Young Fife cricketers meet Test legends Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen

The former England players, who are in St Andrews to compete in this year’s annual pro-am golf event, met with youth members from Falkland Cricket Club. The pair shared stories about their own sporting journeys from their early days of playing cricket, and provided the youngsters with some words of inspiration.

The club was formed in 1860, and over recent years it has established a successful junior programme involving over 100 children, and last year launched its first women’s and girl’s teams.

And 2024 has been the club’s most successful year ever with its first XI, who play in the East of Scotland Premier Division, reaching both the Men’s Scottish Cup Final and the Men’s T20 Scottish Cup Final.

Michael said: “My advice to everyone here is to just enjoy the game. It’s also important to ensure you get involved in every aspect of cricket: bowling, batting and fielding, to discover where your greatest talents lie.”

Kevin spoke of his challenging days as a young cricketer. “I was definitely a late developer at cricket,” he said. “I tried and tried but was actually quite a bad player in those early years but with drive, passion and a real love for the sport, you can all achieve great things.”

Michael is playing in his 18th Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He was appointed England Test captain in July 2003 and became a national hero in the Ashes Series victory over Australia in 2005. Under his captaincy, England won six Test series in succession, beating the West Indies twice as well as New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh and Australia.

Born to an English mother in South Africa, Kevin Pietersen played for England between 2005 and 2014 competing in 104 Test matches where he scored 8,181 runs. This year he competes in his eighth Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The competition takes place across the Old Course in St Andrew as well as Kingsbarns and Carnoustie.