Today marks the 50th anniversary of one the highlights in the long history of Ellon Gordon Cricket Club.
On July 1 1973 the North-East Grades outfit won the Scottish section of the Village Cup.
The competition, which had been been inaugurated a year earlier, to offer grassroots clubs the chance to make it all the way to Lord’s.
Ellon Gordon – who were founded in 1862 – made their mark with victories over Kintore, Crathie and Freuchie before triumphing against Rossie Priory at their ground on Lord Kinnaird’s estate at Inchture near Dundee.
The success is still fondly recalled by those connected with Ellon Gordon, who are hoping to commemorate the occasion with another game against Rossie Priory later in the summer.
Ean Mackie, who played in the team and remains club treasurer, said: “The run we had was totally expected, we entered hoping we could do quite well.
“But we were a Grade Three side at the time so the expectations weren’t high.
“We beat Kintore, who were Grade One, in the first game and went on from there.
“It’s one of the highlights in the history of Ellon Gordon.
“That along with when we won the Scottish Small Clubs Cup in 1986 and we were the first club from the north-east to do it.
“That competition was only in Scotland, but in the Village Cup it was across Britain and you could have ended up at Lord’s which Freuchie ended up doing (in 1985).”
Durham defeat
Victory in Scotland took Ellon Gordon into the last 32 of tournament where they were defeated by Durham outfit Tudhoe.
Mackie added: “We played Tudhoe, which is beside Spennymoor, but it was almost like us representing Woodside or Bucksburn because they seemed to come from one place or another.
“We questioned the locality of their players and whether they qualified because I think at the time the population of your place had to be under 2500.
“They tried to get the game shifted because their outstanding bowler was away on honeymoon.
“Then when we went down the number of overs was reduced as well and our skipper Alan Middleton rightly said the number of overs any bowler could bowl would also need to be reduced.
“But ironically the player who won the game was the guy that came in for the bowler who was away on honeymoon.”
The Ellon Gordon team which won the Scottish section of the Village Cup was follows: Alan Middleton (captain), Bill Borthwick (vice-captain), Ian Duncan, Malcolm Allanach, Terry Kennedy, Robbie Adams, Charlie Adams, Mitchell Stuart, Eric Thomson, Geordie Mutch, Ean Mackie and Ian Oxton (12th man).
