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

67 game that they lost to Brechin was their only defeat all season. Strathmore 2nd XI won the 2nd Division Championship for the third year in a row – something that hinted at future greatness for the Forfar club but it is sad to note that Brechin, although their 1st XI were still strong, were struggling with their 2nd XI who failed to fulfil all their fixtures, won no games and failed to hand in their returns, something for which they were rightly castigated at the AGM. Other clubs were similarly “dilatory” and the Secretary felt obliged to remind clubs that, if anything in the long-term context of the game, the 2nd XI of a club was of more importance than the 1st XI. The Three Counties Cup was now a by-word for exciting cricket, large crowds and thrilling finishes particularly in the final. This year was an exception, at least as far as the final was concerned, for Gordonians, with Scottish Internationalists Ronnie Chisholm and George Youngson on board, beat Forthill XI by 42 runs at Guthrie Park, Brechin on 16th July. For the Broughty Ferry side, young Alistair Bowman at the age of 15 put up some resistance, but the victory for the Aberdeen side was an easy one, and it is noticeable that, this being Coronation year, the newspapers more or less unanimously use words like “being crowned” in describing the winning of the trophy. The following year, 1954, brought a new name to the world of cricket in Fazal Mahmood who took 6 wickets as he bowled Pakistan to a shock victory for the new nation against England at the Oval, something which rocked the establishment, already reeling after the triumph of the West Indies in 1950. The Strathmore Union themselves organised a couple of games against a touring South Australian XI in mid- July. They drew at Brechin, but won at Forfar with Strathmore’s Paddy Walker having the misfortune to hit a girl in the crowd with a massive six. Fortunately no damage was done. The games were well attended and much enjoyed, the South Australians proving popular visitors. Strathmore XI won the 2nd Division in 1954 for the fourth year in a row but there were different winners in both the 1st Division and the Three Counties Cup. Brechin picked up from recent poor performances by winning the Cup in a repetition of the first ever final when they beat Meigle in 1935. The Dundee Courier is impressed by the crowd at Forfar with “fully 500 in the enclosure with many more looking over the fence” and in