Selkirk Cricket Club

Selkirk Cricket Club Prepares to Celebrate Historic Milestone

As Scotland’s 10th oldest continuously existing cricket club, it comes as no surprise to learn plans are well advanced to commemorate Selkirk’s 175th anniversary in 2026 – a major milestone for the Philiphaugh-based club.

These include a sports dinner to be held on Friday, September 4, at which the guest speakers include well-known TV sports presenter Jill Douglas, former world professional sprint champion George MacNeill, ex-Scotland cricket captain George Salmond, as well as political columnist of “The Times” Alex Massie, who on occasion still turns out for Selkirk’s team.

Thanks to the good offices of the aforementioned Mr Massie, on Sunday, August 9, a special fixture has been arranged against the Authors Cricket Club. Founded in 1899, its past players include none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who by coincidence captained the MCC in a match against Selkirk at Philiphaugh in 1904.

The club also plans to resurrect Selkirk’s popular six-a-side Factory Cup competition for the 2026 season, while it will once again be staging its local primary schools festival at Philiphaugh.

Selkirk Cricket Club was instituted on May 6, 1851, the sport having been introduced to the town by two Yorkshire engineers, identified in records only as Humber and Newbury. The pair had travelled north to instal looms in the local tweed mills, and found the local menfolk eager to take up the game.

The Souters’ first official fixture in the 1851 season was a home match against Kelso. The game started at 11am, and at the end of the day’s play a dinner was held in the County Hotel. Each side had two innings, and Kelso won the contest by two runs.

For the first 21 years of Selkirk Cricket Club’s existence, games were played on the Public Haugh (now Victoria Park), with the first pitch being located on the area of ground later to become the site of Bridgehaugh Dyeworks.

Soon the club moved its playing base to ground at Riverside Mill, before the opening of the new Selkirk branch railway line in 1856 saw the club’s square being taken over to accommodate the town’s new railway station.

At the end of the 1871 season, Selkirk Town Council informed the club of its intention to build new factories on its outfield, necessitating yet another ground transfer in time for the 1872 season.

It was Selkirk Cricket Club’s president, Sir John Murray of Philiphaugh, who saved the day by offering to feu the club a field at Philiphaugh, which Selkirk has occupied to the present day. The new Philiphaugh ground was officially opened on June 8, 1872, with a match against Scotland’s leading club, the Grange of Edinburgh.

Over the past 175 years, a total of 11 Selkirk players have won full international honours for Scotland They are:

T. Lang (1880), J. Buchanan (1890), A. Blacklock (1903), W. Greive (1910),
J. Greive (1911-1935), W. Greive (1912-1914), S. Hiddleston (1930-1934),
D. Soga (1936), A. Henderson (1953), D. Stewart (1969-79), I. Philip (1986-1999).

D. Stewart (1977), B. Hunter (1989) and S. Wilson (1992-1994) were Selkirk’s three Scotland ‘B’ caps.

Widely acknowledged as one Scotland’s most scenic grounds, over the years Philiphaugh has played host to many of Scotland’s international fixtures.

Famous cricketers to have played on Selkirk’s sacred sward include Australia’s star all-rounder Keith Miller, West Indies’ legendary figure Sir Learie Constantine, as well as former Pakistan captain Imran Kahn and, more recently, West Indies’ popular paceman Joel ‘Big Bird’ Garner.

Selkirk’s current crop of cricketers did the club proud last season when, under the captaincy of Daniel Heard, the Souters lifted the Border T20 Cup for the first time.

Selkirk’s 2026 campaign will kick off with a pre-season friendly against Haddington at Philiphaugh in April, heralding what is sure to be a momentous year for the club.

A special presentation took place at the end of last Friday night’s awards ceremony, when a limited edition print of an original watercolour of Philiphaugh, gifted to the Club in 1990 by local artist T J Bertram, was presented to Ronnie Dumma.

After many years caring for the Philiphaugh square and wicket, Ronnie informed the club he would be stepping down from this role at the end of the 2025 season.

Prior to the presentation, president John Smail paid tribute to Ronnie’s incredible commitment to maintaining and improving the square over many years.

“Without fail, almost every opposing team that comes here to play Selkirk marvels at the beauty of the club’s Philiphaugh ground and its surrounding scenery” he said.

“The second thing they comment on is the true nature of the Philiphaugh wicket, which consistently provides an even bounce, and always produces fair conditions for both batters and bowlers.

Selkirk’s excellent playing surface doesn’t happen by accident. It takes many hours and days of skilful nurturing, soil management, turf care and pitch preparation.

For many years the upkeep and care of Philiphaugh’s square has been in the capable hands of former Selkirk player, captain and chairman Ronnie Dumma, and the club is indebted to him for his incredible commitment.”

Before presenting the framed print to Ronnie, Selkirk vice-captain Rory Banks thanked Ronnie, on behalf of all the players, for consistently preparing such outstanding wickets. “We’re so fortunate to play home matches on such a true playing surface” said Rory “so many thanks Ronnie for making this possible.”

Report and photo by John Smail.

Last Friday night, the Club paid tribute to the hard work put in by its Junior Section players and coaches over the 2025 season at the annual Junior Awards ceremony.

The event was well supported by the young players and their families. Proceedings were in the capable hands of Junior Cricket Convener Neil Gentleman, who paid tribute to coaches Cara Paterson, Ashley Robertson and Blaine Gillie, each of whom received a bottle of champagne.

The Monday girls softball group award winners were: Most improved player, Jorja Lowrie; most promising player, Kyla Pettie; festival star award, Eilidh Kimber.

The Friday boys softball group awards went to: Most improved player, Angus Lyall; most promising player, Robert Torrance; festival star award, Douglas Anderson.

The hard ball group awards went to: Most promising player, Jamie Wilkinson; most improved player, Archie Pritchard.

Sets of Selkirk CC kit were presented to Cara Paterson and Ashley Robertson, as a thank you for establishing and running the girls group. T-shirts and shorts were given to Allie Lightfoot, Jorja Lowrie, Kyla Pettie and Eilidh Kimber, who all move up to the hard ball group next year.

Report and photo by John Smail.

Selkirk Cricket Club’s talented all-rounder, Greg Fenton, is the inaugural recipient of a new ‘Spirit of Cricket’ Trophy, created in memory of former Selkirk player and captain Allen Turnbull. The award was presented to Greg by Allen’s widow, Mrs Alison Turnbull, at a special ceremony held at Philiphaugh last Friday night.

The trophy was created by Selkirk wood sculptor Neil Fyffe, having been commissioned by Allen’s family and by his best friend Andrew Moffat.

Prior to the presentation, Mr Moffat – who had travelled up to the Borders that day from his home in Sussex – spoke of his long friendship with Allen Turnbull, whose sudden death last December, at the age of 65, had stunned the cricket community.

Allen’s daughter Julia then addressed the gathering, describing how cricket had played such an important part in her father’s life, and spoke of his enduring affection for the Philiphaugh club.

President John Smail explained that Allen had made his senior debut for Selkirk against Eton Ramblers on July 29th, 1976. Over the next 10 seasons he made 146 appearances for the 1st XI, scoring a total of 3,032 runs (including two centuries), took 49 catches and picked up seven wickets.

He captained Selkirk in the 1983 & 1984 seasons, playing his final match for the club against Dumfries at Nunholm on August 10th, 1985.

The following season Allen joined Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh, making a total of 104 1st X1 appearances over 10 seasons, amassing 1,687 runs (including six half-centuries), taking 31 catches and bagging four wickets.

A former team-mate of Allen’s, Mr Smail believed he would have heartily endorsed the selection of Greg Fenton as the first winner of the Spirit of Cricket Trophy.

“Not only has Greg had a passion for cricket his whole life, he has gone on to become one of the game’s most skilful practitioners, regularly topping the batting and bowling averages both for Selkirk and in the East League.

His high standards are not confined to the field of play. His willingness to support and assist the club at every opportunity sees him regularly appear at Philiphaugh after work, to carry out a variety of building-related projects, all in his own time.

On match days he never fails to have an encouraging word for the younger players in Selkirk’s side, while his sense of fair play makes him one of the East League’s most respected figures.”

Greg was presented with the trophy by Mrs Alison Turnbull, who in turn received a bouquet of flowers from Greg’s daughter Milly.

Greg said he was honoured to have received the award, and thanked members of the Turnbull family and Andrew Moffat for putting up the trophy. He expressed his gratitude to Selkirk Cricket Club for nominating him for the new award.

Report and photos by John Smail.

After a season which saw the team win the Border T20 Cup and finish fourth in East League Division 3, there was plenty to celebrate at Selkirk Cricket Club’s annual awards ceremony, held in the clubrooms last Friday night.

All-rounder Greg Fenton picked up no fewer than three awards – for most league runs (542, av. 36.13), most league wickets (29 at 12.66), as well as being voted the Selkirk players’ ‘Player of the Year’.

The ‘best fielder’ trophy went to Todd Dekker, the talented wicket-keeper having taken 22 catches and made two stumpings.

This year a new award – for the ‘Magic Moment of the Season’ – was introduced by club president John Smail. It was quite a year, so three players shared the award: Blaine Gillie for hitting the winning runs off the final ball against Marchmont 2; Bob Wilkinson for taking two wickets in the final over to snatch victory against Tranent & Preston Village 2; and Michael Gillie who, at the age of nine, took four wickets for nine runs in a T20 match against Hawick & Wilton at Buccleuch Park.

Other trophy winners on the night were Shaun Wilkinson (young player of the year award) and Kenny Paterson (most improved player award), who received the biggest cheer of the night, after a season that saw the 56-year-old open the batting, and amass 236 runs, including an unbeaten knock of 51.

Special presentations were made to Todd Dekker and his wife Georgia. The popular Australian couple are returning to Melbourne after a two-year stay, and go with the very best wishes of everyone involved with Selkirk Cricket Club.

The 2025 awards were presented by Eleanor Heard, mother of Selkirk captain Daniel. She in turn was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Katie Gillie, the daughter of Selkirk player Blaine Gillie and his wife Rachel.

In 2026 Selkirk Cricket Club celebrates its 175th anniversary, with plans already well in hand to mark this special milestone.

Report and photos by John Smail.

Editor’s Note: John Smail has modestly failed to mention that the final highlight of the night was his 15-minute video compilation (‘The Good, The Bad, and the Pure Dead Brilliant’) of a selection of his great photos capturing some of the best (and worst!) of the action during the season, and including footage of the last gasp heroics enabling Blaine Gillie to get the runs needed to triumph over Marchmont 2.