The First Scottish Cricket Union 1879-1883

Martin Chandler | 8:57am GMT 08 December 2024

Published: 2024
Pages: 24
Author: Leitch, Neil
Publisher: Private
Rating: 3 stars

Despite not being very good at it myself, over the years I have learnt that a willingness to embrace change is a good thing, and this one certainly marks a different direction for Richard Miller’s Scottish Cricket Memories series.

For the benefit of those who haven’t read my previous reviews of titles in the series for the last few years Richard has been republishing writings on Scottish cricket from ancient times which, otherwise, would be all but impossible to obtain, most of them having appeared previously only in the form of newspapers or magazines. To date we have had 20 titles.

In each case Richard has penned a short introduction and added images from his own collection but, otherwise, has reproduced the narrative in exactly the form it first appeared.

For Volume 21 Richard has stayed in the same era, Victorian times, but this time he has published some new research, put together by Neil Leitch, like Richard a man with a great interest in Scottish cricket history and its preservation.

As the dates in the title show a governing body for Scottish cricket did not come into being until 1879, and having done so it had a difficult existence and, after just four years, was dissolved not to be reformed until 1908, at which point what has now become Cricket Scotland was formed.

What is clear is that the first union was a serious attempt to set up a governing body. From the contemporary records reproduced in the booklet’s appendix all of the major clubs from across Scotland appear to have come together, thus the project had the sort of broad support that would have been necessary.

So what was the hill that the first union died on? I am afraid it does involve the English, albeit some stronger and more realistic management at the Scottish end would have helped. The problem was the attempt, after staging a financially successful fixture against the Australians in 1880, to arrange a game against an English side in 1881.

Sadly attempts to make arrangements with a team of amateurs, and then one of professionals were not successful in actually getting an England XI to the venue at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. That said agreements had been entered into on the strength of a fixture taking place and, to add to the embarrassment of having made promises they could not keep subsequent litigation left the union substantially out of pocket. It was the beginning of the end for the Scottish Cricket Union and, well over a century later, makes for an interesting story.

As with all of this series there are only 25 copies of this one, available from Richard directly via rwsmiller@btinternet.com or from Roger Page