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

143 Dundee High School FP who had kept aloof from most of the wrangling triumphed, thanks mainly to some fine batting from their professional Jayantilal Kenia who had a remarkable season with 1119 runs, a total that had been beaten only once and that was by Nigel Hazel. Less creditably, Dundee High School FP were at the centre of a campaign to expel Blairgowrie from the 1st Division, but they were unable to find a seconder at the AGM for this spiteful motion. Not all cricket was as contentious as all that in 1987. Indeed it was a very exciting finish to the 1st Division and it was not until 13th September that the title was decided when Grammar School beat their city rivals Mannofield XI. Shades of the early years of the Union when postponed games were re-arranged, and it was, as we have seen, sometimes as late as mid-September before things were decided. As well as being the runners-up in the Three Counties Cup, Arbroath were also second in the 1st Division and also runners up in the Two Counties Cup, won this year by Meigle XI. Arbroath however did win the Under 18 Competition and only lost out in the Six-A-Side Tournament at Meigle to Brechin. They did however celebrate their Centenary in style. Lawside won the 2nd Division, and they were involved in one remarkable game against Brechin XI when three centuries were scored, something that possibly had not happened previously in the history of the 2nd Division. Brechin XI scored 260 with centuries from Les Milne and young Kevin Thomson, but then Lawside earned a draw with 220 for 7 with Bruce Dyer also scoring a ton. Individual awards were won by Bobby Hopkins of Dundee High School for Batting and Dallas Moir of Aberdeen Grammar School FP while Bruce Dyer and John Durnin, both of Lawside, won the Second Division awards. Other items of note at the AGM were the continuing unrest about the quality of Umpiring, a fear of further changes in the Scottish Cup and an attempt by Meigle to restrict Union cricket to a Saturday. The issue was hotly debated but the voting was 15-15, and therefore the motion could not be carried, but it was clearly not going to go away. The problem was now not one of Sabbath Observance as had been the case in the early days before the war, but more now a comment on the changed role of women in society. Women were now not very happy at all about their husbands disappearing for 2 consecutive days every weekend.