Established in 1876,[1] it has won the Strathmore & Perthshire Cricket Union, of which it was a founder member in 1929, on eight occasions 2022, 2019, 2014, 2001, 1998, 1980, 1961 and 1954. The club was second to Brechin in the inaugural season.[2]
The 1st XI played in the Cricket Scotland Eastern Premier League in 2021 and the club 2nd and 3rd XI play in the Strathmore & Perthshire Cricket Union lower divisions. The Union is one of three regional feeder leagues to the Cricket Scotland League set up. The club has long running rivalry with Freuchie Cricket Club from Fife from many years competing in the Scottish section of the National Village Cup which the club has won ten times, the first year of the Village Cup in 1972 and the most recent success was 2022 in a 5 wicket win over Falkland to make it three titles in a row. From the mid nineties to the late noughties the club were deemed ineligible for the competition. Meigle became eligible again in 2011 and in 2013 lost the Scottish final to Dumfries-shire side Kirkwood.
The club play at Victory Park which has a slight slope, though the other park in the Village, Belmont Park has also hosted cricket in the past.[3][4] In 2001 the club, captained by Peter J. Drummond who later captained Forfarshire in the Scottish National Cricket League, played in the annual Play-Off to enter the Scottish National Cricket League but lost to Border League champions Penicuik. The 1st XI has also won the main Twenty20 cup for the North District, the Three Counties Cup (originally Forfarshire, Perthshire & Aberdeenshire) on six occasions 1951, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1998 and 2000 and have been runners up nine times, the last final appearance being in 2018 The 2001 undefeated league winning team are known as 'the invincibles', but the greatest team in the club's history is regarded by many to be the 1980 treble winning team. A short lived league cup 'The 3 D Sports Premier Trophy' was played for in 1999 and Meigle reached the final, but suffered a batting collapse and lost out to Gordonians at Guthrie Park, Brechin. Meigle had won their section with 100% record in a group with Dundee HSFP, Brechin and Cupar (Fife). The club have played in the Scottish Cup in six seasons, often qualifying by winning the Strathmore Union, or finishing in a high position.
The Meigle 2nd XI has won a 2nd XI title on five occasions; 1932, 1958, 1959, 1984 and 2018. The 2nd XI has won the Two Counties Cup on three occasions 1985, 1987 and 2000.[5] The Strathmore Union allowed the Perthshire League to join it in 2004.
The club's greatest ever player is WB Scott, better known as Bill Scott. In 1997, in a match versus Arbroath United he became the first batsman to amass 10,000 league runs. He is also often referred to as 'the best amateur batsman never to have played for Scotland', he finished with over 13,000 runs in the Union top flight.[6]
Representative honours
The village has produced three full Scotland men's internationals: Gordon Drummond, J.R. (Ralph) Laing[7] and JGB (Gordon) Laing. Ralph was also president of the Scottish Cricket Union, now rebranded as Cricket Scotland, in 1992. Gordon Drummond was captain of Scotland from mid 2009 to early 2013. Ryan Watson, a former club professional in the late 1990s, has also played and captained Scotland after qualifying through residency in 2002 as he is originally from Harare and was raised in South Africa. Two of the successful 2001 team also played representative cricket. Peter J Drummond played for Scotland U19 in 1998 as well as for East Coast Crusaders regional team, as it was called at that time [8] and Iain M Stewart played for Scottish Universities in 2004 whilst playing for another club.[9] Many players have represented the Strathmore Union select XI and its successor the Strathmore & Perthshire Union select XI such as Sandy Reid, JR Laing, Alan Pattullo, Nicol Whitelaw and Bill Scott (Senior)in the 1960s. Peter CJ Drummond and Bill Scott (Junior) in the 1980s and Denis Christie, Gordon Drummond, Peter J Drummond, Iain M Stewart, Callum Leese and Alasdair Gilmour appeared for the XI at various points from the 1998 through to 2012. Alan Neave and Matthew Farmer represented the select in 2015. [10] Neil Kirk, while a Northern CC and Perthshire CCC player, represented Scotland U16, before becoming a productive run scorer at the top of the order for Meigle. Tom Duff played for the British Army and Scotland U17 in his younger days, before becoming a main stay of the Meigle middle order. Freddie Cox played for Scotland U15 in 2008, touring South Africa and playing in the U15 ICC Europe Championship. Cox scored his first career century for Scotland U15 in South Africa in 2008.[11] Another revered Meigle player was Brian Reid. Brian was a highly skilled wicket keeper and handy batsman who played for Meigle in the 50's and 60's. His talents took him down south where he represented Sussex in seasons 1960 and 1961. Jamie Morrison played for the Scottish Students in a twenty20 match in June 2012, the national student representative team that was formerly called Scottish Universities up until the end of 2011.[12] The club has also produced one full women's international cap player, Annette Drummond.[13]
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west. It was a local government county from 1890 to 1930.
Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the town of Brechin in Angus. The club was founded in 1906 by players and officials of two local clubs, Brechin Harp and Brechin Hearts. The club currently competes in the Highland Football League after successive relegations from the Championship in 2018, League One in 2019 and League Two via the play-off in 2021 after a 3–1 aggregate defeat by Kelty Hearts.
John Angus Rae Blain is a Scottish first-class cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman, and a right-arm fast-medium pace bowler. In May 2019, he was inducted into Cricket Scotland's Hall of Fame. However, in July 2022, Blain was "temporarily suspended" from the hall of fame.
Ryan Robert Watson is a Zimbabwean-born Scottish cricketer who played limited over internationals and captained Scotland. He currently plays club cricket with Forfarshire CC. Watson is a hard hitting right-handed batsman and is able to bowl both medium-fast and off-break deliveries. He hit the headlines in 2003 when he hit a century off just 43 balls in a game against Somerset at The Grange, Edinburgh. In 2008 he became one of the first three players to be awarded a contract with Cricket Scotland.
The Forfarshire Cup is a football competition in Scotland competed for by teams in the Forfarshire Football Association from Angus, Dundee and Perth. The name of the competition is often baffling to some, as "Forfarshire" is an archaic and anglicised name for Angus which became official in the late 19th century around the time of Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 which restructured and renamed many of Scotland's counties, however the name quickly fell into disuse and was very rarely used in everyday conversation and non existent today.
Henry Waugh Renny-Tailyour was a British amateur all-round sportsman who appeared for Scotland in some of the earliest international football and rugby union matches, remaining to this day the only player to have represented the country in both codes. He also played first class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and was an accomplished athlete.
Meigle is a village in Strathmore, Scotland. It lies in the council area of Perth and Kinross in the Coupar Angus and Meigle ward. It lies on the A94 road between Perth and Forfar. Other smaller settlements nearby are Balkeerie, Kirkinch and Kinloch. Meigle is accessed from the north and south via the B954 road. In 1971 it had a population of 357.
The Grange Club is a cricket and sports club in the Stockbridge district of Edinburgh, Scotland. The cricket ground, commonly known as The Grange, is the regular home of the Scotland national cricket team, and is situated adjacent to the Edinburgh Academy sports ground, which is in Raeburn Place.
Gordon David Drummond is a former Scottish international cricketer who made his One Day International (ODI) debut at the 2007 World Cup. A right-handed all-rounder from rural Perthshire, he took over the captaincy of the national side from Gavin Hamilton in 2010, and continued in the role until resigning in May 2013, retiring from international cricket completely later in the season. His younger sister, Annette Drummond, represents the Scottish national women's team, and the pair began their careers together at Meigle Cricket Club.
Dundee Our Boys Football Club were a football club from Dundee, Scotland. Founded in 1877, the club merged with Dundee East End in 1893 to form Dundee, with the new side elected to the Scottish Football League.
Heriot's Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Aberdeenshire CC is the largest cricket club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Their ground, Mannofield Park, is located in the Mannofield area of Aberdeen, and was granted One Day International (ODI) status for the first time in 2008. The club has around 800 social and playing members and the current president is Stuart Grant.
The Strathmore & Perthshire Cricket Union is a regional cricket league in Scotland. Since 1998, it is the feeder league for the North and Midlands of the country into the Scottish National Cricket League until 2011, when the SNCL, after little over a decade of existence, became called the CSL. Its one of four regional feeder leagues. The Strathmore Union was formed in 1928 and the Perthshire League was formed in 1963. The two merged in 2004.
The Strathmore Union was the main cricket league for clubs in the north and midlands of Scotland outside of the Scottish Counties Cricket Championship until the late 1990s. It was one of four feeder leagues to the Scottish National Cricket League which changed to the Cricket Scotland League in 2012 and saw the Border League teams enter the East of Scotland League and the Border League becoming a 2nd XI Sunday League. The Union allowed the Perthshire League to join it in 2004, the Union's 75th anniversary. The Aberdeenshire Grades and the North of Scotland Cricket Association also run leagues in the Scotland north of Tayside. In the late 1990s the Union had a representative team in the Regional League Championship, which pitted the best players in each league against each other. The SPCU has fielded a representative XI since the two leagues came together. Notably a select of the leagues best players played Arbroath United as part of their 125th anniversary year. Arbroath United were a founder member of the Union in 1929.
Annette J. Drummond is a Scottish international cricketer who debuted for the Scottish national side in 2002. A right-handed batsman, she has appeared in five of the eight One Day International (ODI) matches that Scotland has played to date.
John Ralph Laing is a Scottish former first-class cricketer and administrator.
Alan Fraser was a Scottish first-class cricketer.
James Gordon Brodie Laing is a Scottish former first-class cricketer.
Vale of Atholl Football Club is a football club from Pitlochry in Scotland.
Angus Football Club was an association football club from Forfar in Scotland. Although it was entirely unsuccessful as a club, it was instrumental in the formation of Forfar Athletic.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
