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

121 shooting stick with him and sat on it when at square leg, and sometimes even when he was at the bowler’s end. This Strathmore player was so incensed by a few decisions that he kicked the shooting stick away from under the Umpire. A total accident, of course! At the AGM in November 1977, the Management Committee proposed a change to the length of a match from the Five Hours Cricket, which had been the standard since the Union’s inception, to 95 Overs. The motion failed to attract sufficient support so ‘Time’ cricket continued. There was much hilarity when Ken Ross of Brechin, in announcing that his club would not be supporting the proposal as it had not had the Notice of Meeting in time for it to be discussed at their own AGM began with the immortal phrase “Slater Will ( Bill Duthie ) and I are not competent”. The rest of the explanation was lost in gales of laughter and much shouting of agreement. Early 1978 saw the death of a real stalwart of the Strathmore Union in Bob Laing of Brechin. Arguably, he had done more than anyone else to set up the Union almost half a century ago in the late 1920s along with his old friend and rival Bob Sievwright of Arbroath, and he had played for Brechin and had been a tremendous Secretary and administrator. His passing was duly commemorated. He would have been glad to see Brechin return to something like their glory days of the early 1930s before he passed on. 1978 was of course the summer of the Scottish football debacle in Argentina, and it was felt that cricket prospered as a result for people turned to the summer sport as a relief! An enthralling season saw the Union shared between Arbroath United and Dundee High School FP. The title was decided on the last day, and Dundee High School FP had cause to feel cheated by the weather, for they could only play one Over of their game in Aberdeen against Mannofield XI, while Arbroath had a full game and duly beat Perthshire XI at Lochlands to level the points. The High School had a fine team that season. They were of course the winners of the Three Counties Cup in 1976 and 1977, and, although they had no professional – something that they would not have until 1987 - they had fine players like Graham McLaren, Howard Garden, Bobby Hopkins, Phil Christie, Lindsay Ancell and Colin Robertson on board. The title was shared, but it was a disappointment for them not to win it outright. The Secretary reported that 1978 had been one of the most exciting