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

173 saw 30 but it was a rather unwieldy Premier League of 12 teams with Perthshire and St Modans returning from their sojourns in higher spheres. It was felt unfair to kick anyone downstairs to make way for them, so 12 teams it was. This is too much, for it means that there must be a certain amount of playing two games per weekend, something that strains the resources of clubs, or they must start early and finish late in the season. 10 clubs remains the optimum. The weather was not great in 2007 and the President David Armstrong is compelled to quote “It was always raining and when it weren’t it was drizzling and overcast and there was a lot of moisture in the air.” It was reminiscent of what Somerset cricketers said about the Mendips, namely that if you could see them, it was a sign of impending rain, and if you couldn’t see them, it already was raining! But in between the showers of rain, Strathmore won the Premier Division, narrowly beating Huntly into second place and becoming the Champions of the Union for the first time since 1991 when circumstances were totally different. It was an eventful season for the Forfar men for they had a tie with Perthshire, won the Three Counties Cup and only failed narrowly to get into the Scottish League in a play-off against Corstorphine. Their success was achieved in the main by the bowlers Liam Sweeney and Kevin Thomson who topped the Averages. They took 17 and 18 wickets respectively, neither haul being all that impressive, if truth be told, (but that was due to the amount of postponements and the bowling restrictions). What was impressive that they took their wickets with an Average of less than 10.00. The other divisions were won by Cupar, Northern and Strathearn XI while Strathearn’s first team won the Two Counties Cup. Forfarshire won the Under 17 and Under 15 Competition while the Arbroath Lichties won the Under 13s. 2008 saw the SPCU in an almost idyllic position of starting (at least) the season with 40 teams, and therefore four Divisions of 10 each, the ideal number for an 18 week season. Crieff had to withdraw from the Second Division before the season could be completed, and no-one knew (although some must have suspected) that 2008 would be the last season that the great Perthshire Cricket Club (sometimes called Perth) would take part in any competitive cricket. In early 2009 player apathy, repeated vandalism