea in the club’s history without being cooked
6. “ Not now ! Lara’s batting”, Kenny’s reaction to Donna’s news that she had one into Labour when he was at Edgbaston
7. “Yes there are ! , where in Carlisle” Marr’s reaction to the Test Match Special Team commenting there was not a free seat in the ground as Mano, Marr and Kenny returned home at pace from Edgbaston.
8. Mano’s 79 at Dunfermline and Guz’s 78 against Dunnikeer
9. “Heads” Dobie ends his 5 match losing streak by using the double headed coin properly
10. The motor bike pitch invasion , Glenrothes may 2002
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CHAPTER 6: 2004 - What A "Lucky" Year
David King had joined PVCC in the late 1990’s as a transfer from Musselburgh and was until 2004 known by a variety of nicknames mostly to do with the New Romantic’s hairstyle he still sported but he firmly established the “lucky” tag as he bravely presided over the most difficult season for the club since its early years.
The bad luck started early with the news that Mano and Rapley were following Davie down south for new jobs, whilst Kinross and Marr were sliding into semi-retirement. King took the news bravely seeing it as an opportunity to further develop some of the young talent emerging though the youth structure such as C. Patterson, the Dixon’s and Graeme Barrie who had all given indications of all burgeoning talent in the final years of the previous regime.
Lucky really earned his nick on the first weekend of the season when his plans were shattered by injury. Young Patterson was unavailable due to a rugby injury, and on the Friday before the first match Chris Dixon broke his leg in a school 7-aside rugby competition. Then on the day itself Scott McMillan managed to break his ribs dropping a catch. Throwing a tantrum for dropping a catch had become almost a art form for some of the Village People but even by their standards braking a rib (or 2 ) was a bit extreme.
If “Lucky” considered this was a temporary set back then the next few weeks cemented his fame as the unluckiest of captains, as a serious of injuries reduced the selection options to the point where getting 11 fit players on the pitch was a major achievement, and the Village People became the first club in history to put the Royal Infirmary telephone number on their speed dial. Lucky himself played the entire season with a broken finger whilst another batting stalwart Guz Grieve was in and out with his long standing knee injury.
These challenges were best displayed at Edinburgh Uni when Graeme Barrie tore his cartilage after 2 overs leaving a bowling attack for the remaining 46 overs of Keith McPherson (16), Craig Patterson (16 ), Joe Ray (15) along with the veteran Derek Wright. Someone did the mathematics and found that Wright was older than the other 3 put together.
Wright bowled magnificently all season as did McMillan on his return but the opposition teams well aware of the lack of depth in the bowling attack simply saw off the experienced openers and scored off the inexperience back up.
Given these problems it was no surprise that the “People” were in the lower end of the league for most of the season and limped quite literally towards the end of the tour.
However the efforts especially the youngsters who kept going magnificently throughout the season were rewarded when the Villagers sneaked a win on the final day of the season and saved themselves from relegation.
Not withstanding a injury list that would have put the average Lions tour to shame Lucky totally cemented his nickname by losing every toss for a entire season, which ever way you look at it that takes some doing.
The season after the success of the previous 2 seasons was difficult but the experience gained by the youths blooded in the adversity has stood the club in good stead.
As a footnote to the season the foresight of the people, yes its true , sometimes the Villagers do think ahead, was displayed by persuading Scott Russell a stalwart of Holy Cross, to play social cricket in the Village mid-week and Sunday leagues. The hook had been set.
Highlights of the season:
- "Its looking good Ian we still have a nucleus of experienced players plus the youngsters I have a good feeling about this season" – Davy King at the final net practice before the season start
- "Davy can you give me your lottery numbers so I don’t accidentally pick them" – McMillan puts the captains luck into perspective after the Uni match
- "It’s kind of like being a grandfather isn’t it?" – Wright reflects on the youthful nature of the team.
- "I wondered why there was a cricket shoe lying on the garage floor"- Young Patterson at Stenhousemuir as Obi-Wan rummages round his bag trying to find his second shoe.
- "I’ll hold him, you run son" – Dobie stops the clubs first recorded instance of child abuse as the reaction of Obi-wan is predictable.
- “Scott can you count please I don’t have any Marbles” - Steven Dixon confirms what people have known for years but were too polite to tell him.
- “Yes “– Josie Ray immediate response to the offer of a pint“
- "That’s a faster reaction than you get when you call him for a single” a reflective Davie King“
- "Its getting cold so I’ll wear my short sleeved sweater to keep me warm” – Patterson jnr
- “Ask his mother – I never understand what he’s talking about anyway” Patterson snr senior in response to Yoda’s quizzical question – "did I hear that right?"
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CHAPTER 7: 2005 - New Signings And Tantrums
Stephen Dixon after his success as the 2nd XI captain took over the leadership of the people as the youngest ever captain in the clubs history. His early season seemed on track with the signing of “Crazy Horse” Russell (the hook set by the social cricket had worked) and Ryan “Von” Skelton and express bowler and middle order batsman from Penrith., along with the hooking into the team of the Ramzan brothers and Luke “Skywalker” Hextall who had appeared towards the end of 2004 and were soon to be integral parts of the club.
However before the season could start Dixon found himself in the middle of a classic PVCC dispute, when the rattle and the rest of the toys went out of the pram big style for a certain veteran batsman over selection of the club coach.
Dixon with shrewd political maneuvering which belied his age, plus several pints of larger, always good as a diplomatic tool, ensured that the situation was resolved and the People kicked off their season initially pretty disappointingly but as the new signing began to have an effect increasingly with hopes of promotion.
Skelton announced his arrival at Westquarter with an amazing bowling spell followed by a classic 30 on with the bat as the “People” took their first maximum in their third match which kicked off a run of victories that had them on 3rd in the league at the end of July.
Russell proved and equally valuable signing cementing a place in the middle order and ensuring some stability that that particular area of the batting line up which had been somewhat threadbare since the loss of Mano and Rapley. His 85 against Grange was a particularly good innings which end with the first ever recorded apology from an umpire to a departing batsman of “Sorry Scott but your out” when a maiden century for the club was on the cards.
Also amongst the new signing was Baber Ali who fetched up claiming to be a wicket keeper and opening batsman but who developed quickly into a strike bowler and strong middle order batsman.
Shabaz Ramzan continued his development as an strike bowler whilst Shiraz the younger of the Ramzan’s will become a all rounder of some quality as will young Skywalker ( the force is with this guy) Hextall
A winless August condemned the People to a mid table finish but after the trauma of the previous season the people were reaping the benefits of the experienced gained by their young players.
On the subject of young players Aiden Russell became the youngest player in club history when he took the field for the PVCC XI at the age of 8 in a Village League match towards the end of the season whilst mum Fiona became the first female to play a senior game for the club on the same day.
The highlights of the season was the win at Stenhousemuir who went on to be promoted where Von Skelton not only bowled magnificently but cracked a brilliant 50 as the “People “ skated to a 4 wicket win along with an appearance of the Villagers on Sky TV when they reached the Masterton quarter final and played Grange at the Grange.
OK the coverage was shown at 3.30 in the morning, along with a warning for young people and those of a delicate disposition, but it was another first for the Club. None of the founders in 1990 would have dreamt that the People would star on a one-day international wicket in a televised match as in the early days of the club publicity was limited to the local press, either in the courts page, or via the writings of W.G. Said Grace.
Highlights of the seasons:
1. “He’s out ya beauty“– the Grange team are stunned by an appeal from the Peter Barrie the non-striker for a stumping to end the Marsterton quarter final and for him to become the only not out batsman in the clubs history on a international wicket. The fact that brother Yoda was the other batsman seemed to spur Peter on as he took his lap of honour
2. “Someone hasn’t thought this out, I haven’t seen Patte for about 30 overs” Davie King reflects on the fact that whilst 10 fielders mostly over 35 years of age sweat it out in 80 degrees of heat, the youngest and fittest member of the team was serenely wandering from deep square leg to deep cover under the trees in the only shaded area of the ground.
3. “I almost fell asleep during that sledging” – Patterson on the verbose verbal’s that accompanied Russell to the wicket against Holy Cross.
4. “Mine – sorry”– Shiraz sparks a family riot when he drops a dolly off his brothers bowling
5. “It’s Ok Shiraz - I’m sure Obi-wan will give you a lift because Shaz will throw you out over the bridge” - Young Skywalker shows he’s studied well at the McMillan school of diplomacy
6. “We had Patterson humping round the boundary swearing and moaning, shoulders going, then he took a stunning catch told the batsman to fXXX off then humped off back to the boundary”- McMillan tries to explain the intricacies of the internecine warfare of the Leith game to Dobie who had missed it. Unfortunately there is no accompanying video but his action replay reduced the dressing room to tears
7. “Could be worse – last time I was here Mano scored a fifty” - Dobie as he sups a pint trying to reflect on the days play.
8. “Do we ever put out a slip cordon under 120 years of age?” - Shaz moves to gulley and reflects on the ages of the keeper and 2 slips
9. “3 larger, 3 magners, 2 heavy, 2 cokes (Ramzan's), 2 bottles of Millar and a larger tops” – Team response to Dixon turning up in the pub and asking how it went
10. “Honest I heard Kenny calling for 2” – Shiraz buts into a conversation on Kenny’s non-running ability “That’s because he was taking his guard” - was the unified response from Barrie and Dixon
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CHAPTER 8: 2006 - A New Regime, A Changing Of The Guard And Immediate Success
2006 saw the biggest change in the club set up since the mid 90’s with a raft of new faces appearing as the club moved forward under the leadership of Scott Russell.
The snaring of Dougie Russell during the winter was complemented by a number of new faces following a concerted recruitment drive which saw Nick Grainger, Mark May along with Andrew Sibley finally committing himself to the league squad after his flirtations in 2005, along with many others making a significant change in personnel. The 2nds completed a season in the league for the first time for 3 seasons as more than 50 games were played with over 60 different players starting in a season blessed with great weather.
The signings of Dougie Russell and Nick Grainger were fundamental to a successful season especially Dougie who set off on a run scoring spree which re-wrote the club records as he became the fastest player to net 1000 run, and the first to do so in a season. He posted an average of 83 as he rattled 3 hundreds and 6 fifties, taking both the league and divisional batting awards in doing so. He also nipped into the top 10 performers with the ball in the division grabbing 40 wickets at 12.6
Nick wasn’t far behind with an impressive debut season that saw him rattle off 400 odd runs at an average of 32.5 and eased himself into the top 5 in the league bowling averages for the season with 37 wickets at 11.7.
The maiden 50’s for both Mark May and Andrew Sibley in their first full seasons with the club also showed the success of the signing strategy.
However it wasn’t all about the new signings as young Shiraz continued to improve grabbing his maiden 50 at Dunfermline and nicking another before the end of a successful season, whilst “Skywalker” Hextall made useful runs throughout for the 2nds and acquitted himself well when called on by the firsts. All of the youngsters continued to develop as the season progressed and overall the season was seen as a success with the 2nds being dominated by players emanating from the club’s youth ranks. In addition the Village league gave the opportunity for several members of the Panthers to make debuts in senior cricket.
The 1st’s eventually narrowly missed out on promotion racking up an impressive86.6% which would have been enough to secure 2nd place in all of the other leagues but was just under 3% short Westquarter who took centre stage with the “People” for right reasons and wrong throughout the season.
The first match against them ended in a controversy which is still to be resolved with allegations of an assault on a PVCC player and the invasion of the pitch by a spectator. The assault allegation was apparently proven by all 5 statements collected by the League but not to their satisfaction, as there was no independent witness. The moral of the story for those interested in morals is, make sure you do whatever your going to do when no witness’s can be seen as being independent. The alternative view is don’t mix it with a league representative, as a big enough carpet will be found under which to sweep the incident.
Westquarter also won the 2nd league match of the season against the “People” which virtually guaranteed them promotion but PVCC beat them in the semi-final of the Presidents Memorial Shield and marched into the final against Clackmannnon.
The final at Polwarth was a major day for the” People” who won by 97 runs to secure the silverware and their first major 11 a-side cup victory. The moment of the day was Scott McMillan taking the last 2 wickets in the same over then setting off on the slowest lap of honour ever seen, on a UK sports ground.
Whilst the celebrations that followed the win were impressive and not easily forgotten, they were surpassed by the family day at the end of the season where at one point there were almost 200 people eating, drinking and having a good time at Polwarth.
Highlights of the season:
1. The Shield Win
2. Macca’s lap of honour after taking the last wicket in the final – when shown in slow motion by Sky sports – he stops
3. The family day
4. “You’re becoming a hemophiliac” Shiraz on hearing from Macca that he’s injured again. The response from Macca that he’d stopped bleeding after cutting himself shaving whizzed over Shiraz’s head confirming that private education may be great for many things but common sense seems not to be one of them.
5. “Great Volley” Russell umpiring as Ronaldo Sibley successfully back-heel a wide leg side deliver on to middle stump
6. “Yes, No, Sorry” A frequent comment from Captain Russell as he runs out yet another PVCC batsman.
7. “He doesn’t so much call as open negotiations” Dougie Russell reflects on Scott’s running skills
8. “Do you think he ever gets bored?” Sibley muses on Dougie’s run getting as he and Davie King put together a century plus partnership to win at Watsonians
9. “ They’ve got it down to a fine art” responds Patterson, “I get padded up at number 5, don’t bat and we win” – “That’s why we win” buts in young Shiraz before sprinting to safety
10. “Shit, he’s won the stupid comment for 2007 already” – Patterson on Shiraz’s question at the AGM asking why he’d got minutes dated in 2005.
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CHAPTER 9: 2007 - Continues Success For The Villagers
After the tantrums and dramas of previous close seasons the winter of 2006 into 07 was relatively and thankfully boring, The AGM passed with no great hassle but lots of alcohol to thank the Goth for their sponsorship. No one was lost, although a couple of people were temporarily mislaid but that has no part of a season review.
The Village entered the Scottish Indoor 6’s for the first time rubbing shoulders with some of the most illustrious and famous names in Scottish Cricket. One thing they weren’t was overawed as they shocked SCNL League 1 Heriot’s and also beat Clackmannanshire on a run that took them into the semi-finals. Nick Grainger grabbed the headlines with the fastest 50 of the tournament.
Indoor nets were attended as usual by the normal mixture of the great, the good, the hopeful and the plain mad. The season kicked off in mid April is the best possible way in blazing sunshine, and with a thumping victory over local rival Musselburgh with Dougie Russell threatening another season’s "run fest" with a century on day one of the season.
Unfortunately the weather changed almost immediately and the most frustration season for years followed as match after match fell victim to the rain. After losing 1 game to the weather in 2006 the 1sts only played 10 of 18 league games on their way to a 9 from 10 win record and the championship.
The season belonged to the bowlers although there were some notable innings, Dougie’s unbeaten 72 against his "old mockers" at Holy cross was the highest individual league score of the season but a number of batsmen chipped with 40’s and 50’s in support of the bowlers. Young Shiraz continued to impress with a superb 50 in the cup against Stenhousemuir in the Cup whilst Obi Wan staged something of a recovery from his appalling season in 2006 with some good innings.
However the bowlers held centre stage with Macca won the league’s top performer award narrowly beating Wrighty in to 2nd place. Nick despite missing half the season with a hand injury sneaked into the top 10 in the league and Graeme Barrie continued to impress with some superb swing bowling. New recruit Tariq Nazir turned out to be a shrewd signing and significantly increased the slow bowling options.
The 2nds had a hit and miss sort of season apparently specializing in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and finished mid-table. Skywalker and young Patte vied for the bowling honour’s which eventually Luke took and he also managed a creditable placing in the league's top ten list as well as hitting a maiden 50 in the last game of the season. On the batting front Sibs when not playing for the 1’s grabbed the seasons only 50 for the 2’s.
Massimo Fabbreschi filled the considerable hole left by Mano, by reinforcing the people's proud record of exotic names to confuse opposition scorers, as well as becoming an important member of the 2nd’s and a more than useful occasional stand in for the 1’s.Other newcomers such as Nigel Green and Gary Wickstead joined "Mas" as key members of the team, along with a number of youngsters who continued to develop with James Groom, Josie Ray, Royal and Joel all playing prominent roles. Another plus was a late season signing of Bradley Bronthorne which seems to be a shrewd move for the future of the club.
The PV XI continued to fulfill an important role in providing cricket opportunities with Anna Pasquill becoming the first female to play a full season. In it’s development role the XI gave opportunities to several of the youth section with Adam Forsyth, Callum Wilson, Alistair Stewart, Sam Gray, Craig Innes and Aiden Russell all made the best of their opportunities to develop in the senior game.
Some of the highlights of the season from a playing perspective were: Dougie and Davie King easing past 2000 runs, Obi Wan getting his 3000, Macca becoming the first person past 200 wickets and more importantly Nick saving on his bet as Macca’s success with the ball failed to translate into a similar ability with the bat.
The highlight without doubt was a pull shot from Davie King which secured the win over Grange and with it the championship
Highlights Of The Season
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