Fraserburgh Cricket Club: A Historical Sketch

Martin Chandler | 9:16am GMT 27 November 2022

Published: 2022
Pages: 24
Author: Miller, Richard (Editor)
Publisher: Private
Rating: 3 stars

Number 18 in Richard Miller’s Scottish Cricket Memories series has something significant in common with the last one, in that it seems to have been inspired by Richard’s passion for Bazaar books, albeit this time more than 200 miles north of Selkirk.

Following the usual well written and concise introduction from the editor the focal point of the booklet is, unsurprisingly, a history of cricket in Fraserburgh and, more particularly, of the Fraserburgh club itself. This is written by local man John Cranna and originally appeared in the Bazaar book in 1912, and looked back on the events of the fifty years that had passed since the club was founded in 1862.

The Bazaar was certainly a success, that and other fundraising events producing enough money to construct a new pavilion and to level the ground. Photographs of the site from 1855 and 1890 and the contemporary one that brings the booklet to a close showing just how much that work to the ground was needed, and indeed how well it was done.

One of the surprising aspects of cricket in the area is just how popular the game was given how far north Fraserburgh is. To illustrate that point Richard also reproduces a short press preview of the 1890 season which, less than thirty years after the Fraserburgh club itself formed, lists no fewer than six clubs in the town. 132 years on and sadly there is just Fraserburgh itself again, albeit the club does run two teams – ’tis a sign of the times however that six elevens has become two.

The booklet closes with a contemporary obituary of Cranna, a selection of other tributes to him and a report of his funeral. As always there are a number of photographs and the appearance and design of the booklet are as easy on the eye as for the previous seventeen.