Preston Luke Mommsen (born 14 October 1987) is a South African-born Scottish cricketer and former captain in international limited over formats. Having represented South Africa at under 19 level he played his first game for Scotland in a first class match against the Netherlands on 10 June 2010."Preston Mommsen"
ESPNcricinfo On 21 November 2016, Mommsen announced his retirement from professional cricket to take up an "attractive opportunity in the corporate world", but returned to the Scotland squad in June 2017.

Education

Mommsen attended Hilton College in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

. Here he was not only a member of the 1st XI cricket team but also of the 1st XV rugby team and went on to represent South Africa School Boys for both sports. In 2006 Preston went on a cricket and rugby scholarship to

Gordonstoun School Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is located ...

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

for the summer and winter terms. During this time he became the first school boy to score 1000 runs in that season. It was while he was at Gordonstoun that he got the chance to play for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

2nds.

Cricketing career

Early career

Mommsen had a brief spell at Kent but only managed to make two appearances for the county's 2nd team. After leaving Gordonstoun (attended by HRH Prince Charles, Zara Phillips & Peter Phillips), Preston moved permanently to

, living in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. It was here that he started playing for Carlton. After four years living in Edinburgh he qualified for the Scottish National Team and was subsequently called up in June 2010 after impressing at club level.

2011 Season

The 2011 Season is the first full season Mommsen has been eligible for Scotland. As such he was selected in Scotland's

CB40 The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 a ...

squad and got off to a good start with two 50's and an average of 62.2 after the first 7 games of the season. Mommsen went on to finish the season with 408 runs at an average of 58.28 in the competition. As a result of his form, Scotland offered a full-time contract for the following year and he spent time at both Kent and Northamptonshire who were interested in signing him.Preston Mommsen's all-round talent attracting the English Counties
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2011/12 Winter

Having signed a full-time contract with Scotland, Mommsen has been included in their winter tours of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, where in the latter Scotland start their campaign to qualify for the 2012 World Twenty20. He marked the occasion with his first international hundred scoring 102 off 192 balls in the first 4-day game against Namibia in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

2013 Season

In June 2013, Mommsen has been named as captain of a youthful Scotland squad to take on Australia A in a first-class four-day fixture in

. Cricket Scotland named him replacement to Scotland Captain

Kyle Coetzer Kyle James Coetzer (born 14 April 1984) is a Scottish cricketer and former captain of the side in international formats. He captained at under-15, under-17 and under-19 levels including skippering in the 2004 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh ...

took over at

Grange Cricket Club The Grange Club is a cricket and sports club in the Stockbridge district of Edinburgh, Scotland. The cricket ground, commonly known as The Grange, is the regular home of the Scotland national cricket team, and is situated adjacent to the Edin ...

in Edinburgh. Mommsen was ruled out of Scotland's 2013 World T20 qualifying campaign in a blow to their chances of winning a place in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

in March 2014. He had a pelvis injury and wasn't able to join his squad for the qualifiers in the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

ICC World Cup Qualifiers

Mommsen went on to guide the innings at No.4, reaching a maiden List A ton as Hong Kong managed to hold on to a 17-run victory over Scotland at

Queenstown Events Centre Queenstown Events Centre, John Davies Oval, or Davies Park is a multi-purpose sports complex and stadium located in Queenstown, Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. History Opened in 1997, the venue is located on Queenstown Lakes Di ...

bringing a losing start for Scotland's World Cup Qualifiers. Mommsen's ninth

List-A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

fifty set up Scotland's 52-run win. Mommsen struck 94, and put up stands of 65 and 86 for the third and fourth wickets with

Matty Cross Matthew Henry Cross (born 15 October 1992) is a Scottish cricketer who plays for Scotland and is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman. Cross made his One Day International debut for Scotland against Canada on 23 January 2014. Career Matthew Cro ...

and

Freddie Coleman Freddie Robert John Coleman (born 15 December 1991 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Scotland. Coleman signed for Warwickshire in March 2013 after graduating from the county's Academy. H ...

respectively as the team eventually piled on 288 for 9 from their 50 overs against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Bert Sutcliffe Oval The Bert Sutcliffe Oval is a cricket ground at Lincoln University in Lincoln, New Zealand that has staged first-class matches as well as international matches for both women's and under-19 level cricket. Previously known as BIL Oval, in Februa ...

Lincoln, New Zealand Lincoln is a town in the Selwyn District, in the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury Region of New Zealand's South Island. The town is located on the Canterbury Plains to the west of Banks Peninsula, 22 kilometres southwest of Christchu ...

. He was stand-in captain against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

match where Mommsen took his time getting set striking only one four on his way to a half-century off 81 balls as Scotland clinched their third World Cup berth in dramatic fashion with a tense three-wicket win over Kenya with three balls to spare at

Hagley Oval Hagley Oval is a cricket ground in Hagley Park in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1867, when Canterbury cricket team hosted Otago cricket team. Canterbury used the ground infrequen ...

. Mommsen led Scotland into Group A for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

as his second century of the tournament secured an emphatic 41-run win over

in the final of the qualifiers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mommsen, Preston Scottish cricketers 1987 births Living people Scottish cricket captains Scotland One Day International cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Scotland Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers from Durban People educated at Gordonstoun Leicestershire cricketers Alumni of Hilton College (South Africa)