Issue 62

Coming into playing cricket in Scotland I had no idea what to expect. However, in hindsight I should've known most of the differences between Australian and Scottish cricket would be due to the weather. For example, indoor pre-season training took place in halls with roll out astro mats and nets. Whereas back home 'pre-season' is code for strength and conditioning training in a random park somewhere without even getting close to a proper net session (I definitely prefer the Scottish ideology). I am also unlikely to forget watching my first game in Scotland where I had to make myself the first and only cup of tea I've ever drunk just to warm myself up. But braving the weather was definitely worth it when getting to play at fantastic grounds such as the Grange with the Edinburgh Castle in the background and at Grange Loan with Arthur's Seat, very nearly outshone by the notorious slope that made me grateful I am not an outfielder. Carlton Women’s skipper Sam Haggo appreciated having Ciara in the side. ‘The cricket world is a small one and thanks to a link with former Scotland and current Trent Rockets player, Kirstie Gordon, having played at the same club together in Sydney. we found ourselves with an Aussie recruit for the 2023 season. Ciara was a fantastic addition to the Arrows and we are just sad we can't keep her forever!’ Once I eventually stopped complaining about the cold however, something that really stuck out to me at Carlton cricket was how integrated different levels of cricket were at the club. For instance, at the women's training you’ve got players with international experience bowling next to people who only picked up cricket in the last few years which was really encouraging. Also, the intersection of women's and men's cricket was a lot less isolated compared with my experience in Australia. All of this created a really positive community which was super welcoming to come into. Due to all this and much more I really enjoyed the season! I've met loads of lovely new people and winning the league was definitely a highlight (even if it did mean wearing thermals every now and then). Ciara Gibson heading back to Oz to start University, she has warm memories of a season at Carlton

It was suggested one or two people may be interested to hear about my cricketing exploits away from Grange Loan since I left last year. For those that don’t know, I moved down to Oxford over the winter to take up a new job at the University there upon the completion of my PhD (which I hope will be soon!) Since moving down there and getting to grips with a whole new city, I have found some time to continue playing my cricket for Oxford Cricket Club, where I ply my trade in Division 6B of the Cherwell Cricket League. A rather unique feature of this new club is the seemingly endless number of left-arm wrist spinners we have at our disposal. I was always used to being the only one but at this one we have four – one for each Saturday side! I have also been trying to get involved more off the field as well as on it this year, including scoring for the Women’s 1st XI and helping out with junior coaching when I can, giving me a greater appreciation of how much local cricket clubs depend on volunteers – so here’s a (very late) thank you to everyone at Carlton that worked so hard behind the scenes making my time at the club so enjoyable too! Speaking of Carlton, it wouldn’t be a true update of my cricketing exploits in Oxford if I didn’t mention running into another former Arrow, Dougal Main, in my first game for the club – playing for local rivals Horspath Cricket Club. Oxford, clearly not aware of my skills (or lack thereof!) with the bat sent me out at #3 – which went about as well as you would expect! The game was live streamed (https://oxford.play-cricket.com/websi te/results/5977169 ) so if you’d like to trawl through the hours of footage you are more than welcome – but a brief summary is Horspath came out victorious, although Dougal and I never got the chance to face each other directly with bat or ball. It was great to be back at Grange Loan briefly in August and it was even better to see that Carlton is still the welcoming, friendly and hugely successful club I remember. Congratulations must go to the club for their success in the Masterton Trophy and Women’s Premier League and to the U15 boys triumph at Lord’s – you’ve all done the club proud! Until we next see each other, Joe Ward Hello Carlton! A Postcard from Oxford Joe Ward

MIDWINTER ACHES? Dan’s the man to help Special offer for Carlton Members

It did not escape the notice of Carlton’s greybeards that all the talk of Carlton Juniors’ achievements at Lord’s, rather overshadowed a significant achievement at the real Home of Cricket - Edinburgh’s Meadows. Playing for Carlton 5 against Holy Cross 2, Iain Hathorn scored 117. Iain recalls a memorable day on the next page and the rest of this issue of the Arrow reflects on the history of the well-loved venue and Carlton’s long relationship with Edinburgh’s Home of Cricket. With many thanks to Alan Veitch, Bill Polson, David Raistrick, Davie Forbes and Domenic Risi for additional information and to the website and Facebook page of the Friends of the Meadows & Bruntsfield Links, and Capital Collections for many illustrations. Aerial photographs are from the Britain from Above Website.

Iain Hathorn A day out on the Meadows The Home of Cricket Despite many years of playing cricket, my one and only experience of playing at the Meadows came this summer. I had heard stories from the experienced Carlton pros that the surface could be inconsistent to say the least, and in fact in a professional capacity I had seen injuries sustained playing cricket at the Meadows due to the lack of helmets and variable bounce! It was with some trepidation (and suspicion) that I agreed to take the reins for the game on Meadows 3 against Holy Cross 2s, when Keith was unavailable to skipper the side. The one piece of advice I received was bowl first. Needless to say, I lost the toss, and we were inserted. Luckily it was a glorious, sunny day and the pitch played well. Some uneven bounce, but nothing like the dangers I was warned about. The main problem was keeping the sunbathers and dog walkers from wandering across the outfield! The highlight of my Meadows experience was opening the batting with my son Tom. We had an opening partnership of 137 before Tom was out for 42. I went on to make 117 and we ended on 201/6. Our young bowling attack then took regular wickets and kept their cool towards the end, with Holy Cross 2s making 194/9. An exciting game with almost 400 runs scored! My experience of playing cricket at the Meadows may be unusual; fantastic weather, crowds of people round the boundary and a batting paradise! We will see if that experience repeats next season!

Since 1997 (when Carlton’s Third XI was re-established), Carlton’s lower XIs have played 42 matches on the Meadows, 22 of which have been won. Despite the reputation of the Meadows as a less than prime batting surface, Iain Hathorn’s innings is the third Carlton Century at the Home of Cricket this century. In 2010 Peter Swan scored 132 for the 3rd XI against Musselburgh 2 and in 2004 Dougie Scott scored 100* also for the 3rd XI against Edinburgh 3. Almost 100 years ago, in 1924, James Sorrie scored 130 for Carlton in a match against the Public Parks Select. TS Purves scored 59 in that match. Seven other Carlton players have scored half centuries at the Meadows: Kevin Whitaker 73, v Morton 2, 2013 Bruce Smith 68, v Edinburgh 3, 2022 Martin Robertson 64, v Holy Cross 2, 1999 Akeel Aslam 64, v Peebles Co, 2004 Mike Kennedy 63*, v Musselburgh 3 2010 Meadows Legends (l-r) - Al Murray; James Hilton-Robinson; Dave Carter The Home of Cricket Carlton and the Meadows Paul Kentish 62, v Linlithgow 2, 2022 and Ben Thurman 55*, v Edin South ,2019. Bowlers may generally relish a visit to the Home of Cricket more than batters. Carlton’s best bowling performance there is 6-12 by Dave Prosser for the 3rd XI against Cask & Barrel CC in 2005. There have been 4 other 5-fers: A (name unknown) Wright 5 for 7, v Marchmont, 1997 Ian Kelt 5 for 32, v Livingston, 2000 Steven Andrews 5 for 6, v Broomhall 2, 2015 an Angus Turner 5 for 6, v Edinburgh South 3, 2022. Al Murray has the most appearances for Carlton on the Meadows with 32 (and counting), well ahead of Dave Carter who made 21 appearances there and perhaps not surprisingly is therefore Carlton’s leading Meadows wicket taker with 36 in all. Carlton’s most successful batter is James Hilton-Robinson who amassed 248 runs in 15 appearances.

The Meadows is always a vibrant place for the cricketer. It is never empty. The cricket is keenly watched, or not watched, by all manner of loafers, picnickers, canoodlers, drinkers and spliff smokers; accompanied by an intoxicating medley of drummers, musicians, jugglers, fire-eaters, stilt-walkers, and Zumba dancers; perfumed by the smell of burning barbecues; animated with frenetic frisbee, The Home of Cricket many varieties of football - soccer, Australian and gridiron - lacrosse, hurling, touch-rugby and shinty practice around the boundaries. During the year many competing attractions also come to the Meadows - for a number of years the Lady Boys of Bangkok pitched their tents for the duration of the Festival, a full scale fun-fair appears each year. Sometimes the Meadows crowd is keen to get closer to the action. Left - David Simpson is mobbed by autograph hunting fans. Above an enthusiast comments on Fantasy Bob’s field placing.

There is always a story to tell when playing on the Meadows - sometimes it’s even about the cricket Then there was the time that Dave Carter pulled up in his run-up as the batter backed away distracted by the peloton of nude cyclists crossing behind the bowler’s arm. So disturbed was DC by the sight that his next ball was a wide - perhaps the only wide he ever bowled…. …and then there was the anarchist march that passed by while play was in progress. You can imagine what they made of cricket being played. Players took the shouts as gestures of solidarity. One bloke pushing a wheeled commode proceeded to empty its contents too close to mid-on for comfort… …and then there was the time that a Korean dance troupe were performing at the Tattoo decided to practice on the boundary. There were about 40 of them leaping about to gongs and drums and kept encroaching on the outfield. But one strong shot through square leg scattered them quite effectively... …and then Morton were playing a club from West Lothian. A Morton member came by to check on the game after he’d finished work. He was a policeman and still in uniform. As he wandered over to the scorers, a number of the opposition took fright at the sight of the uniform and quickly disappeared. An extract from Fantasy Bob’s blog describes an interruption: ‘A few years ago, FB's quiet ruminations at fine leg were rudely interrupted by some hood-wearing-Buckfast-fueled youths, perhaps students of the nearby Edinburgh University Philosophy Department, who thought it would be an interesting metaphysical enquiry in the spirit of the Scottish Enlightenment to dare one of their number to bicycle across the field of play. Duly fortified, the heroic figure donned his hoodie and prepared to deliver as the shouts of abuse and encouragement from his companions reached a four lettered crescendo. He started pedalling with a fury that defied biomechanics and had made it uncertainly about half-way to the square when something overcame his basic powers of coordination, one foot got stuck in the front wheel, the other in the chain, his chin hit the handlebars and a crash of a spectacular Peckinpahish quality ensued. Of course this was even more amusing to his colleagues in the philosophical seminar than the proposed disturbance of the white flannelled fools. The cricketers of course had to restrain themselves from even a smile such was their focus on the game. ‘ The Home of Cricket 1911 - girls play rounders on the boundary of a cricket match on the Meadows

MEADOWS INJURY DRAMA A less amusing Meadows incident happened in 2014, as the match report for the Morton 2 v Carlton 4 match described: ‘Mike Kennedy was firing on all cylinders generating a fair bit of pace to warm young Ben D’Ulisse’s hands nicely behind the stumps. ‘But in Mike’s fourth over disaster struck. Something went all wrong in his delivery stride and Mike was on the ground clutching his knee and in great distress. With some difficulty he sat up. A cold pad was applied and he managed to straighten his knee. He was helped on to his feet. He put weight on it and immediately collapsed. He could not bend his knee. Phil McIntyre nobly volunteered to take him to A&E. Flagrantly disregarding all Meadows By-Laws, he brought his car onto the field and Mike was gently lifted and squeezed into the front seat and driven off. He texted a little while later to say that he had ruptured the tendon on his knee cap, an operation would be necessary, and that he would be unlikely to be able to bat.’ (Actually he didn’t text, that was the match reporter’s invention). It was not until the Lockdown that Mike returned to the cricket field having given up bowling in favour of wicket-keeping. A Meadows hat-trick and Munseyed at the Meadows (and GL) In the 2010 match in which Peter Swann scored 100, 14-year-old Cheeky Gosain took a hat trick. On an adjacent Meadows pitch that day, Carlton’s 4th XI faced Musselburgh 3rd XI whose line up included a then unknown Loretto schoolboy named George Munsey. Carlton did well to restrict the future Scotland star to a mere 110*. There is no record of Munsey playing at the Home of Cricket again. The 4s got off lightly, in 2015 he scored 177* v Carlton First XI at GL. The Home of Cricket A rare defensive shot in Munsey’s innings of 177* Mike Kennedy in 2013

In their formative years Carlton joined the many clubs who, by 1863, vied for space at the Meadows. There is a record of cricket being played at the Meadows in 1832, but it was in 1834 that the Town Council formally let a part of the area to the Brunswick Cricket Club and regular Press reports of matches begin. Plans for development of the Meadows in 1861 note provision for ‘storing cricket bats, wickets and similar articles.’ It was boom time for cricket. In those years the Meadows might have had some of the character of Mumbai’s Maidan with swarms of cricketers engaged in multiple overlapping games. A letter to the Scotsman in 1874 reports that ‘on a summer evening I have counted as many as 40 lots playing cricket alone….’ A host of splendidly named clubs which used the Meadows in those early years have come and gone - Bellevue, Thistle, Waverley, Blenheim, Rose, Randolph, Athenian, Holyrood, The Scotsman, Rainbow, Hawthorn, Craigie, Albion, Argyle, St Margaret's, Union, Caxton, Clarence, St William's, Victoria, North British, Excelsior, Breadalbane, The Meadows Cricket Pavilion was opened in 1904, the wings are a later addition in 1938. It now serves not only as changing rooms but as The Pavilion Cafe. St. Anthony, Hanover, United, Claremont, St Bernard's, Salisbury, Star, Standard, Violet, Windsor, Amphion, Alma, Mercury, Strathearn, Manilla and many more. Carlton are the lone survivors. For many years there were four squares on the Meadows, now there are three. As is still the case, cricket took its place alongside myriad other activities on the Meadows. Football was also a significant presence, and on 25 December 1875 the first match between Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian took place on the East Meadows. Cricket is now the only formal sport on the Meadows although informal matches of anything from frisbee to hurling can be found. Carlton soon found alternative accommodation in the Grange area where they moved in 1866, before arriving at the present Grange Loan site in 1904. As is the case today, lower teams of Carlton (when they existed) continued to appear occasionally at the Meadows. While many other public spaces used for cricket in the Victorian era have long disappeared under the builders’ bulldozers, eg Stockbridge Park another ground frequently used by Carlton in their formative years, the Meadows has remained central to Edinburgh’s cricketing life. The Home of Cricket The Scotsman, May 1864 - an early mention of Carlton in the press.

Long before they became the Home of Cricket, the Meadows were under water. The shallow loch (the Boroughloch) supplied much of the city’s water supply but was progressively drained from the 17th century. Much of the work was overseen by Sir Thomas Hope, from whom Hope Park Terrace takes its name. The name Boroughloch survives as a street off Buccleuch Street to the east of the Meadows. As late as 1900 a brewery could be found there. By the 19th century the Meadows had become recognised as an essential open space and was protected from development by an Act of Parliament in 1827. Nevertheless there continued to be controversial proposals for development - as a racecourse, as a cemetery, as the site of the Usher Hall, and even for a road fly-over. But the amenity value of the open space continued to be recognised and even now is fiercely protected. The Home of Cricket 18th-century engraving showing the Boroughloch, with Heriot’s Hospital. Sheep tending the outfield. There was common grazing on the Meadows until the 1920s. Sheep were found in the West Meadow, cows in the East Meadow. This photo dates from the early 1880s, in the background is the recently completed Royal Infirmary.

The Meadows therefore has a special place in Edinburgh’s life. However Edinburgh's population has not always welcomed the cricketers. A letter to the Editor of the Daily Review in 1892 complained, ‘It is all very well to view the park on an evening or a Saturday afternoon from the Middle Walk ……..but it is not so inspiring, however to have to occasionally pass through amongst the cricketers not from fear of a ball merely…….it takes far more nerve to stand the shouting and bawling while the language habitually employed is such that no well-disposed parent or guardian who knows a thing about it would allow his young people to be found in such society.’ A number of years earlier ‘A Southerner’ wrote to The Scotsman expressing concern over the safety, ‘Last summer, a child of mine, quite off the field, across the road…was hit very severely by a cricket ball on the legs. Had it hit him on the head it might have killed him. Far be it from me to stop the game, but surely someone should see that the public safety is not endangered.’ Carlton players who suggest that the quality of the batting surface encountered at the Meadows does not quite meet the standards they have come to expect from playing at Grange Loan, may be comforted that previous generations shared their concern over the quality of the pitches. Writing to The Scotsman in 1864, ‘A Lover of Cricket’ professed astonishment ‘that it has never occurred to the authorities to have the grass in Meadows rolled or cut or in any way made suitable for the game of cricket.’ Sadly his letter seems not to have led to improvement, for in a letter to The Scotsman in 1873 the Secretary of Brunswick CC writes, ‘I agree with your reporter that the Meadows are little better than a ploughed field for playing the game The Home of Cricket upon……..this has been the state of them for years and who is to blame? Why, the Town Council. We have asked that worthy body, till we are tired asking them, to do something in the way of levelling; but not a farthing will they expend.’ In 1897 a deputation of junior cricketers descended on the Council and made their views known. ‘The time has come when something practical must be done to improve the conditions under which cricket is played in the public parks.’ After the formation of the Parks Association in 1921 greater efforts were made to improve the surfaces - and practice facilities were provided (for many years a set of nets could be found languishing in one of the small changing rooms in the Pavilion). But cricketers were as hard to please then as they are now. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, as they say.

Despite having moved to their own ground in 1866, Carlton occasionally found themselves playing the Meadows. During the 1920s there were regular matches between a Public Parks Select XI and prominent Edinburgh clubs including Carlton. In 1924, in a two-evening match with a Parks Select XI, Carlton scored 246-4 with internationalist James Sorrie scoring 130. The following evening the Parks XI’s batting proved not quite up to the challenge, being dismissed for 23. In the following year the Parks XI made a slightly better effort totalling 63 - sadly for them they were chasing 278 to win. But in 1929 things weren’t so one sided. According to the Evening News, ‘The Parks XI batted first and found the wicket playing badly and against sound bowling could only muster 68 runs. The Grange Loan men fared little better and lost seven wickets for 48 in a little over half an hour. At this stage scored 68. H F T Heath was struck on the head with a fast rising ball and had to be assisted from the field. The umpires then declared the wicket unfit for further play and the match was abandoned.’ Heath was not the first, or the last, Carlton batter to suffer damage from the capricious Meadows bounce! The Home of Cricket Carlton and the Meadows - 1920s A newspaper report suggests that fully 2000 spectators watched the proceedings and saw Carlton gain a narrow victory in a low-scoring game, the Rev Heath top scoring and taking 5 wickets. Carlton dismissed Heriot’s for 63 and scraped home with 2 wickets to spare. ‘The cricket was thoroughly enjoyable and both teams got a splendid ovation at the end of the game.’ The proceeds of the tournament, from gate moneys and collections, exceeded £1000 and were distributed to a number of local causes. In 1927 Carlton faced Heriot’s in the final of a Charity Tournament (organised at the suggestion of Carlton’s CS Paterson).

The Home of Cricket The Council first granted Brunswick CC use of the Meadows in 1834 and for much of the life of the club the Meadows was regarded as its home ground. So much so that in 1874 a newspaper refers to a match at ‘The Brunswick Ground at the Meadows.’ The Brunswick Cricket Club were the oldest cricket club in Edinburgh. It is not known why the club was so named, perhaps in recognition of the Brunswick connection in the Royal Family. The Edinburgh Literary Journal of November 13 1830 notes, ‘The Brunswick Cricket Club are to dine together next Saturday also. This is the only regular cricket club in Edinburgh, and though instituted so recently as last March, it already enrols sixty members.’ The club grew rapidly. The Caledonian Mercury reported in May 1831, ‘We are happy to add that this noble and athletic game is beginning to draw that attention in Scotland which it so justly merits as our Brunswick Club was only established in the spring of last year, and it has already enrolled nearly ninety members.’ In 1831 Brunswick played the Western Club of Glasgow on Glasgow Green and ‘after a keen contest the Glasgow club was thoroughly beaten by the Brunswickians.’ A month later the return match was played at the Old Gibbet Toll (on Dalkeith Road) and went in favour of the Glaswegians. After the match ‘about one hundred and twenty gentlemen associated with the clubs dined at the Rainbow.’ (See advertisement below) A decider was played in Falkirk where Brunswick emerged victorious - and no doubt a little richer. These matches were played for a significant financial stake - 25 guineas being put up by each side and significant betting took place during the matches. In 1832 there were similar challenges to a club in Perth, about which the Scotsman assured its readers, ‘from the tried and well known skill and dexterity of the former and, if report speaks true, from the equal perfection of the latter, the lovers of this manly and scientific game may expect a good day’s sport.’ Brunswick were defeated and forfeited their share of the 50 guinea purse. In the same year they played newly founded Grange CC for the first time. A ‘grand match’ which ‘was won in fine style’ by Grange. As fixtures became more regular, the Brunswick club began to search for an alternative ground, possibly in collaboration with other clubs but was unsuccessful. They made use of other grounds, including on occasion Grange Loan, to play other senior clubs. Nevertheless, Brunswick continued to be a significant presence on the Edinburgh cricket scene, straddling the growing divide between the ‘senior clubs’, including Carlton and Grange, and and the ‘junior’ , largely Parks-based, clubs. In 1870 and 1871 they were undefeated. They were among the founding members of the fledgling Scottish Cricket Union in 1879. Following the Second World War, The Inch came into the Council’s ownership and Brunswick made it their home devoting considerable effort to its improvement. A Pavilion was added in 1960 (it was burnt down in the 1990s). However the club began to struggle for members and after the East League was instituted in the 1950s, they were rarely off bottom or near-bottom place. A Second XI had also competed for many years but disappeared in 1970 and Brunswick finally broke up at the end of the 1974 season, having won only one of their nine league matches. Brunswick CC The history of cricket in the Meadows and Edinburgh is closely associated with Brunswick CC

Brunswick and Carlton played regularly for over 130 years - while there were occasional victories for Brunswick, on the whole Carlton proved the stronger. In 17 league matches between the clubs, Carlton were victorious in 14. Their final encounter was a league match in 1974 at Grange Loan when 9-man Brunswick could only score 51 and fell to a 10-wicket defeat. Skipper of Brunswick that day was David Raistrick who subsequently joined Carlton. Perhaps not surprisingly, David particularly remembers a match at Grange Loan - a rare victory for Brunswick in which he took 6-31 as Carlton lost by 5 wickets. That was Brunswick’s most successful league season, they finished joint 4th in the League, two places above Carlton. The following year they tumbled to bottom place again. Some of David’s recollections of Brunswick can be found on the following pages. The Home of Cricket Carlton v Brunswick The Brunswick skipper’s report of the match with Carlton in June 1878. He reports Brunswick struggled to assemble a team and found the variable bounce difficult. Carlton won the match.

My association with Brunswick CC came about in 1961 when I took up my first job after graduating from Cambridge. Being a solid Tyke (Yorkshireman) I took the best salary offered. This was by Ferranti in Edinburgh and so in September 1960 Edinburgh became my new home! Shortly after starting one of my new colleagues, by name Ronnie Scott, suggested that with my background, I probably played cricket. My retort was, 'Yes, but you (Scotland) don't'. He was a member of Brunswick, (as the fixture card always said, 'Instituted in 1830'). As I had played cricket from the age of 5 at school, college and club, I decided to give it a go. In the Spring of 1961, I was amazed at the numbers of people playing cricket in public parks. OK, the standard was variable but the numbers involved changed my mind about cricket in Scotland. After a couple of weeks playing in Brunswick's 'A' XI, I was promoted to the 1st XI and stayed with the Club until its demise at the end of 1974. During this period, I met and became friends with all the top players in the East of Scotland. I became Vice-Captain in 1963 to the then Captain Tom Dunsire, Senior Partner at Morton, Fraser & Milligan, and then Captain in 1965. I stood down from this position in 1971 as I changed employer and my work requirements changed but I continued to play. Brunswick and Carlton Players David Raistrick David played 121 First XI games for Carlton taking 109 wickets with a best of 7-46 (v Royal High FP in 1986). He was a member of the 1988 League winning side. In 64 Second XI matches he took 82 wickets. He also served as Club Treasurer for 15 years. He recalls the beginning of his cricket career in Edinburgh with Brunswick CC. Our final match against Carlton in 1974 was a sad day, especially for me as I could remember when Brunswick beat Carlton at Grange Loan by 5 wickets in July 1964. I didn't score many runs but I did take 6 wickets! During my time with Brunswick new members were hard to come by as the Club had no playing ground or pavilion. The Club depended on personal contact and to a large extent on the Secretary Haig Shearsby, an administrator at the Royal Infirmary, who for years seemed to be able to 'find' new players. At the end of 1974 I was asked to join Stenhousemuir by Morrison Zuill but the thought of travelling to nets was sufficient to deter me. Fred Dall also made contact to invite me to Carlton and the rest is history. Peter Nettleton Another Brunswick player who found his way to Carlton was Peter Nettleton. Peter was Brunswick’s leading bat in the early 1970s. Subsequently he came to Carlton in 1980 playing 82 first team matches. In 71 innings he scored 1718 runs with a top score of 112* (against Cupar CC in 1982). Behind the stumps he had 61 catches and 21 stumpings. Peter played an important part in the development of Carlton’s junior section. Left D Raistrick; right P Nettleton

In 1902 Brunswick CC donated this handsome trophy to be awarded to the winner of the Edinburgh Junior Cricket League. As a ‘senior’ club Brunswick were highly supportive of ‘junior’ cricket as a source of players for clubs such as them. As a contemporary newspaper reported, ‘It is intended to intensify interest in the competition and it is intended to remind the juniors that tn the Brunswick club they have the best outlet for their energies when they think of leaving the junior ranks for the high-senior. The Brunswick club must necessarily look to the juniors for recruits.’ The photo below shows Leith Thornton CC who won the Brunswick Cup in 1904, beating St Catherine’s CC at Roseburn in the play-off. While this was the latter’s only appearance in the competition, they continued to play until the Second World War. Leith Thornton, one of numerous clubs from Leith over the years, defended their trophy unsuccessfully the following year but took no further part in the competition subsequently. The Brunswick Cup

The Brunswick Cup under-15 competition which ran between 1929 and 1935. This competition was initially successful but was soon abandoned because of disinterest. The trophy (or at least a replica since the original was too expensive to insure) then became the prize for the Parks Sixes Competition, instituted in 1963 and originally held over 3 successive evenings on the Meadows. The Sixes proved popular at first - 16 teams entered the first competition which was won by the Bonatics. Edinburgh CC were successful in nine successive years between 2002 and 2010. But interest gradually declined. Only four clubs entered the competition in 2014 when Maccabi CC won and the competition was discontinued. Brunswick FC Between 1877 and 1884 Brunswick FC was associated with the cricket club and competed with the fledgling Hibs and Hearts in local and national competitions. The club’s last competitive match was in 1884 - an 8-0 drubbing by Hearts in the Scottish Cup. Hearts were subsequently knocked out by Hibs. Later that year Hearts were suspended from the SFA for illegally paying players. The Edinburgh Junior Cricket League ran from 1902 to 1922 when it was discontinued. Newbattle CC were the dominant side, winning it 6 times in the years before World War 1. Following the War the League was revived in 1920 and London Road Church CC won the final three competitions. London Road CC continued in existence until 1992 when they changed name to Murrayfield (a Murrayfield CC had previously existed but ceased in the 1920s). They subsequently merged with DAFS in 2001 to become MDAFS. None of the other winners of the Trophy has survived. Following the demise of the Junior League, the Brunswick Trophy was awarded to the winners of a new

The Home of Cricket The Meadows is now the home ground of Morton Cricket Club. Morton grew out of a social team first organised by George Donald in 1987. Hailing from Inverclyde, George could think of nothing better than naming his fledgling cricket club after his home town football team Greenock Morton, then in their last year in the Scottish Premier Division. After playing social cricket for a number of years, Morton entered the East League in 1997. They rose through the leagues gaining promotion to the Championship in 2019. Since the Meadows is not suitable for Championship Cricket, Morton (like Brunswick before them) have had to find alternative venues, most recently at Loretto School, but their lower teams still prosper on the Meadows. Morton Second XI entered the league in 2004, and a Third XI in 2014. Both have moved up through the leagues - the 2s are now in Division 4 and the 3s in Division 6. 2023 saw the emergence of a Fourth XI as the club has continued to expand. A few of George Donald’s originals still turn out for Morton’s lower teams. Expansion has brought considerable success - the club were 2nd in the Championship in 2022 and 2023. Morton have won the CS Challenge Cup in three successive years including 2023, and are also current holders of the Parks Trophy which they have won on 3 occasions. Morton CC

Above Carlton 5 v Morton 3, July 2017 -some ‘Morton originals’ enjoy their colleagues’ efforts - a victory for Morton Carlton v Morton The most frequent Carlton-Morton encounter has been between Carlton’s 4th XI and Morton’s Second XI (aka the Scoobies) who have regularly found themselves in the same Division. Matches have always been close, although the overall balance of results shades slightly in Carlton’s favour. Carlton 4’s top score against the Scoobies was 171-8 at Peffermill in 2014, with Eric Edwards top scoring on 67. Katie McGill also had a fine day, scoring 36 and taking 3-16. Morton’s highest total was 183-7 at the Meadows in 2011. Carlton 4’s lowest score in the fixture is 33 all out in 2023. In 2015 Carlton bowled Morton out for 29. Both skittlings were at the Meadows. The Home of Cricket Following Morton’s promotion to the Championship there have been regular fixtures with Carlton’s 2nd XI. Honours are even in that series. Remarkably a Carlton bowler has taken 5 wickets each year - C Sibley 5-10 in 2019 at Inch Park, Angus Beattie 5-19 at New Williamfield in 2021, Saif Khan 5-33 in 2022 at GL, and Chayank Gosain 5-37 at Loretto in 2023. While Harry Simpson missed out on 5 wickets in 2023 at GL, he did take a hat-trick. Morton have also competed in the Masterton Trophy since 2019, making unsuccessful visits to Grange Loan in 2022 and 2023. There have been a few league meetings between Carlton 3 and 5 and Morton sides, in which Morton mostly have had the upper hand.

The organisers of the Exhibition were obliged to provide alternative facilities for cricketers. Those provided, at a long gone open space at Mayfield, were heavily criticised by the cricketing community as inferior in all respects. Following the Exhibition and the eventual removal of the buildings associated with it, there was much discussion as to whether and how cricket should be restored to the West Meadow. The cricketers prevailed, the turf was reinstated and the sport has continued uninterrupted. The 1886 Exhibition building covered the Meadows from the Western End to Middle Meadow Walk. In 1886 cricket, and other sporting activities, on the Meadows were displaced for the duration of the International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art. the Exhibition was opened by Prince Albert and subsequently visited by Queen Victoria. Over the 6 months of the Exhibition, 2.7 million people visited. The Home of Cricket Virtually nothing remains of the Exhibition itself, but the two pillars topped with unicorns now marking the western entrance to Melville Drive once marked the entrance to the exhibition. The celebrated whale jawbones, which until last year formed an arch over Jawbone Walk, had originally decorated one of the displays at the Exhibition. Buoyed by the success of the Exhibition, which made a profit of £5,555, the authorities planned another exhibition in 1890. On this occasion they wisely avoided further alienating Edinburgh’s cricketers and The International Exhibition of Electrical Engineering, General Inventions and Industries took place at Meggetland. Cricket also had to be suspended on the several occasions the Royal Highland Show took place on the Meadows before it found its permanent home at Ingliston.

During the Second World War, the Meadows were converted to allotments. The allotments remained for a number of years following the end of the war before following public representation they were restored to recreational use. The photo above shows Guiseppe Risi tending his allotment in 1958. Guiseppe is the great-great-grandfather of Carlton junior Benji Risi. Benji played his first senior match at the Meadows on 30 April 2022 for Carlton 5 v Marchmont 3. The aerial photo below dates from 1947 and the cultivated areas can be seen. The Home of Cricket