It is reputed that cricket was first played in Arbroath in 1825, on the Low Common opposite Seaforth, and it was considered to be one of the first towns in Scotland to play the summer game. Around 1840 the honour of forming the first cricket club in Arbroath, according to an old cricketer – ex-Bailie Chapel, was due to a Dr. Binnie, an able exponent of the game. The bowling was all underhand in those days, and it has been said that the powerful doctor, who was a man of good physique could swipe the daisy-cutters from the pitch o Tutties Neuk. The club was called Arbroath Cricket Club. Several other teams came into existence and they amalgamated in 1846 under the name of Arbroath United Cricket Club. In the 1860’s the committee of the day decided that to improve the conditions, for play, with the permission of the Town Council, they levelled and turfed, at great expense, a pitch near the centre of the West Common, adjacent to the Arbroath/Dundee Road. but after a few years, the summer game seemed to be on the wane, and as the club had no private ground, it was impossible to get first class clubs to come and play matches at Arbroath. It was decided that if the game of cricket was to flourish in this district, it could only be by the club acquiring a private ground. This materialised at the end of the 1886 season. The club was fortunate in getting the lease of over six acres on the Lochlands estate owned by Mr W.F. Macdonald a former player and ardent supporter of the summer game. The persons responsible for the negotiations with the backing of the committee were Mr Robert Gleig, Mr A.D. Lowson and Mr F.F. Macdonald. There was a good deal of levelling and excavating work required and some difficulty was experienced in getting turf, which was eventually procured at considerable cost. A large pavilion was erected on the east side, and the whole ground was laid out in such a manner as to make it one of the finest cricket grounds in Scotland. The official opening took place on Saturday 14th May 1887, when a match was played between the United and Perthshire Cricket Club, who claim to be the oldest club in Scotland. The game ended in a draw, Perthshire 112, Arbroath United 103 for 8.
The game flourished and United became one of the six founders of the Strathmore Union in 1929 and were to win the First Division championship in 1934, 35, and 36 and the Three Counties Cup in 1937, while the second eleven won the Second division championship in 1935. 7th May, 1937 saw United play Perthshire to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Lochlands.
When cricket resumed in 1946 United found themselves with a shortage of players however the second eleven won the Strathmore Union second division in 1947. The committee of the time looked to attract younger members and schoolboys and fortunes improved in the 1950’s through the coaching of George Ingleby (1950/54) and Doug Greasley (1957/66), the first eleven being first division champions in 1959 and runners-up in 1958 and 1964 while the second eleven won the Two Counties Cup in 1963.
In 1973 with the coaching of Diraj Parsana the first and second eleven won their respective championships. The 70’s were to prove pivotal for the Club as Youth cricket was developed with local school teacher Chris H Plomer taking the lead while in 1977 Clarence L Parfitt from Bermuda became the professional and although his initial stay was only for two years his bowling abilities gave the other players the opportunity to express themselves and his coaching saw improved performances. In 1978 they tied the first division championship with DHSFP’s and the following season with Nickie Mehta as profession they won the championship outright. Chris Plomer continued to develop his youth programme which saw coaching taking place in the local schools and by 1981 United were playing friendlies at under 12, 13 and 15 level which subsequently led to the setting up of the Tayside junior league in 1984.
The second eleven were joint champions in 1982 while in 1984 Parfitt returned for a period of five years. Again both his playing and coaching abilities brought success to the Club as they were able to bring the younger players through into the senior teams as they won the First division championship in four of the five years, being runners-up in 1987, and also winning the Three Counties Cup in 1985 and 1986 while the second eleven also won the Two Counties Cup in 1986.
On 17th April, 87 the cricket club celebrated the 100th anniversary of the opening of Lochlands cricket ground with a dinner at a local hotel, which overlooked the original playing area at Tutties Neuk, Ingleby, Greasley and Parfitt being amongst the honoured guests.
The demise of Dumbartonshire saw United have the opportunity to move up to the Scottish Counties League in 1989, playing under the name of Arbroath County. Parfitt moved to Stenhousemuir in the East league and Omar Henry came in as professional which saw United successfully win the league in their first season. More importantly the committee decided with the number of youngsters available they would retain two teams in the Strathmore Union, thereby allowing more players to have regular games.
The third eleven won both the Strathmore Union second division championship and Two counties cup in 1992 while the senior side had Bim Jadeja as professional for seasons 1992 and 1993. Parfitt returned for the second half of 92 and also played in 93 as an amateur to provide experience to the young senior side. A week-end in August 93 saw United win the county championship on the Saturday and lose narrowly by 8 runs to Grange from the East League in the Scottish Cup final at Hamilton Crescent on the Sunday. (Grange 222 for 4 Arbroath County 214 for 7) Two years later again playing as Arbroath County (coach Mohammed Zahid) they won the inaugural SCU trophy when they defeated Fifeshire by 18 runs in the final at Boghall. (Arbroath County 255 for 6 Fifeshire 237 for 9)
Cricket leagues now started to be re-organised and 1996 saw the Scottish Counties and the top teams in the East league amalgamate to form the Scottish Cricket league with the senior side reverting back to Arbroath United and placed in the top division. This set up lasted for two seasons before these clubs were joined by the top teams from the Western Union to form the Scottish National Cricket League. For season 1998 the 31 teams were placed in three conferences to determine league placings for the following season, United finished eighth in Conference C winning a place in the middle of three divisions. The Strathmore Union with the admission of additional teams also re-organised into three divisions for season 1999, which saw United drop out of the top flight for the first time however both the second and third teams won their respective leagues in 1999.
The senior side was relegated from the SNCL first division in season 2000 but with Peter Wooden (2002/03) as coach they successfully won the second division in 2002 and combined this with winning the Scottish Counties Cup at Lochside when they defeated Forfarshire. Despite being involved in a relegation play-off in 2007 they remained in the first division and in 2010 (coach Craig Williams) won the championship to see them promoted to the top flight for 2011. 2012 saw Harsha Vithana arrive as the professional with Harry Brynes-Howe as the overseas amateur with Fraser Burnett as the captain and playing attractive cricket they gained the runners-up place in the National league to Carlton and reached the semi-final of the Scottish Cup where they lost to Dunfermline. United however had the honour of staging the Scottish Cup final which saw Uddingston defeat Dunfermline. Cricket Scotland reconstructed the leagues for 2012 and United found themselves in the Eastern premier division. The big winner in 2012 was the weather which saw many games postponed. Harsha Vithana returned as professional and under the captaincy of Fraser Burnett they had a difficult first half of the season losing all four games played, however the second half of the season saw confidence regained and they won four of six matches to finish fifth, while reaching the semi-final of the Murgitroyd Trophy a 20 over competition and runners-up to Grange in the Cricket Scotland Trophy. All-rounder Ben McGill in 2012 became only the third player to reach 300 wickets in National league cricket since that format started in 1998, while opening batsman Ross Mclean played in the Under 19 world cup in Australia.
Within the Strathmore Union the Three Counties Cup was won in 2002. The Strathmore Union was further enlarged in 2004 when it amalgamated with the Perthshire league to form four divisions and United third team won the third of these divisions in 2005, while in the same season the second team won the Three Counties Cup. The third team were relegated in 2007 however won the Two Counties Cup in 2009. 2011 saw the third team under the captaincy of Gavin Swan win the Second division championship in a last game decider with Dalnacraig and were also runners-up in the M Power Trophy. 2012 saw the second team under the captaincy of Mark Edwards gain the runners-up spot in the Clubsport Strathmore & Perthshire premier division.
Improvements to the ground and pavilion continued and 2012 saw a new scorebox put in place.
The senior side has reached the aim of the early pioneers of now playing the top teams in Scotland at Lochlands while maintaining the Club aim of providing facilities whereby any youngster in the area can have the opportunity of playing cricket and through their ability and coaching reach their optimum playing level.