THERE is a timeless quality in this picture of opening batsmen going out to represent Scotland. You feel that they could have been pictured at any time in the last 100 years, but it is in fact 1960.
The two gentlemen who are setting off to the wicket are JM Allan and RHE Chisholm as they were described in The Herald’s match report – first names were not common in cricket reports back then.
You might struggle in naming the ground, although my local contact tells me that the frontage of the clubhouse in the background has not changed in all those years.
It is in fact Paisley – what do you mean you didn’t think cricket bats in Paisley were actually used to play cricket? It is Whitehaugh Oval, home of Kelburne Cricket Club, and it is the start of a three-day match between Scotland and Ireland – the last time an international was staged at Whitehaugh.
The game ended in a draw, and was a bit of a slog for Scotland. James Moffat Allan on the left, an Edinburgh stockbroker, only made 17 runs over his two innings, but he was more of an all-rounder, played for Scotland for years, and is one of the country’s best-ever wicket takers. His fellow opener Ronald Harry Eddie Chisholm, fared better with 84 runs, and he too played for Scotland for years, scoring well over 2,000 runs.
Honestly, sitting in the sun at a cricket match is still one of the most relaxing things you can do.
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