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

168 In the event the main talking point of the 2004 season was, yet again, the foul weather which prevented so many of the games from being played. There were now four Divisions – a Premier League of 9 teams, a First Division of 9 and a Third Division of 9 with the Second Division being the odd one out with 10. Odd numbers are seldom good for Leagues, for it always means that there is one team idle on any given Saturday, and there are few things that cause more frustration than a bright sunny day and no meaningful opposition to play against. But the new SPCU, (Strathmore and Perthshire Cricket Union) as it was to be called, would take a long time to sort things out, their task being not made any easier by the frequent comings and goings of so many teams. Dundee High School FP for example would be relegated from the SNCL in 2004 and would be compelled to rejoin the SPCU in 2005. Such of course were the tribulations of being a feeder League, which meant, effectively that the best team could leave every year. Mannofield XI won the Premier League in 2004, winning 11 out of the 12 games played, and the runners up were Huntly. Third were the now ailing Perthshire, a club struggling – yet it did not seem all that long ago since they were repeatedly and predictably the Scottish County Champions. They were an example of a club that had not really coped very well with the changes in the League structures and were not helped by the overflowing of the Tay which caused major problems with their square. Cupar were similarly a club whose best years were behind them and they finished bottom of the Premier League. The other divisions were won by Rossie Priory, Coupar Angus and Perth XI, while Arbroath won the Under 17s and Under 13s League and Forfarshire won the Under 15s. Huntly and Perth won the two 25 Overs Competitions, while those of us of a nostalgic disposition, were inclined to wipe a tear from our eye as we saw the name of Nigel Hazel winning the Batting Average award. He was of course the son of the great man and his Average of 72.80 would have made his father proud! The old warhorse Bill Scott of Meigle won the Batting Aggregate while Dale de Neef of Mannofield won the awards for Bowling. Sadly, Kingsway gave up the ghost this year, while Doune retired from regular League cricket, restricting themselves to friendly games. On a more positive note, Strathmore and Huntly celebrated their 150 years of existence. The various comings and goings of clubs did have at least one positive