Tranent and Preston Village Cricket Club

Our final monthly roundup brings the curtain down what has been (by some distance) the wettest season in the history of the club, with 25 games either cancelled or abandoned across the league and midweek teams combined.


August proved to be a frustrating month for the 1st XI in particular as, despite the weather (mostly) staying away, they didn't manage to win any of their four fixtures during the month.

In a low scoring affair at Selkirk, TPV were bowled out for 45 with Kuntal Mukherjee top-scoring on 13. In reply Selkirk cruised to their target with Chiru Beduduri (2-0-8-1) the only wicket taker amongst the bowlers.

Bowling first on a very sticky wicket at Leith the following week, a much-changed 1st team held their opponents to 175-8 with excellent bowling performances from Mo Rizwan (7-1-23-3) and Kuntal (8-1-27-2). Unfortunately when the thunderstorms which had been threatening all day finally arrived, TPV were well short of the DLS target with SK Hussain top scoring on 18 and Dougie Russell stranded not out for 16.

Their closest game came in the penultimate week of season with August's second trip to the Borders to play St Boswells. After choosing to field first, Gregor Brunton (6-2-9-3) and Rizwan (8-5-3-1) were the pick of the bowlers as TPV restricted their hosts to 89-8 from their 40 overs. The run chase saw club stalwart Mike Brunton make his very welcome return to cricket after more than a year out, and he duly top-scored with a classy 20. Unfortunately we eventually came up just short as disciplined bowling from the home side saw us dismissed for 68.

The final game of the season saw Murrayfield DAFS travel to Polwarth for another game in which runs were hard to come by. After being bowled out for 53 (Kuntal top scoring on 14) our visitors chased down their target for the loss of 5 wickets with Rizwan again doing damage, finishing with figures of 4-0-9-2.


There was better luck for the 2nd XI, for whom two wins from their three games this month rounded out a successful season during which promotion was still a possibility until the final matchup of the year. 

First up in August, and in possibly the most incredible result of the year, the 2s travelled to Cavalry Park with only 8 players and managed to turnover Marchmont 3's! After being asked to bat first, a century opening partnership between Scott Russell (70) and Neil Craigmile (49) led TPV to a highly competitive 167-6. The bowlers then all took regular wickets with Sabu Mathews (7.3-0-16-4) and Shine Tom (8-1-35-3) leading the way to dismiss our hosts for 144, despite some large gaps in the field!

The 2s were also put into bat in their next fixture against Watsonians 4s at Polwarth, and after strong innings' from Shine (42*), Graham Barrie (21) and Scott (20) they finally finished on 174. A total which always looked to be a winning score considering the length of the grass on the outfield. Superb bowling figures from James Griffiths (8-5-6-4) and Narayan Haran (8-2-9-3) saw the visitors bowled out for just 67, resulting in a massive 107-run win for TPV.

With promotion to Division 5 still within their sights, the 2nd team travelled into the city for their final game of the season against Morton 3s at the Meadows. After winning the toss stand-in skipper Shine elected to field and the bowlers made the most of the uneven wicket dismissing our opponents for 122. James (8-0-22-5) was again the pick of the bowlers, and he was well backed up by Amjad Shaikh (8-0-28-3) and Shine (6-0-24-2). Unfortunately, in reply the TPV batsmen offered little resistance to an excellent opening bowling attack, with only Robert Jasmin (18) and Suresh Patnala (13) getting into double figures as the side were bowled out for 59. 


There is still much to be decided regarding the league structure for next season, therefore it is too early to say which divisions our teams will be playing in - more news regarding this as soon as we have it! The 2019 season is still not quite over however, and we look forward to our annual end-of-year awards night on Friday November 8th and the chance to celebrate individual performances (good and bad!) both on the field and off it.


To finish this roundup on a high point, the 2's loss to Morton was additionally notable for James Griffiths. Not only did he record his first five-wicket haul, but in doing so he also passed 100 wickets for the club and has therefore become our 26th capped player. He is pictured here receiving his new hoopie from Club Captain Aiden Hoeningmann.