David Kidd has seen first-hand the work that goes into keeping Stoneywood Dyce punching above their weight in Scottish cricket.
Their status in the Eastern Premier Division is secure for another year and, rather than mull over the poor form in the middle of the season, Kidd takes heart from how the future is shaping up at People’s Park.
A thriving juniors section and the return of a third team this year – in the Aberdeen Grades scene – gives hope that Stoneywood Dyce can continue to make themselves heard on the national stage.
They round off their campaign on Saturday against Carlton on home soil and Kidd has been able to reflect on the strides they have made over the last five months.
“It’s been a huge success for us as a club to have our third team back,” said Kidd. “We’ve always prided ourselves on being a small, family-based club that punch well above our weight.
“To have three teams competing every Saturday, in a part of the UK where cricket is on the decline I would say, has been a big achievement. It’s a testament to a lot of hard work from a lot of volunteers to have got that across the line and to have played in it all year.
“Stoneywood Dyce is a great example of how something can become greater than the sum of its parts, by that collective effort of people giving up their time and pulling in the right direction. It’s a brilliant place to be part of.
“I’m club captain so I’m driving selection and getting names on the team sheet every week. It would be absolutely impossible without so many volunteers.
“We’ve got brilliant connections to the university through Ewan Davidson and our third-team captain Finlay Jack is a Robert Gordon University recruit and has done really well.
“Andrew Rayner and Mike Louw from the second team help us get these names on the team sheet every week.
“We’ve got more than 50 kids coming every week to our juniors section on Fridays and having that third team back is so important, in creating that natural transitional step to senior cricket. If they were trying to come from junior cricket into a Strathmore team, it just wouldn’t be enjoyable.
“I think the future’s bright. The club puts hard work and family values first and that junior section is really well run with some positive outcomes on show.
“Having that third team back has encapsulated that for me, in terms of what we can offer at all levels and progression for our juniors. It’s a huge achievement I’m really proud of.”
Title race goes all the way
In the North-East Championship, both Aberdeenshire and Huntly could still win the title.
However, they will need leaders Meigle to be beaten at Victory Park by bottom side Dundee HSFP’s – who haven’t won in 13 league games.
Second-placed Shire will be crowned champions if they defeat Stoneywood Dyce 2nds at Mannofield, and Meigle are beaten while earning 11 or less losing bonus points in the process.
Captain Kenny Reid said: “All we can do is do our job and win, we can’t control anything else.
“If Dundee do us a favour then we’ll celebrate, but it’s hard to see it happening because they’ve struggled all season.
“We’re not in the position we wanted to be, but we’ve had a decent run at it.
“We’ve improved from last year, we lost four games last year, but hopefully we can end this season having only lost two.”
For third-placed Huntly to finish top of the pile, they need to win against Gordonians at Castle Park, and require Aberdeenshire to lose and Meigle to lose and pick up eight or less bonus points.
Huntly vice-captain Frank Summers said: “We’re just focusing on trying to beat Gordonians.
“I don’t expect Meigle to slip up – that would probably be the shock of the season and I don’t see Aberdeenshire slipping up either.
“There would need to be a fair turn of events for us to win the league.
“We’re just going to try to win the game and then everyone at the club is having a night out afterwards.
“Our second team has been promoted to Grade 2, so everyone’s coming together to celebrate what has been a very successful season for us.
“This season has exceeded all expectations.”
