Charlie Peet has been back studying at the University of Leeds now for the past few weeks, but memories of leading his country at the ICC Under-19 Men’s World Cup in the West Indies in January and early February are still very fresh in his mind.
The former Stewart’s Melville College pupil and current Grange CC player had the opportunity to take on the likes of cricketing big hitters Sri Lanka, the West Indies and Australia while the team were out there.
Spin bowler Charlie, now 19, said: “First and foremost, it was a great honour for me personally to be able to captain Scotland at a World Cup at under-19s level.
“I had been to the under-19 World Cup in South Africa in early 2020 before the pandemic came, so I knew what to expect when we got to the event in the West Indies to a point, but a lot of the younger and newer members of the squad were very excited and it was the unknown for them.
“It was good to get a couple of warm-up games under our belts to get used to the conditions out there and we defeated Uganda before losing to Ireland in those.
“We always knew that the pool stage was going to be tough against nations of the calibre of Sri Lanka, the West Indies and Australia, but as players you want to test yourselves against the best and in areas in all the games we showed what we are capable of.
“The Sri Lanka match was probably our best performance while our batting against Australia was good.
“In the field and with the ball versus Sri Lanka I thought we were really good and, overall, I was extremely pleased to keep them to 218 batting first.
“Ultimately, we just left ourselves too much to do at the end with the bat.
“The West Indies game was tough, but all part of the learning curve, while to score 236-8 versus Australia in our 50 overs showed that we had some talented batters in our group.
“The Zimbabwe and Uganda results after the pool stage were disappointing, there is no denying that, but I cannot fault the guys for the effort they put in during a long tour which involved a lot of Covid bubbles and isolating for a period before it all started.”
Scotland finished 14th in the showpiece event and Charlie was supported on the field by his vice-captain and long-time friend Tom Mackintosh who now plays for Newcastle CC and is linked to Durham at county level.
The off-field team was led by former Scotland captain Gordon Drummond as head coach and Charlie, who is in his first year at university studying History, adds: “On the plane home things were still a bit raw because we wanted to perform a bit better, but taking a step back now I will look back on the trip with fond memories.
“I have played age-grade cricket for Scotland from a very young age, so finishing off that journey by leading a squad in the West Indies is not a bad way to bow out.
“For now, university is my focus, but I’ll likely be back in Edinburgh to play club cricket during the summer.”
By Gary Heatly
