President’s Blog

SEASON 2025 ROUND-UP

We start and end each season by looking back and forward planning.   Looking back, it was overall a disappointing season for the Firsts and Seconds, even allowing for the loss of three players to the Scotland team for the majority.  The Thirds and Fourths did well in their respective Leagues, both teams could have finished higher than they did.   A reminder of where the teams finished.
 
1st XI – 3rd in the EPL behind Carlton and Heriot’s.  Knocked out by Aberdeenshire in the first round of the Scottish Cup mainly due to fielding an under-strength side.  Failed to reach the knock-out stage of the Masterton Trophy but automatically qualified for the T20 Scottish Cup Finals Day, losing to Heriot’s in the semi-final.
 
2nd XI finished 7th in the Championship.
 
3rd XI finished 4th in East Division 4.
 
4th XI finished 2nd in East Division 9.
 
Watts Frazer Trophy – Carlton 2/Grange 2 (Senior Teams).
 
Grange 4th XI – A big decision was taken at the end of last year to enter a 4th XI into Division 9 of the East League.  A number of individuals really committed to getting this up and running despite the obstacles (Robin Pollok, Neil Leitch and Ed DuBoulay).  Has proven to be a great success.
 
This season the Club provided teas for all the Men’s teams playing at home during the season.  Thank you to Justin and stand in Keith.  Much appreciated by the players and match day administrators.
 
Grange Women – still very much work in progress but the future looks bright as there has been a significant increase in participation, with the real possibility of additional teams going forward.  We have a good number of U16s who will come through to the senior club in the next couple of years.  The Committee are very committed to growing the women’s game at Grange.
 
Junior Stags – Our U13s were the Scottish Regional winners in the ECB Vitality Cup, going on to play in the Northern Regions stage against Tynemouth CC (won) and Hartlepool CC (lost).  We were ECB U15 Scotland runners up, a tremendous achievement as we only had 6 regular Cup players available for finals day.  The Scottish Cups proved challenging with some unfamiliar opposition team selections (all very tall and hairy for their age group) appearing against us in the second round at U14 level.  The U16 Girls were knocked out in the first round of their Cup competition.
 
Sadly, the Shrewsbury School Festival was cancelled this year, as the result of a funding shortfall after the withdrawal of several county sides due to their concern at meeting ECB spending guidelines.  In the absence of this tour, we were fortunate to be invited by Durham CCC to participate in their U13 international festival, where we performed very well in all the matches against representative teams.
 
Every season has its highlights.  For me it was a catch at deep mid-on by young Tibbo Islam.  He had answered a call for help during the 1st XI game against Meigle, apparently relaxing at home.  Now it takes Tibbo two bus rides to get to the ground, so to cut short his relaxation period showed great commitment.  Being positioned behind Tibbo he never looked like getting to the ball, which was dropping well in front of him.  Then I saw some real determination, he wanted it – diving forward he held the ball inches from the ground.  What a memory for Tibbo (and me).
 
In May we had a visit from Richard Williman who was raising money for the Ruth Strauss Foundation.  He was up from Pocklington in Yorkshire to run in the Edinburgh Marathon (in full cricket kit and carrying a bat!) as part of a Six 6s Challenge (2 Marathons, 2 Half-Marathons and 2 10ks between April and September).  He led the 1st XI in a post-match Boundary Run.
 
The Sponsors – Murray Capital, Cold Town Beer, Appointedd and Rathbones.  Thank you for your continued support.  All in their second year. 
 
Our Awards Dinner was held in early October.  This gave us the perfect opportunity to say, ‘Goodbye to John’ (Blain).  It was a very enjoyable and at the same time emotional evening.  Thank you again John.
 
We actually had two awards evenings and two AGMs in 2025 (unusual).  Both had got a bit out of sync due to the Covid year 2020/21.  Going forward we will aim to hold the AAD in September/October and the AGM in November each year.  This will give the Committee more time to concentrate on the approaching new season and maybe some well-deserved R&R!
 
My thanks to everyone (mentioning no names) who contribute a huge amount of time and energy to the running of the Club; scorers, umpires, coaches, team captains, parents, ground-staff and the committees (Junior, Senior and General).
 
Finally, I write this Blog as past President having stepped down at the second AGM this year – twelve years is a good stint.  I wish my successor, Neil Leitch, all the best as the Club’s new President.  He has ‘small shoes’ to fill!
 
The ‘forward planning’ is well underway!
 
 
Rawdon Hesketh
(President)