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

125 those players chosen to play had declined the invitation and opted to play for their clubs instead. Those who chose to absent themselves missed a good victory for the Union, and indeed, nostalgia was an appropriate word for the Union had a great deal to celebrate. It had expanded beyond all recognition since its humble beginnings in 1929, and had produced an absolute wealth of cricketers – Sievwright, Laing, Eddie, Chapman, MacPherson, Hazel, Myles and many others - for the local public to enjoy in a basically very friendly, yet sometimes intensely competitive, local competition. One of these stalwarts, Willie Eddie of Brechin, died at the end of the season. He had been at one point Provost of the town of his beloved Brechin, but it was as a cricketer and an administrator that he was most remembered, having been selected for Scotland in 1913 against Ireland during his sojourn with Peebles County. The 1979 season itself was another good one although the weather once again provided more than a few problems. This year, Arbroath United won the Championship. It was a season in which there were two Mehtas playing – Atul for Brechin and Nickie for Arbroath. Arbroath lost only one game and finished 7 percentage points ahead of second placed Meigle. Top of the Averages was Mike Walton of Meigle who won both the Batting and Bowling. The 2nd Division was won by Kinloch, while Strathmore won the Under 18 League. One innovation was the production of the first Union Handbook. Although it started modestly as little more than a rulebook and fixture list, it evolved over the years into a full record of the previous season and a very useful contributor to the Union’s finances through the selling of advertising. And thus ended the turbulent decade of the 1970s. Notwithstanding all the deserved praise about what the Union had done for cricket