Neil Granger has been the person entrusted with protecting the Marchmont CC stats archive updated over the previous few years, so he bought a pleasant shock as this season approached when he realised that he was edging in direction of 500 appearances himself for the Edinburgh outfit.
The membership is assumed to have grown out of the previous Brunswick Cricket Membership in 1975 and, from there, males like Roger Sardesai, Joe Hannaford, Bashir Wadee and Mahendra Chetty put in loads of work and constructed issues up.
Forty-eight years later Marchmont, who play their house matches at Cavalry Park within the capital, are stronger than ever and are placing out 4 XIs this summer season with the firsts in East of Scotland Cricket Affiliation (ESCA) Division One, the seconds in ESCA Division Three, the thirds in ESCA Division Seven and the fourths in ESCA Division Eight.
Granger, who performed his junior cricket at Carlton and George Watson’s Faculty, joined Marchmont in the summertime of 1999 as a 16-year-old and performed his first match in opposition to Leith Beige.
Quick ahead 24 years and look quantity 500 for Marchmont got here final Saturday within the ESCA Division Seven match for the thirds versus Drummond Trinity II.
“Malcolm McNulty, the primary workforce captain on the time again in 1999, knew my dad by work, so myself and one other Watson’s pupil Cammy Munro headed right down to play at Marchmont and I haven’t regarded again since,” Granger, now 40, mentioned.
“For any younger participant it may be daunting going right into a senior setting and I used to be a bit nervous at first, however what struck me right away was simply how pleasant and welcoming the fellows at Marchmont have been.
“The older gamers helped the youthful gamers out whereas matchdays have been enjoyable. Don’t get me improper, everybody performed with a aggressive edge, however there was additionally nice camaraderie off the sector.
“If you’re going to be a part of a membership short-term or long-term you need to really feel that sense of belonging and I did right away.
“Since then, myself and others who’ve been on the membership for lengthy durations have tried to maintain these values going and it appears to work fairly properly as a result of we now have gamers concerned at Marchmont from a bunch of various backgrounds, of various requirements and of various ages who all take pleasure in enjoying cricket collectively and socialising collectively.
“Certainly, there have been quite a few gamers on the membership over time – Matt Loeffen and Aaron Sardesai instantly spring to thoughts – who might have gone on to play at a better degree, however stayed as a result of they loved the ambiance at Marchmont and that’s one thing we’re happy with.
“We’re additionally proud that we have now a fourth XI in motion this summer season and at Marchmont, and at different golf equipment regionally and all through the nation, there appears to be an actual urge for food to play cricket in Scotland post-pandemic and that’s encouraging.”
Within the early years of Granger’s time on the membership, the groups used to fulfill at 42 Warrender Park Highway – the house of the aforementioned Roger Sardesai – on the mornings of matches.
He has since handed away, however his influence on the membership will at all times be remembered because the membership’s brand – thought up by Granger and Colin Smith – is now a picture of the colorful 42 from the entrance door of the property.
Your correspondent was one of many second XI gamers who used to fulfill there again within the early 2000s and certainly, due to the membership’s nice stats-keeping, know that I performed alongside Granger 16 instances.
And, over time, Granger, who has held nearly each submit conceivable on the membership in current instances and is quick previous president of ESCA, has performed in groups with a tremendous 369 totally different gamers at Marchmont.
“Some individuals have performed a handful of video games, some lots of, however hopefully all of them loved – or nonetheless do take pleasure in – enjoying for Marchmont as a lot as I do,” Granger, the quick previous president of ESCA who additionally performs for the Flamingos social workforce and coaches youth cricket at Edinburgh South, mentioned.
“As I mentioned, we take pleasure in being a pleasant and welcoming membership for brand spanking new gamers to hitch and we take pleasure in being a part of ESCA and visiting a number of totally different golf equipment – I’ve performed league cricket from Hawick all the way in which as much as St Andrews over time.
“What I additionally actually like is that when new individuals be a part of the membership they quickly get their mates to come back alongside, too, and numbers develop from there which has helped us to get the fourths up and working.”
That fourth workforce made their league bow on Sunday simply gone at Murrayfield DAFS and these are good instances to be concerned with Marchmont CC.
If you happen to or your membership has a narrative for us, please e-mail Gary Heatly at gary@gh-media.co.uk – we stay up for listening to from you!
