A tale of two villages: Falkland on the up heading south with Freuchie stuck in past

The Scroggie Park club have moved into the top tier of the CSL and posted myriad reminders of their burgeoning potential already this season. But on Sunday, they recorded their own little piece of history when they beat Meigle to win the Scottish section of the Village Cup tournament for the first time. At this stage, nobody is getting carried away about their players waltzing through the Grace Gates at the game's spiritual home in September, but Falkland are now mixing it with the rest of Britain and are making plans to charter a bus or two down to Ouseburn in Yorkshire for a tussle with that hamlet on June 29. As their captain, Ryan Hepburn admitted, they are now in uncharted territory, but their progress hasn't gone unnoticed and it certainly hasn't happened by accident.

"We accept we have been overshadowed by Freuchie for years, if not decades, and they achieved something fantastic, but we're all excited at the thought of going down South and playing some competitive cricket," said Hepburn. "There has been a lot of action this year, but we have a young side, they are raring to go, and there is an enjoyment about being involved in the Village Cup event, which you maybe don't get [in the CSL] against a Grange or Carlton on Saturdays.

"I think the balance of power has shifted between us and Freuchie, because they have some lads who are at the end of their careers and they've not done very well in the last few years. We still enjoy our matches with them, but we have kicked on and the emphasis here is very much on developing our own players, because we can't rely on people coming here, as happens with some of the big city teams. Our main aim is to stay in the league and it has been a steep learning curve, but there's a buzz and an excitement around Falkland at the moment and this Village Cup adventure is giving us another reason to be cheerful. It could be a hectic weekend, because we're up at Aberdeenshire on Saturday [June 28] and then heading down to Ouseburn early on Sunday morning. But these are the challenges we are looking for."

The Falkland president, Robbie Nellies, doesn't derive any pleasure from Freuchie's recent demise, nor the fact that Dave Christie, the captain of the Cup-winning XI at Lord's, has severed his official ties with the club, a state of affairs which would once have been unthinkable. But he can't afford to worry too much about anybody else. Fife, after all, has lost several clubs in recent times and the Scottish grassroots circuit isn't in such rude health that any organisation can rely on nostalgia alone.

"We have a whole club approach, where we are working as hard on helping the kids who come along to practice nights as we are with the First Eleven lads," said Nellies. "We were in the Village Cup a few years ago, and we never progressed too far, but it was good to get past Meigle [whom they defeated by seven wickets] and local people have been in touch, and we're going to be taking down a decent number of them with us.

"The Cup isn't the same size as it used to be, and we don't have any great aspirations of emulating Freuchie, but you never know. To be honest, we are travelling more in hope than expectation, because we appreciate how strong cricket is in Yorkshire, but we have lots of passion, plenty of talented youngsters, and if we can perform to the best of our abilities, I reckon we can give most opponents a decent run for their money. If we were to get past Ouseburn, the next round would be in England as well, so it's an adventure for us and we are determined to enjoy it. There is still a romance about this competition, because whenever else do amateur players have the chance to even think about playing at Lord's?"

Scots are no longer an unknown quantity with a bat and ball. But the enthusiasm and effervescence of these Falkland characters is infectious. Their journey has only just started. Let's see how far they can advance.