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

123 The AGM saw another attempt to move from Time to Overs cricket and this time the clubs supported the change. From 1979, a match would consist of 96 Overs with the option of the side batting first to claim an extra four overs taking the match to a maximum of 100 Overs. In those days, it was still the hope that 20 Overs per hour was an achievable target, leaving the length of the match at roughly the equivalent of the Five Hours Cricket of the past. 1979 on the world scene saw “peace” being made with the Packer circus – in fact it was more or less a surrender, albeit a profitable one as the crusty old custodians of the game began themselves to get greedy and to realise the money-making potential of cricket. There was also the second World Cup won once again by the West Indies who simply batted England out of the final, and then deliberately kept Brearley and Boycott in, knowing that the self-obsessed Yorkshireman in particular would find any kind of “acceleration” difficult! It was also the 50th Year of the Strathmore Union, an event celebrated by a dinner at Forthill where the entertainment was provided by Gordonians’ wicket-keeper and Scotland The What star, Buff Hardie. There was also a game at Lochside against the SCU President’s XI, described by the Secretary as “a very nostalgic day” although he also tartly remarks that several of