Issue 26

Hello Carlton Supporters, I hope you have remained well during what has been a testing and worrying year. In the grand scheme of things and the real life worries and challenges that Covid 19 has thrown at us, the game of cricket is understandably low down the scale of what has been important this summer. Whilst acknowledging that important fact, I do know that during lockdown and the first half of the summer, many of us greatly missed being able to play and socialise with their friends at Carlton. The sense of loss was made harder by the glorious weather we were blessed with in May and June. A simple but important aspect of our lives was taken away from us and its loss heightened over those few months. By June, with Covid 19 still impacting heavily on the country, we feared that there could be no cricket at all this season. However, the benefits that lockdown brought allowed us to tip-toe back into some cricket activity from July onwards and now as the summer and the cricket season draws to a close, we should all reflect positively on how well the club pulled together as one, adapted to all the challenges and frustrations thrown at it with a determination to keep the club going and remain as active as possible. This selfless commitment by so many meant we ended up arranging and playing a huge number of games, well beyond what our wildest dreams could have imagined back in the darker days of lockdown. We also managed to enjoy meeting up socially and safely in new and enterprising ways once we were allowed back to Grange Loan. It was inspiring to see the collective unity and strength within the club. A huge amount of work was put in behind the scenes by Fraser Watts, the Cricket Committee and coaches to be prepared and ready to hit the ground running as soon as the opportunity arose to start outdoor practice and into arranging games. On behalf of the club my thanks go out to all those involved. It is very pleasing and exciting to see this committee continuing to develop and lead the cricket playing side of the club with real energy and passion. With limited numbers allowed to practice at any one time, training sessions were extended throughout the day and thanks go to those who arranged and oversaw those sessions, ensuring they adhered to the Covid rules. From July the ground was busy throughout the day and it was so good to see how well our non-playing, dog walking and playing members were respectful of the differing needs of each other whilst all were using our small ground. Intra-club matches at the end of July allowed us to play at least four challenging and competitive senior matches each week, involving senior members and older juniors. Though there was no league cricket, matches against other clubs were eventually allowed and our five senior weekend and women teams arranged as many games as they could cram in! /cont’d Some Thoughts and Some Thanks Andy Macpherson President

/from over Being able to play matches was a just reward for the patience and hard work that Alasdair McLeod and Colin Smith, our committed groundstaff, put into preparing the ground during lockdown in the hope that at some stage cricket would be allowed again. We thank them for all their efforts which meant we were able to start playing games immediately the day the restrictions were lifted. Then they had to deal with the heavy pitch preparation schedule once our cricket starved players were allowed to descend again en masse upon Grange Loan! Our juniors also started practising and then playing again and thanks go to Junior Convenor Siobhan Fontenla, thrown in at the deep end in her first year in the role! Carlton is fortunate to have such a committed Junior Committee who must be thanked for all their efforts in arranging the differing cricket activities this summer, as well as the crucial additional work to ensure our young club members remained safe. The Management Committee, and others co-opted on during this crisis, put in lots of pre-season work, helped out with and oversaw the wider activities of the club, ensuring we understood and adhered to the ever changing Covid rules and carrying out necessary risk assessments of the club’s activities throughout the summer. My thanks go to them for all their efforts and support they have given me in this trying year. I will finish with a special thanks to a few individuals who really stood up for the club during the last six months or so. Bob Irvine is a top Carlton man through and through, and seeing the club struggling in the depths of a tough March, he first arranged a series of remote access quiz nights before diving into the Carlton Lockdown Newsletters. An incredible twenty-six Newsletters later, we come to this bumper edition. Typically Bob is the first to say that it is down to the many kind Carlton contributors of their stories, who we thank greatly too for all their efforts, but I know that they largely responded because of their admiration for Bob, recognizing the effort he was putting in to help keep Carlton supporters in touch with each other, particularly during the dark days and the tough daily news we had to deal with. When some sort of normality started to return Bob continued to produce his Newsletter which I know continued to be enjoyed by members and supporters who were not able or allowed to come and watch games. Many thanks again Bob for helping to keep the club together during this tough period and I look forward to seeing how the newsletter develops further in the future. With Beer Gardens becoming the fashionable thing after lockdown, Kerry Simpson and Karen D’Ulisse came up with the Carlton version, which, after careful Covid 19 planning, became a regular event every Friday through to the end of the season. It was built around U12’s junior games and well attended women’s training sessions. It was great to see so many old and new faces enjoying an evening sitting out at Grange Loan. The weather was largely kind and Kerry and Karen were down working hard every Friday night, mixing the evenings with different food on offer. The success of these evenings has been a real positive to have come out of this crisis. I know how much hard work they both put in to ensure the club ran these events safely and well and again on behalf of Carlton I thank Kerry and Karen for all their efforts. We aim to run the Beer Gardens again next summer and hope to build on this year’s success. We know that this virus is going to bring us more tough times this winter. There are more challenges ahead. However from a Carlton perspective, the members and supporters have already shown these past few months how strong, resilient and together the club is when faced with such challenges and I am sure, come next April, we will be strong once more, doing our best again for Carlton. Thanks to all our members, supporters, dedicated staff and volunteers, generous patrons and club sponsors, particularly Cala Homes, for your continued support. I hope you all remain safe and well and I look forward to catching up again with many of you next summer when, hopefully, we will be able to play and enjoy lots more cricket at Grange Loan. Take care and best wishes, Andy Macpherson Club President

Much as the season has been a very short one, there have been so many positives to be taken from it. I hope that we can all look back with immense pride in what we have achieved in such trying circumstances. It is said that when times are tough it brings you together more and I think this has been so true of the season gone by at Carlton. We have played over 150 games of cricket in the two month period – how incredible is that!!! So many thanks must go to Colin and Alasdair for the sterling work they have done on the ground this summer to allow us to play all the cricket we did. Their flexibility and enthusiasm for producing pitches has made it so easy for us to arrange games at the last minute and get as much cricket as we could at Grange Loan. I think Alasdair spent more time at the ground than he did at home in the past two months which really shows the passion and dedication he has for the club. We all owe him and Colin a huge debt of gratitude for their brilliant work. Thanks guys. One thing that struck me is the enthusiasm shown by the players and the coaches once we started playing again. Hopefully this is something we can continue to see when we get back to more normal times. It’s really shown us how much we value playing cricket and how much we missed it in the earlier part of the summer. Absence makes the heart grow fonder! Well done to all the players, but a huge thankyou must go to Ali Evans and all the skippers for all the work they have done to get sides out every week. It is not an easy job but they have been absolutely outstanding The intra club games at the beginning were a great success and I’ve had a lot of positive feedback on them. It was a great opportunity to mix with players from other teams and really brought us together as a club. It was a great learning point for us as a cricket committee and it is something that we are going to do a lot more of in years to come. The midweek cricket has also been a real success and it just shows us how much cricket we can play if we put our minds to it. We learn more from playing than we do from training, so the more cricket we play the better. The beer gardens have been absolutely incredible and have been a great respite - helping the club and a lot of people individually to get out of their houses and socialise in a safe space. A huge amount of work went into organising them, so a massive thanks to Kerry, Karen and the army of volunteers who gave us that opportunity A big thanks must also go to all the committee members and volunteers at the club who do so much behind the scenes to keep the place running and allow us to train, play and enjoy the social aspect of our great club. As I mentioned earlier, this has been a tough season, but a brilliant one in so many ways. We can learn from what we have achieved and make the club even better in the coming years. Let’s try and keep up the communications over the winter and continue to foster the great spirit we have at this amazing club. Well done everyone on what was a very special season and one we will remember for a long long time! If it’s been a tough year for cricketers it’s been even tougher for those planning a wedding. So everyone at Carlton wishes Fraser and Jane the best on their big day this week and for their long and continued happiness together. ‘A special season’ Fraser Watts Director of Cricket

The Jappy Trophy is Carlton’s highest accolade. It is named after Jimmy Jappy who, over a 33 year association with Carlton up to his death in 1980, worked tirelessly on the club's behalf. He served many years on Council, including 5 years as President, and performed just about every essential task around Grange Loan. Jimmy Jappy photographed as Carlton President in 1980 Since 1981 the Jappy Trophy has been awarded to the person deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to the running of Carlton. A person can only be awarded it once. The full roll of honour can be seen on the club website. In this unique and challenging season, the club has managed to give its members so much to enjoy both on the field and off the field. This has only been possible through the efforts of many people, all working together. They should all be proud of what the club has achieved. And the club itself can be proud. Never has the club's motto been more appropriate than this year - Tu ne cede malis - do not give in to adversity. It would therefore be invidious to single out one name as making the outstanding contribution to this season - many are thanked elsewhere in this newsletter. So, breaking with tradition in this exceptional year, but staying true to the ethos of Jimmy and the award that bears his name, the Jimmy Jappy Award 2020 is made to Carlton Cricket Club in recognition of its spirit, its resilience and its commitment to making a difference to the lives of those who are part of it. Tu ne cede malis

Corné A warm and sunny hello from South Africa to you all! I hope you are all doing well and keeping safe! As we all know it has been an incredibly tough and frustrating year and I was so disappointed not to be able to get over there this season and join the arrow army. Ilze and I have developed such wonderful relationships and made amazing friends in Scotland and it certainly left a massive hole in my heart not seeing you all and running out for the sky blues. I am however really happy that there was some cricket (I don’t think the Beatties could ever survive a season of no cricket) and that the club did really well! I would like to congratulate all the role players for getting everything sorted and making a successful and enjoyable season. It was really wonderful to see people not only playing cricket but enjoying a drink on Grange Loan in the midst of this climate! We are fortunate enough to be back in full swing in South Africa and looking to get our season started sometime towards the end of the year! I am really looking forward to seeing you all again in the near future and sharing a drink at Grange Loan. Have a great off season and keep safe! Greetings Corné Dry Happy Birthday Everyone associated with Carlton will join in wishing Alasdair McLeod many happy returns. 28 September is his birthday. Without Alasdair, Grange Loan would not be Grange Loan and without his tireless efforts on the ground, cricket would not be possible. His work this year, alongside Colin Smith, has been of particular value - key to the successful restarting of cricket and the hectic schedule of matches. This was properly noted in the reports of both Andy and Fraggle and recognised by skippers, coaches and players. Alasdair shares his birthdate with a few great cricketers. Most notable among these are the great Pakistani batsman Majid Khan and West Indies’ legend Gus Logie. As noted in NL 13 Gus Logie played at Grange Loan in 1986, when he was attached to Kirkcaldy CC. This was just a few years after Alasdair first came through the gates at Grange Loan and volunteered to help a little with the groundwork. Find out more in next week’s issue of the Newsletter Happy Birthday

The following pages contain short reports on Carlton’s 2020 cricket at all levels. Many thanks to all those who provided the text, and as always a special thanks to Brian Forrester for his exceptional work on the statistics. Full statistics for the season will be available shortly on the club website. There were many highlights but outstanding performances included centuries by Ali Evans and Murray Whitaker, 5-fers for Ruari McIntyre (twice) and Arun Pillai and a hattrick for Dougie Firth. 8 Junior players made their debut in senior cricket, continuing the trend of recent years and the invaluable links between junior and senior cricket. Overall, Murray Whitaker was top run scorer in the club with 378 runs, 168 for the First XI and 210 for the 2nds, and Ali Evans, with 13 wickets, the leading wicket taker. Arun Pillai was the top run scorer in the First XI with 276. Congratulations to them. Thanks also to all those who made cricket at Carlton not only possible but so enjoyable this year.

Kwik Cricket - After a very strange start to the cricket year, we were delighted to be able to welcome back our budding kwik cricketers to in July. A slight re-jig of the usual Wednesday night for junior training resulted in the club having c100 kwik cricketers training on various weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. The revised cricket plan granted the boys and girls a few weeks of training to practice skills on the field before it was time to put these into some competitive action against Watsonians and Grange. We also managed to fit in a very competitive intra club tournament at Grange Loan in September The U12s had a very strong squad this year, and at 30, the largest ever. Our intra club games were a greatly enjoyable backdrop to the Friday beer gardens. We had a good win against Stew Mel, which went down to the last over, and wins against Livingston and Penicuik. Frustratingly, three fixtures against Grange at Portgower Place were all cancelled due to rain. We did however play an excellent u13 match against Grange at Broomhall, winning comfortably after an excellent batting performance. We had two narrow losses against Watsonians. Nine U12 players played for the senior 5th XI and made useful contributions, all demonstrating they could play senior cricket. Overall, it has been a strange season, which was very late starting, but the players have made the most of it and played a lot more cricket that they might have expected. Many thanks to the coaches, parents, ground staff and players. KM Junior Cricket The U14s started the season with an intra club game to get things going. This was a good fun way to kick start the matches and required a lot of the U12 squad to help fill the two teams. They more than held their own however, ably showing that the future is bright for the U14s. We then managed a few games, with mixed results, against Watsonians, Stew Mel, two games against Grange and a final rematch against Watsonians. One of the Grange games however resulted in a narrow win after batting first and losing three wickets in the first over. A real example of never give up! There were also a number of games played against the Women's team which were very successful and again resulted in some close games. This is something that we will hopefully continue next year. All in all it may have been a shortened season, but we still managed to play 8 games and the cricket was fun and enjoyable. CS Here's hoping next Summer is back to normal! The U16 team started with games against senior club XI’s. First up we were over- powered by a strong 2/3rd XI. The following week we had an excellent game v the 3/4ths just losing out by 6 runs. Calum BB bowled particularly well for the 3/4th’s. The lesson was that the ‘little things’ matter greatly in T20 great. A catch sticking, running hard, backing up …. all could have won us that game. The following week we had a fantastic performance v Watsons. The most pleasing aspect was the performance and energy in the field. A great atmosphere and team effort after a firm talking to about fielding standards the day before at training! Then the rains came with two cancelled matches v Grange and Watsons. We closed the covid season with another game v the 3s/4s in which after a solid first half we fell away with the bat. All in all, some good improvements made by everyone. SG and it was great to see such skill on show at our club mixed with lots of fun! We will all be keeping our fingers crossed for a return to the usual Wednesday evening of junior training in 2021 and a lot more kwik cricket matches! SF

FIRST XI In what was a strange year for everyone at the club, it was great for the 1st XI to be able to take part in the Edinburgh Super Sixes competition alongside Grange, Heriots, RHC, Stew Mel and Watsonians. Playing these five other teams across a mixture of 40 and 16 over cricket provided some good challenges as well as highlighting certain areas in which we know we must improve for next season. The competition provided a great opportunity for many to further their experience of first team cricket, which should hold the team in good stead going forward. Two players that fit this description are Muz Whittaker and Ruari McIntyre. Both started the season in the 2s but put in performances Muz (Hundred v Marchmont) and Ruari (5fer v Heriots 2s) that gave them the confidence to step into the 1s and perform. Muz finished with 2 50s from his 3 games at the top of the order and Ruari starred with 5 for 32 on debut against Watsonians. Another notable performance was Ali Evans 108 vs. RHC, going to show that a T20I average of 0.1 means nothing when faced with a short legside boundary at the Loan! Finishing 3rd in the 40 over comp and losing a tight semi-final in the T16 competition was a tad disappointing, but largely a fair reflection of how we performed this year, and should serve as a huge motivator for the side to continue to improve in preparation for next season and to challenge for the league and cups. TS Batting : Murray Whitaker 6 matches, 5 innings, 1 not out, 168 runs, 42.00 average Ali Evans 8 matches, 6 innings, 1 not out 184 runs, 36.80 average Rory McCann 2 matches, 2 innings, 0 not out, 73 runs, 36.50 average Arun Pillai, 9 matches, 9 innings, 1 not out, 276 runs, average 34.50 Tom Simpson 10 matches, 9 innings, 2 not outs, 177 runs, average 25.29 Ali Evans 108 v RH Corstorphine, Super Six, GL, 15 August Murray Whitaker 66 v Stewart's Melville, Super Six, GL, 12 September Arun Pillai 63 v Watsonian, Super Six T16 Semi-Final, Portgower Place, 19 Sept Tom Simpson 55 v RHC 15 Aug ; Rd McCann 51 v Watsonian 19 Sept Bowling : Ali Evans 8 matches, 44 overs, 5 maidens, 13 wickets, 134 runs Arun Pillai 9 matches,27.4 overs, 3 maidens, 11 wickets 121 runs Harry Simpson 3 matches, 9 overs, 0 maidens, 3 wickets 33 runs Rory Allardice, 9 matches, 44 overs. 1 maiden, 11 wickets 211 runs Arun Pillai 5 for 17 v Stewart's Melville, Super Six, GL, 12 Sept Ruari McIntyre 5 for 32 v Watsonian, Super Six, GL, 29 Aug Angus Beattie 3 for 4 v RH Corstorphine, Super Six T16, Barnton, 20 Aug 1st XI : ESCA T16 & “Super Six” competition (5 matches in each) Pl 10 W 6 L 4

2 XI : ESCA 1b (2 matches); Shadow T16 (1 match); Friendly (4 matches)* Batting : Murray Whitaker 210 runs, 70.00 average Kyle Macpherson 120 runs, 60.00 average Angus Beattie 50 runs, 50.00 average Murray Whitaker 110 v Marchmont, ESCA 1b, GL 16 Aug Kyle Macpherson 66 v Watsonian 2, Friendly, Myreside, 1 Sept Angus Beattie 50 v Marchmont, ESCA 1b, GL 16 Aug Bowling : Ruari McIntyre O 12 M 3 W 7 R 38 Harry Simpson O 20 M 2, W 7 R 79 Ruari McIntyre 5 for 13 v Heriots 2 ESCA 1b, GL, 22 Aug Harry Simpson 3 for 20 v Marchmont, ESCA 1b, GL 16 Aug Callum Sibley 3 for 21 v Watsonian 2, Friendly, Myreside, 1 Sep *details of one match still awaited at time of writing WOMEN’S XI The women’s team played a series of games against other Edinburgh based sides including RHC, Watsonians and Edinburgh South/Stew Mel. It has been a season of many firsts - from players taking part in their first ever cricket matches, through to those taking their first wickets for the club and putting in match winning performances. Of particular note were Sam Haggo’s first 50 for Carlton at Watsonians; Georgia Henderson for her excellent leadership in her first season as captain - get well soon Georgia! - and long time member Amelia Beattie bowling her first ever over in a match. Additionally we have once again been strongly represented in the regional and national set-ups at both age-group and senior levels. This is yet another tribute to the great efforts and performances of the squad. Thanks must go to Annette Aitken-Drummond for organising so many fixtures for us in such a short space of time. It has been a great season and we finished it off in style with a highly competitive internal match at Grange Loan. CW Sam adds the squad’s thanks to Caleb for his hard work and dedication this season. ‘His enthusiasm with the girls shines through and we’re lucky to have him.’ Batting : Zaara Dancu P2, I2 NO 1 R 46 runs, Av 46.00 Sam Haggo P2 I 2 NO 0 R 70 Ave 35.00 Charis Scott P2I 2 NO 0 R 31 Ave 15.5 Sam Haggo 50 v Watsonian, Friendly, Myreside, 30 Aug Charis Scott 31 v Watsonian, Friendly, Myreside, 30 Aug Zaara Dancu 26* v Edinburgh South/Stewart's Melville, Friendly, Inverleith, 16 Aug Bowling : Charis Scott, O 6 M 1 W 4 wickets R 17 Lou Parkes O 3 M 0 W 1 R 6 Danielle Weller O 10 M 0 W 5 wickets R 36 Sam Haggo O 7 M 1 W 1 R 22 C Scott 3 for 2 v Watsonian, Friendly, Myreside, 30 Aug D Weller 3 for 13 v Edinburgh South/Stewart's Melville, Friendly, Inverleith, 5 Sep 2nd XI P 8 W 8 A successful season for the Seconds! A tough season in not having a full run of games and challenging for a title, but none-the-less not wasted as the team won all its eight games. This season brought a new captain in Harry ‘Harold’ Simpson, skippering for the first time and taking the reins of a young side. Throughout the season there were many debuts and contributions to winning performances. Here are some of the highlights: 15 year old Ruari McIntyre who stepped up to be the Twos strike bowler for the best part of the season, and must be one of very few players to take a five wicket haul in both the second and first team in successive weeks. The two spells of the season! Credit also to his opening bowler partner the slightly older Charles Stronach, whose experience and wisdom throughout the season was a key part of what made the team tick and find the way to win. Innings of the season has to go to the one and only Murray Whitaker - 110* against Marchmont. It was an incredible innings and a pleasure to watch from the other end. The hard graft put in by Murray throughout the season was admirable and it showed, scoring five 50+ knocks for both the first and second teams. Even if it was very short season we played some smart cricket and to go unbeaten in any season is a great achievement. With so many games back to back, availability was stretched at times but we still did it and that’s a credit to all involved. With the social scene bustling, younger players stepping up and volunteers helping in and around the club to get games and events on, this season has shown all the reasons why we love Carlton. Thanks to everyone!!! BD

3rd XI : ESCA 2 (4 matches) ; Friendly (2) Batting : Ben Thurman P 3 I 3 NO 1 R 79 Ave 39.50 Euan Keatinge P 4 I 3 NO 2 R 72 Ave 36.00 Mo Nouman P 4 I 4 NO 0 R 133 Ave 33.25 Ben Thurman 74 v Boroughmuir, ESCA 2, GL, 30 Aug Mo Nouman 56 v Edinburgh South, Friendly, Inch Park, 20 Sep (includes 6 sixes) Mikey Brown 50* v Edinburgh South, ESCA 2, Inch Park, 5 Sept Bowling : Brad McKay O 16 M 7 W 7 R 37 Oscar Smith O 17.4 M 0 W 6 R 76 Jamie Beattie O12.1 M 3 W 4 R 24 Mark McKay 4 for 17 v Edin Accies 2 ESCA 2, Newfield Artificial, 15 Aug O Smith 4 for 26 v Boroughmuir, ESCA 2, GL, 30 Aug Brad McKay 3 for 11 v Boroughmuir, ESCA 2, GL, 30 Aug 4th XI P5 W1 L4 How to distill the Carlton 4s short but packed season? The excitement of intra-club games after 5 months of lockdown: old friends, new team-mates, a posse of newly-promoted juniors. The joy of game after game at our Grange Loan home. An odyssey around Edinburgh’s astro strips: Inch Park, Leith Links, the pocket-handkerchief Cavalry 3, Inverleith Park. A mysterious game at Watsonians about which no-one can recall anything. A final game on the green green grass of home. Images of the season: Paul batting - a lot - for 144 runs; Fraser batting almost as much for 54; Joe’s mud-and-scamper fielding; Rudy opening the bowling; Ivan in full flight; Kaz’s 50 & Dougie’s hat-trick at Leith; losing to our own subs at OCCC; Stu’s Broad-inspired LBW appeals; c Kentish b Kentish twice in one match; wickets shared between 6 bowlers - 3 times. Results? We beat Leith. And maybe Watsonians - who knows? MF 4th XI : ESCA 4 (4 matches);Friendly (1) Batting : Paul Kentish P 4 I 4 NO 0 R 144 runs Ave 36.00 Brian Kaczynski P 4 I 4 NO 0 R 71 runs Ave 17.75 Brian Kaczynski 52 v Leith FAB 2 , ESCA 4, Leith Links, 22 Aug Paul Kentish 44 v Leith FAB 2 , ESCA 4, Leith Links, 22 Aug Paul Kentish 43 v Penicuik 2 Friendly, GL, 13 Sep Mike Kennedy 31 v Drummond Trinity, ESCA 4, Inverleith, 5 Sep Bowling : Stuart Dawson O 13 M 2 W 5 R 36 Fraser Kentish O 12.1 M 1 W 5 R 51 Dougie Firth O 19.3 M 2 W 5 R 81 Tom Leftley 3 for 14 v Leith FAB 2 ESCA 4, Leith Links, 22 Aug Dougie Firth 3 for 18 v Leith FAB 2 ESCA 4, Leith Links, 22 Aug Stuart Dawson 3 for 24 v Penicuik 2, Friendly, GL, 13 Sep Continuing the noble tradition MF posted a match report for all the 4XI matches on the club website. In a break with tradition his reports usefully describe the cricket played without digression into the arcane and obscure. 3rd XI P5 W3 L2 In these strange times, playing cricket was always going to be a little piece of normality to be celebrated, including the thrill of fishing balls out of the burn at the Inch. The 3's had seven scheduled matches of varying lengths. Is it comforting that washouts are still part of the new normal? If so, we did well - we had two. Of the remaining five, we won three and lost two. Batting highlights included 49 for Charlie Kentish at Accies, an opening partnership of 110 between Ben Thurman and Dougal Main against Boroughmuir and 50's for Mikey Brown and Mo Nauman in separate games against Edinburgh South. Bowling highlights include seven wickets for McKay's at Accies (four for Mark, three for Brad) and four wickets for Oscar Smith against Boroughmuir. While these were friendly games, they were great opportunities for all players to keep working on their skills and be part of a team again. The games were serious but played in great spirit and the sheer thrill of playing the game we love will hopefully keep us going over the long winter. I also want to take the opportunity to thank the Cricket Committee for organising so many games and to Sandy Scotland who volunteered to umpire many of the games. I look forward to another third team summer in 2021! BMcK