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

160 In addition, one has to point the finger at the England cricket team for their lack of inspiration. Whether in England or Australia, England approached an Ashes series in the 1990s like a man on his way to the dentist, in the almost certain belief that they were going to lose – and hardly surprisingly with that attitude, they did lose until 2005! This meant that there was a lack of real heroes for youngsters to identify with – no Jim Laker, no Denis Compton, no Len Hutton. Cricket had a tenuous appeal to the Scottish working class at the best of times. Now it had none. For the Strathmore Union, nowshornof a strong Strathmore, Arbroath (nowplaying elsewhere) or Brechin (now struggling), there was little incentive for youngsters with only a passing interest in the sport to get themselves involved. No-one however seemed to tell them in Meigle that cricket was in decline, forMeiglewon the Double of the First Division Championship and the Three Counties Cup, while Montrose did the same with the Second Division Championship and the Two Counties Cup. For Meigle Ryan Watson the professional did superbly with both bat and ball, and there were fine performances yet again from Bill Scott, and the two Drummonds, Peter and Gordon. Among the list of the centurions in 1998, there is a somewhat familiar name of DW Randall. This was “Arkle”, one time hero of Notts and England, guesting for Arbroath against Meigle and scoring 103. Montrose’s success in the Second Division owed much to men like Les Milne and Andy Thorogood, and it was a very comfortable triumph. In the Junior Leagues, Arbroath, Dundee High School FP and Strathmore won the titles, but although 7 clubs took part in the Under 13 League, only 3 contested the Under 17 Division and of these three Forfarshire did not seem to play any games! A sign of the times was the decision of Aberdeen Grammar School FP and Montrose to play on an artificial pitch for 1999. While many people tut-tutted at this, they needed less maintenance, dried more quickly and thus gave marginally more chance of getting a game Meigle’s future Scotland Captains Gordon Drummond and Ryan Watson