Strathmore Cricket Union Handbook 1998

55 JD. Jock Durnin was a success at most things he bothered to turn his hand to. He took the trouble to do things properly. A fine athlete who only took up running in his 30's and a swing bowler with a marvellous technique. Jock's dad told me how he would practice for hours up against the wall of the house as a boy. However, John’s technique had deteriorated somewhat by the time he joined Lawside in the early 80’s. Yet with practice he refound the devastating inswing of his youth. Bowling at the other end to John, we toiled away bending our backs and lobbing them up. We then had to stand back and watch this guy with a great action, granted he bowled off the wrong foot, but the high arm compensated for that. I often tried to mimic John’s action but invariably the ball would end up at fine leg. As a man, John was really kind of unique. He could be infuriating but he was very funny. The problem was that he was tuned into a different frequency, and one that was hard to find for some people, but if you took the trouble to try it was worth it. John was a very intelligent man and conversation was always entertaining, full of illusions and mad ideas. It was Jock who christened Lawside ’Sons of the Desert'. He envisaged a conversation in the Kinloch Arms between Frannie Benzies and one of the Morton brothers: ‘Wha’ve we got next week Frank?’ ‘Its they Sons O'The Desert at Lochee Park. For us ex Lawsiders or Son’s, the demise of our Cricket club was the end of an era. Most of our summers were spent in Lochee Park or traipsing around Angus playing cricket, and John’s passing makes that feeling even more acute. We all miss him. Ged Lerpiniere