When Banchory Cricket Club make their return to Grade One on Saturday it will be a reward for those who have worked to revitalise the club during the last decade.
They face fellow newly-promoted side Aberdeen Grammar at Rubislaw in their first fixture in the top grade since 2015.
It’s not so long ago that Banchory could have fallen by the wayside, but in recent years the hard work of the volunteers at Burnett Park has ensured the club hasn’t just survived, but thrived.
Positive steps
As well as returning to the upper echelon of the North-East Grades, Banchory relaunched their junior section in 2022 and after a 10-year hiatus have restarted their second XI, which will play in Grade Three this summer.
Explaining the journey the club has been on, captain Luke Hendriksen said: “From the mid-2000s there was a gradual decline over a number of years.
“Speaking to people who were involved at the time it was declining until about 10 years ago.
“It got to the point where the club was struggling to raise a team and get people to help with things.
“There was a meeting which was very much make or break. Luckily a handful of volunteers decided to try to sort things out and it’s gradually improved since.
“I think a key thing is over recent years we’ve had a really good management group at the club.
“We’ve got an amazing group of volunteers that are committed to making the club a success. They do all the unsung work in the background that enables the club to prosper.
“As a leadership group we’ve prioritised the culture of the club over results.
“It needs to be a fun and welcoming club and we’ll prioritise that over anything else.
“Success and improvement will come naturally if we take that approach.
“Banchory Cricket Club has been around since 1851 and we didn’t want to let that slip away.
“We’ve got really good facilities and we’ve been gradually working to improve them, Burnett Park is a wonderful place to play cricket.
“We’ve still got further work we want to do in that regard.”
Future can be bright
Since restarting their junior section Banchory now have more than 40 children playing cricket on a regular basis.
Hendriksen believes attracting youngsters to the club, combined with reintroducing a second XI to give them senior team experience, is crucial for Banchory’s future.
He added: “One of the best things we’ve done was restarting the junior section.
“We knew if we didn’t have local kids playing cricket at Burnett Park then eventually we’d be fighting a losing battle in terms of continuing to try to attract senior members.
“If we can get kids playing and enjoying cricket then hopefully that continues when they grow up.
“We knew we didn’t have a natural pathway from junior cricket to senior cricket and we’ve known for a while a second team would be needed to create that pathway.
“At the end of last season we decided we’d just have to do it because we’ve got a lot of juniors and we’ve managed to recruit a few more players to allow us to form a second team.
“Having it back creates a good environment for the juniors to come into senior cricket.”
Grades good to go
Elsewhere in Grades One this weekend, last year’s champions Gordonians are at home to Crescent and Knight Riders face Mannofield at the Links.
Last year’s runners-up Bon Accord – who were beaten last weekend by Cults – tackle Inverurie, with Master Blasters Aberdeen meeting Cults.
In Grade Two Fraserburgh, who narrowly missed out on promotion last year, are at home to 2nd Aberdeen Grammar and Grampian begin their bid to bounce straight back to Grade One against Huntly at Castle Park.
Ellon Gordon and 2nd Grampian take their places in Grade Three after last year’s relegation. Ellon start at home to Aberdeen Tigers with 2nd Grampian on the road to Crathie.
Sides look for top flight return
Four clubs are aiming to make their mark in the North East Championship this summer.
The region is without top flight representation following Stoneywood-Dyce’s relegation from the Eastern Premier League last summer.
However, that should make for an exciting North East Championship with Aberdeenshire, Huntly and Gordonians also in the mix.
Stoneywood-Dyce start their quest to make an immediate return to the Eastern Premier League with a trip to Freuchie on Saturday.
The People’s Park side have recruited two overseas amateurs – all-rounders Joshua Vorster and Michael van Staden – from South Africa to assist with their title push.
🏴 🤝 🇿🇦
A warm welcome to our new 1st XI overseas amateurs for the 2024 season!
Both Joshua and Michael are right handed batting all rounders and seam bowlers.
We look forward to them joining the club in mid-April!#MTS 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/rK3bWVotTR
— Stoneywood Dyce (@StoneywoodDyce) March 27, 2024
Aberdeenshire have been striving to return to the top flight since the first relegation in their history in 2019.
David Gamblen remains captain this season and his charges start their campaign against newly-promoted St Modans at Mannofield.
Stoneywood-Dyce and Aberdeenshire are also in Scottish Cup first round action on Sunday. Both have home ties, Stoneywood-Dyce face Arbroath United, who replaced them in the Eastern Premier League and Shire meet Greenock.
Huntly finished third last term and travel to Perth to tackle Doo’cot in their opening assignment.
The Castle Park outfit have recruited South African top order batter Jaco Beneke as an overseas player for the summer. In his homeland Beneke plays for Sinoville Cricket Club in the Gauteng province.
Gordonians – who finished eighth last season – are under new leadership with Aman Arora succeeding Mayank Bhandari as captain.
Their campaign gets under way at Countesswells where Dundee HSFPs are the opposition.