Strathmore Cricket Union: the first 90 years a history 1928-2018

100 professional of Coupar Angus who took 8 wickets for 40 runs as the Counties were dismissed for 96. In 1969, Strathmore at long last proved their potential in the Scottish Cup. They lost in the final to Ferguslie at Hamilton Crescent, but that might well have gone the other way, and in reaching the final they made a few eyebrows rise. Huntly, Clydesdale and Forfarshire all bit the dust, and the final took place on 10th August, after being rained off the week before. Ferguslie posted 186, by no means an unbeatable score, but for some reason or other, Strathie fell 30 runs short. Nigel Hazel Don Crighton, George Myles and Ian Ogilvie all got a start but no-one produced the match winning innings that was required. It was nevertheless a brave effort, and in two years’ time, they would be more successful. On the domestic front, it hardly needs to be stated that they lifted yet again the 1st XI Championship and the Three Counties Cup, the final being played at Brechin and resulting in a tight low-scoring game against Meigle in which Strathmore edged home in the last Over. Meigle came second and were therefore admitted to next year’s Scottish Cup, just getting the nod over Mannofield XI, who claimed rather unconvincingly in The Aberdeen Press and Journal that in their decisive game against Meigle, five lbws went against them, “four of them given by the Meigle Umpire”. Strathmore also went through the League season undefeated, and their 2nd XI won their Championship as well. Don Crighton won the Batting Award, and the Bowling Award also went to a Strathmore man, but this time to a man with a less familiar name, that of Alan Traill who only took 20 wickets but with an average of 6.25. The season contained its usual amounts of arguments, disputes, teams calling off at the last minute and the repeated failure of teams to send in Match Returns on time. One often wonders why the Union never seemed at this stage willing to impose sanctions on defaulters in the shape of the deduction of points and other things, but then again as someone put it well “ye cannae tak the breeks aff a Heilandman”, and often the defaulters were anchored at the bottom of the League table in any case! The Dundee side Kinloch were admitted to the Union for 1970, but YMCA and NCR were withdrawing (yet again!) because they were finding it increasingly difficult to raise a team on a regular basis. There was one cause celebre in 1969 involving Montrose and Coupar Angus. Coupar Angus were playing with 10 men, and when their 9th