Perth’s five cricket clubs will merge if members back a historic proposal to form a new club.
To be based at Doo’cot Park, the new club is seen as the best way of safeguarding the future of the sport locally and nurturing young talent.
Playing members of each club had given their representatives the go-ahead to hold cross-club discussions and an outline agreement has been reached on a range of areas name, number of competitive sides, structure of the club committee and draft constitution that will be presented to all members of the existing clubs at a meeting in late September.
Dialogue has also taken place with the Gannochy Trust as the owners of Doo’cot Park and the trustees have welcomed the plans.
The Strathmore and Perthshire Union has also been made aware of plans as it is the league in which the new club would participate.
The September meeting is aimed at formally agreeing issues that need to be in place ahead of a competitive launch in April next year.
The existing clubs Strathearn, Mayfield, Northern, Almond Valley and Perth County Cricket Club (PCCC) will effectively go into abeyance as a result and, subject to final sign-off from members of each club, the playing, coaching, equipment and financial resources of each club will transfer to the new club to be known as Perth Doo’cot Cricket Club.
A series of mini-mergers had already taken place in recent years due to the demise of Perth County Cricket Club in 2009. These proved successful and reinforced the feeling that a wider merger could bring about an eventual return to representation for Perth in the country’s national league set-up.
Andy Garnett, secretary of Strathearn, and Graham Ferguson, secretary of PCCC and captain of Mayfield said in a statement: “We always felt that the process would be best served by all clubs supporting the merger but also feeling that they were fully involved in the decision-making rather than having anything forced on them.
“Happily, that has been achieved and we are hopeful and confident that the initial decisions we have reached as a cross-club working group will be acceptable to those who will form the membership of the new club.
“We also stressed that junior development is an absolute fundamental part of the new set-up. For many years, Perth clubs have worked hard at providing opportunities for juniors but then watched as many of them left the area to play at a higher level.
“We want to stop that trend and offer the youngsters the opportunity to have their ambitions met by staying in Perth.”
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While it will represent the end of an era if the proposals are accepted, it is seen as the best way of preserving the long-term health of the sport in Perth as the current model of five clubs within a mile of each other has become unsustainable.
Gannochy Trust chairman Gavin Davey said: “We are delighted that the Doo’cot clubs have adopted a ‘whole club’ approach and have agreed to come together to form a single club which will have Doo’cot Park as their home.
“It will help to sustain the legacy of AK Bell by encouraging young cricketers to get involved and develop their skills.
“Their combined coaching approach is very exciting, and has already proved popular this season with numbers attending rising dramatically along with the standard of junior cricket in Perth.”
Doo’cot Park will host a local sixes competition on Saturday September 3 to bring an end to the season.
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Liz Smith, who had a distinguished cricketing career of her own, has welcomed the move.
“This is a very exciting initiative which will strengthen cricket across Perthshire,” said Ms Smith, who won seven caps with the Scottish Ladies’ Cricket XI. “It would be very good for the game particularly younger cricketers, many of whom will have played at Doo’cot Park in the Kwik cricket tournament and also alongside the junior sixes teams.
“I had the privilege of attending the Kwik cricket at Doo’cot and was extremely impressed by the commitment of not only the teams and their coaches but everyone associated with Perthshire cricket. I am also excited that the Gannochy Trust is prepared to back the move.”