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

89 For the Strathmore Union, Stuart Wilson of Brechin and now a Scotland Internationalist also bowled well and took 5 for 72. 1963 was a remarkable year in many ways, not least for the big freeze- up which lasted from January all the way through to March, then the big thaw came and this caused problems for teams trying to get their pitches playable for the start of the season. Often a bad winter leads to a great summer. This was not the case in 1963 for the summer was miserable and wet with Strathmore, for example, only managing to play 16 games out of 22 in the Union. Not that this affected their performances, for they continued to dominate everything. Poor Brechin managed to fulfil only 12 fixtures, only one more than half of what they should have played. The West Indies were popular tourists in England, and the Beatles music proliferated with everyone being told that “She Loves You! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”, but the latter part of the summer was dominated by jokes about a lady called Christine Keeler who brought about a political crisis through her relationship with a Cabinet Minister called John Profumo. That was bad enough, but she was also having it away with an Attache at the Russian Embassy as well. Talk about batting on a sticky wicket! Cricket scorers, a breed only seldom known for their sense of humour, would now talk about a “wicket maiden” as a “Christine Keeler”. Pedants would of course point out that she was no maiden – if she had been, there would have been no problem - and probably wasn’t really all that “wicked” either, for her only problem really was that the Press found out! Myles and Prophet continued to dominate for Strathie, Myles with his impeccable line and length and Prophet with his steady pace. They were David Pattullo holds the Championship Trophy and the Three Counties Cup, won by Strathmore in 1964.