Pride hurts as Perthshire ache for those glory years. Crisis of confidence grows as first league win proves elusive

round the wide open spaces.

And when it was their turn to stand at the crease, ball hitting the

timbers rather than the willow was a more common sound -- to the

uninitiated in cricket, that means instead of the ball hitting the bat

it hit the wickets, making the regulation, upright stumps look like

three venerable club members who had enjoyed themselves too much in the

bar.

Those were the days. Unfortunately, as seems to happen in most team

sports, there are the highs and the lows. Perthshire no longer are pert;

they are in a trough as deep as the nearby River Tay. In short, they are

struggling, especially this season when this still proud country cricket

club have yet to register their first win in the league.

Since the records began in 1902, the name of Perthshire crops up as

champions 29 times -- and when you consider a six-year gap for the Great

War and another similar gap for the Second World War, it is simple

mathematics to see how successful the men from the North Inch have been.

Aberdeenshire, always a strong side, are the closest with 19 titles,

followed by Forfarshire with 14.

So why does a team, who, for example, were champions 20 times in the

26 years from 1953 to the last time they won it in '78, suddenly hit

such a downturn in fortunes?

Jimmy Brown enjoyed 19 of those Perthshire titles. Quite a man is Mr

Brown, now 62, but steeped in Perthshire and Scotland cricket history.

For the record, he joined the club in 1949, did National Service, went

to Aberdeenshire in 1951, and then stood behind those timbers for

Perthshire from 1952 until '76.

And in hardly the time it takes you to draw breath, this gentleman --

whose son Trevor now keeps wicket for Perthshire -- mentioned that he

was capped 85 times for Scotland, and led the side between 1961 and '73.

A man whose opinion of Perthshire should be valued. Yet it is as

economical as his long spell behind the stumps. ''We were founded in

1826, and for a long time we were the premier club in Scotland. We had a

lot of good players in the 1950s and '60s, good senior players,

experienced batsmen and bowlers.

''Now we're in the doldrums, we cannot bowl sides out. It has led to a

lack of confidence.''

He praises the club's continuing youth policy. ''There's plenty of

youth cricket, and more being done in that area,'' he says, then hints

at the gap between experience and these bright young people still trying

to come through.

''But the young ones have to be the hope,'' he adds quickly. Scotland

once was the haven for many cricket professionals, mostly from England,

between the wars. ''These sort of blokes are not available now.''

The Perthshire president is Jimmy Muir, a 42-year-old who has been

playing the game since 1977, as a medium fast bowler. He is in his

second term at the head of the house, and has watched the decline in the

club's playing fortunes.

''We have got into the losing habit,'' was his simple reply to the

question about Perth's record this season. It seems that as soon as a

couple of wickets fall there is panic, and this was illustrated

perfectly last week at Boghall against West Lothian.

''There were 10 overs to go, we were chasing 243, and were sitting at

176 with plenty of wickets in hand,'' said Muir. Graham Ferguson scored

74, Australian professional Justin Potts had hit 66, and the target was

there to reach.

A row of six noughts, including one not out batsman, was the sorry

tale as West Lothian's Roger Ford scythed through the middle and lower

order to finish with six for 28. As the man said: ''The losing habit.''

Potts is one of the new breed of professionals coming over to Scotland

each year from Australia. He is only 22, from Brisbane, and fiercely

competitive, having played what he describes as ''first-grade cricket''

for three years. That's only one step below Sheffield Shield level, and

he plans to gain that place when he goes back home at the end of the

season.

Certainly, the young Mr Potts has not failed his side with the bat,

having hit around 700 runs, with a top score of 104, and he is

determined to get ''down to the nitty gritty of faults in my game, and

go back home a better cricketer.''

But he has found the situation at Perthshire more than a little

frustrating. Like all competitive young people, he does not like to

lose. Yet he admits freely that the North Inch side are not as bad as

their record suggests. And again those three words come out: ''Lack of

confidence.'' That is followed by: ''We can't bowl sides out.''

Step in Potts the diplomat. A pointed question about the commitment of

experienced top-team players to practise at the nets during the week

under instruction from the pro, allied to his tender years, was fended

off like a glance through the slips to third man.

''There are problems to be addressed. It is frustrating to see some

guys come down and not work harder on their game when we are losing.''

At the same time, he appreciated the fact that some of the members,

''excellent'' in their prime years, now are content to play for the

enjoyment of the game.

Messrs Brown, Muir and Potts -- in their own distinctive ways -- may

have hit the Perthshire problems on the head. Commitment to improve,

confidence to get back into the winning habit. And before the hackles

rise too much among the hundreds of amateur county players, the

commitment to turn out most Saturdays and Sundays during the season is

quite astonishing. But what is that well known phrase or saying?

Oh, yes. Practice makes perfect.