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

64 and arguing vociferously about the game with the occasional barracking of slow batting or poor fielding, for example. “Dae ye want a basket?” “Rub some glue on yer fingers!” were frequent refrains when a catch was dropped. Or a slow batsman would be taunted with his good health “Ye’re no likely to die of a stroke!” Dundee High School FPs joined the Union in time for the 1951 season. They had gone “open” in 1950 (i.e. they did not insist on a player having been a Former Pupil of the school) and were voted in by a majority of 18 to 3 at the AGM in the Jarman’s Hotel, Forfar. They would prove to be a valuable addition to the League, finishing third in their first season. Their progress owed a lot to a man called Jack Stark who had been a cricket professional for a number of teams, and became Janitor at the school. The 1951 Strathmore Union was a close run affair with several teams in contention throughout the month of August, but it was Perthshire XI who won through on the late date of 15th September at the North Inch where, under the captaincy of Bert Morris, they beat Dundee High School FP by 100 runs to lift the trophy. It was their first outright success, although they had shared the League a couple of years earlier with two other teams. Strathmore 2nd XI won the Second Division. The Three Counties Cup, which had now settled to its 25 Overs per side format, lived up to its reputation for thrills. The Final of 1951 was between Meigle and Montrose this year at Forfar, and was enjoyed once again by a large crowd. They saw Montrose score 99 (higher than the average score for the Three Counties Cup at this time) andMeigle hitting the 100 required runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Two things happened of significance outside the world of cricket in 1952. One was the death of the much loved King George VI, plunging the country into a great deal of grief with the Strathmore area particularly affected because of his wife’s connections with this area. His daughter was summoned back from Kenya to become Queen Elizabeth II. The other thing was the arrival in Scotland of BBC Television. It had been around in England for a while, and its arrival in Scotland was treated by some institutions like Education and the Church with not a little suspicion for its potentially subversive nature. In 1952, however, very few people could afford a television; but by the end of the decade television ownership was more or less universal, and cricket fans could see their heroes in Test