Carradale Cricket Club

In the summer of 2005, the world of cricket changed, England won the ashes and Carradale CC was reborn in the fishing village on the west coast of Scotland. The interest in cricket has always been apparent in Carradale; with a village side was active until about 1995 when the club fell apart. But the ashes fever of 2005 brought it all back.

 Over the next couple of years the club was in its infancy and only really had the odd practice between themselves on the village pitch, but in 2007 with shirts given to the club from a local business a game was arranged with their local rival Mid Argyll CC. Carradale lost the match but the result wasn’t important, the fact that cricket was being played brought people together through the joy and passion for cricket. The game with Mid Argyll was the big turning point with Carradale, as it was then that Dr Abernethy (President) was now involved with the club. That winter it was decided to really have a go with the club and it was all made official with committees and office bearers elected and entry into the Argyll & Islands cricket league with three other sides in the area, (Oban CC, Sannox CC, and Mid-Argyll CC).

So over the winter months the clubs old mower was brought back to life and rollers were acquired to bring the square back up to scratch, some small fund raising was done to help pay for equipment and the club was ready for its first competitive game in nearly 15, again the result didn’t go Carradale’s way , well to be honest none of the results went carradale’s way as they went the season without a win, but that didn’t dishearten the members as they kept plugging away to get the elusive win.

2009 was going to be the biggest yet for the club, after a lot of hard work by the fundraising boys in the club, more equipment was purchased (a net, mat and flat sheet covers) to try and buy the first win and the covers to help protect the square which the club has become very proud of!  As with a lot of clubs all of the work taken on by the members is of course unpaid but many hours are given to the club by players to help maintain and prepare the pitches for the games. So Carradale slogged through the season and with six games left(out of 16) did finally get the win that they wanted so bad, and just like buses when you get one win, four come along at once!.

Its now 2010 and Carradale CC has hit the big time, they are waiting on delivery of their new dome covers and sightscreens, and some of the players will be going on the coaching courses in the next year., with their busiest season to date with trips to Poloc, Uddingston, Glasgow Accies, Greenock and more, maybe this is the start of something special for this small fishing village on the west coast of Scotland.