• Bashers Club Representative: Tony Finocchiaro (elected by Bashers members).
• Devils Club Representative: Deepak Nautiyal (elected by Devils members).
• Hot Dogs Club Representative: Mandar Sathe (elected by Hot Dogs members).
• Pudong Club Representative: Ram Deshpande (interim, pending election of new Pudong representative).
• SCC Treasurer: Dave Rosenthal (elected by SCC members at AGM).
• SCC Secretary: Bernie Hughes (elected by SCC members at AGM).
• SCC Development Officer: John L’Epagniol (new position, elected by SCC members at AGM).
• SCC President: Oliver Austin (elected by the seven Excom members listed above at the 10th Dec SCC Excom meeting).

This SCC Executive Committee contains a blend of new faces and continuing Excom members – allowing both a level of continuity, plus fresh contributors and ideas.

After the successful 2011 season, the new committee has already met to start early preparations for the 2012 season. We look forward to sharing more details on this early in the new year.

Regards,

Bernie Hughes
Secretary, SCC

Attention all Bashers playing members:

++++TIME CHANGE++++

With the 2011 season coming to a close, it is time for the SCC’s Annual General Meeting to be able to present to the players the progress that has been made over the season, and our plans for the club moving forward. Click on the photo to download the flyer.

Please ensure that next week Saturday is marked on your calendars.

Date : 26th Novmeber 2011

Place:
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Le Royal Meridien
789 Nanjing Road East
Peoples Square
Parlour V Theatre

Start Time :
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4pm – 5pm AGM
A formal AGM set to last one hour

5pm – 7pm Drinks and snacks
A more informal End-of-Season Party where we will be presenting awards and able to relax and enjoy an opportunity for all Clubs to be together under one roof.

Cost:
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RMB 220 per head for 3 hours to include beer, wine, soft drinks and the menu of warm and cold canapés.

Every Basher is expected to be there as we are all members of the SCC and it’s always good to know what is happening or going to happen with cricket on Shanghai.

Let’s represent in full force.

Cheers
Cranky

One of my colleagues whose family has some stuff in the attic from the SCC in the 20′s and 30′s gave me a copy of this debenture issued in 1934. $1000 (there were 50 of them)  paying 6% a year and redeemable in 1964. Obviously they never got their money back. Below also this photo of the Taikoo and Wayfoong teams from 1923.  Comparing photos across the years some of the money raised in 1934 clearly went towards extending the clubhouse and particularly the bar presumably at the behest of the Gentlemen. The guy in the middle in the suit is the head of HSBC who built their buiding on the Bund.

Below are the names of the nominated members for 2012′s committee.
Cut off date for nominees has been reached, which is today 1st November.
As there are no players running against each other, all that will be needed is the confirmation from the club members on the night of our annual dinner.

2012 Committee Nominees
President:
Tony “Bada Bing” Finnochiaro
Secretary:
Rakesh “Rock” Kumar (restanding)
Treasurer:
Andy “Tank” Scott
Club Captain:
Tom “Latex” Ash
Social Director:
Kaylan “Sinbad” D’Silva, with assistance from Gary “Pothole”Dubberley
Division 1 Skipper:
Phil “Filthy” Mildenhall
Division 2 Skipper:
Sean ‘Korean’ Malcon
Division 3 Skipper:
Jack “Dags” Sheppard

This is a strong line up and I am very confident that with these brave few who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the betterment of our club will overcome all to keep our club great.

Regards
Prez “Cranky”

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 A Chinese Match

We have somewhat anticipated events by running into 1901, for in ’99 the School played one of their surprising tricks on the S.C.C. disposing of the best eleven the Seniors could collect for 29. The same year saw what  probably was the first all Chinese cricket match in all history, the S.C.C. Coolies taking on “The Rest of China”, who proved too good for them – 74 to 43. Chinese boys had played cricket before under the auspices of the N.P.C. at Ningpo but they had foreigners playing for and against them.

A number of more modern names had come into prominence during those years for while the Moules remained, there were Smally, Sawyer, McClure, Dew, K.J. McEuen followed afterwards by a  brother  D.R equally good, the Veitches, H.D. Ollerdesson, Potter, Stanion, Turnbull and the others too numerous to mention the mere record of whose names will recall to the Shanghai cricketer the reminiscences of mighty hitting , excellent bowling, sensational catches and everything else that goes to make cricket the King of Games

No More Snipe

It was in 1894 that the Trustees of the Recreation Fund – to whom the whole of the interior of the course belongs – handed over its care to a Committee appointed by the Council. Till that date the lines of old bits Chinese furrows were easily traceable and in bits of swampy ground here and there snipe found vermiferous temptations which they simply could not resist though twelve bores persecuted them incessantly. With the advent – and the money – of the new Committee, improvements were soon made and cricket clubs began to multiply till it is now no uncommon thing to see four or five matches at one time on a Saturday afternoon. A Cricket League has thus become possible, not for the best players but those who are classed under the generic title of Second Eleven men. The result has been a most stimulating contest between the S.C.C, the S.R.C, The Police and the B.A.Ts etc., and in this way the number of men playing is altogether out of proportion to the few of earlier times.     

The Good Old Way  

The cricket of recent years needs little or no reference. It is well within the recollection of all that take an interest in the game. All that need be said is that the men of today are manfully upholding the good old traditions, and though occasionally grey beards wag in the Pavilion and recall some of the deeds we have so inadequately recorded, at the same time expressing fears of modern decadence, they brighten up again when they see a youngster take 8 Hong Kong wickets for 10 runs, or Barrett knock up his century against the same rivals. Jackson, one of the best bowlers we have ever seen here, smiles occasionally as some new man imitates one of his earlier performances, the old fielder sees just as many brilliant catches – and as often as ever, perhaps mutters, “Butterfingers!” all of which means the good old game is going on in the good old way, still the pleasure of pleasures to be initiated and the dullest of spectacles to the unfortunate world without.                       

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A G Harrison and Others

It was Carruthers who proved so deadly as a bowler to the visiting Hong Kong team on this occasion (note: the Bokhara year), taking in the innings no fewer than 13 wickets for 70 runs.  With his name we may add a few others who in the late eighties and early nineties were well known figures in the green award- P Anderson, A Stewart, P McGregor,  Grant, Tottie, Leach, Bruce Roberston,  Wickham, J Mann, H H Reed,  S.M. Wallace, H. T Wade,
Sr William Johnston, J T Scott,  Sawyer, Abbot, R McGregor etc. Many might follow were space of no importance for though Shanghai cricket has never been up to first-rate county from it has on many occasions risen to that of the very best private clubs.

Public School Triumphs

Unquestionably the most interesting event of the cricket world in the nineties was the advent of the Shanghai Public School boys. It was in 1894 that their Headmaster got permission for them to use a pitch on the Race Course, on a spot where as a rule, naval matches are now played. The ground was of the roughest. Ponies scampered at will across it and a hit of fifty yards usually resulted in the cry of “lost ball”. The School’s first public essay was against the SCC, 16 boys to the 11 of the Club, and the result was promising, for the youngsters won by 111 to 51!  There were bowlers at the School in those
days, Stewart and Goodfellow being particular good. Playing an “eleven” of the SCC on even terms the next year the boys again won easily. In 1896, on a sticky wicket, they compiled a score of 91 with such bowlers as Mann against them and then dismissed “the” SCC eleven including six Interport batsmen for 14 runs made in 14 overs!  G.F Lanning 7 wickets for 9 runs and N.E. Moller 2 for 0 were the bowlers. The SCC followed on and in the second innings made 59 runs, the boys winning by an innings and 19 runs.  In ’98 they repeated the performance, an equally strong team being sent back for 33 by the same two bowlers, G.F. Lanning 6 wickets for 8 and N.E Moller 3 for 24.  

Needless to say there were other occasions when the feats were not so propitious. The youths that gave the early promise of cricket skills were those already mentioned, A.E Stewart, H.S. Goodfellow, N.E. Moller, the four Lannings and others. Some have turned to other lines of sport and but all have held their own with bat, ball, racquet or gun.   

The First Team to Japan

It was in’95 that our first team went to Japan, where at Yokohama, A.E. Lanning was the top scorer, the result owing to rain being a draw. On the way back stopping at Kobe, our men got a hammering making 65 and 89 against Kobe’s 207.

It was thus that Kobe avenged her own innings defeat in’94, when, thanks to a contribution of 111 by Mr Farbridge, she lost by the tune of 309 to 100 and 60. Such see-saw play is common in Interport Cricket. The most successful team ever sent from Shanghai was in 1901, to Hong Kong. It swept the board – cricket, tennis, swimming, everything. The cricket was triangular – Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore all playing. The end of the Shanghai Singapore match was by far the most sensational ever known in Interport series. Shanghai’s last pair, Weippert and V H Lanning were in. Neither had made a run and yet one run was needed to win. Not a few spectators had actually to leave the ground, unable to stand the strain of the excitement! Eventually after the wiles and fire of the Singapore attack had failed the match was won by a leg bye.  

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Hot Weather Recess

In 1888 Mr W.H. Moule – who may all the Cricketing Deities long preserve – made his debut. With him was found a most worthy partner, Orman, who with Old Moule (A.J.H) complied one of our local records, 305 for 2: Orman making 117 and Moule 102. That same year saw the first match with the Recreation Club, and the season’s record includes a score of 139 by Mr D W Crawford. Only once is it that the heat stopped a game actually begun: that was in ’89. But after a May-June season, it was custom for some years not to play any more matches till September.

It was in ’89, too, that Hong Kong came up once more to renew the old Interport games. There had been none for 23 years, yet at the dinner there were three men who had played in the first match, Hearn, Starkey and Price. The second of these made 99 for Hong Kong in ’66. The weather was wet for the renewal, but Shanghai won. Orman was in form that year and had two or three centuries to his credit. Crawford too, on one occasion, complied 115 not out, and “R Crusoe” likewise won centurion honours. One bowling feat should certainly be recorded here, although the incident occurred in Interport cricket in Hong Kong, when Mr C Barff captured 7 Singapore wickets for 5 runs. That is an even better average of V.H Lanning’s 8 for 10 of later date, against Hong Kong on our own ground.

                The Bokhara Year

When we come to the nineties it would seem almost as though we were talking of yesterday, for amongst the early great performances of those days we find an innings of 101 played by Mr T Wallace, and discover that in the same year the Recs beat the Senior Club. St Croix comes into notice with a century and was even better appreciated for his bowling. In ’92 Hong Kong beat us badly, 439 to 163 and 139 but we won on the return match in the autumn of the same year, when Capt Dunn, notwithstanding the supposed excellence of the team he had brought, said they were outplayed in batting, bowling and fielding. That was the terrible “Bokhara” year. Major Turner who came up as Umpire with the visiting team had been instrumental in getting the up the first match in 1866. The Hong Kong team was of course given the usual enthusiastic “send-off” and the report in our columns closed thus. The vessel “dipped her flag again and again , Dr Lowson tooted his horn, and the Shanghai Cricket Week was over”. When the Bokhara catastrophe occured on her way to Hong Kong, but two of the team were saved, Dr Lowson and Lt Markham. The vessel was a total loss, only 23 lives were saved. Our Cathedral contains a stained glass window of the many good lives that were lost.                           

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It would not be precisely exact if we were to say that this year marks the Jubilee of Shanghai Cricket, for the first match played here found a pitch somewhere in Hongkew in 1858, when HMS Highflyer – forerunner of her namesake which played another sort of “ball game” recently – was mercilessly beaten by the landsmen.

But it is correct to say that as far as the play on the present SCC ground is concerned, 1914 is the Jubilee Year, for the first recorded match there was fought out in 1864 between Shanghai and its Brokers, while the second had the Garrison v the Community as sides being the days of the Taiping. Underhand and round arm bowling were then in fashion, the first International game producing 22 of them.

In ’66 occurred the first Interport game, and Hong Kong beat us to the tune of an innings and runs only to have the tables turned on them in like fashion in Shanghai the following year. The first England – Scotland match in ’68 was won by the Scots. A few of the names of the players before the seventies will be well remembered by some present residents. Manson, “Jock” of that ilk, in ’69 took all ten wickets in one match; Margary, whose memorial now graces our Public Garden, was a good bat and R.H. Percival of Reiss’s once captured four wickets in one over.

                The First Century

It was necessary at times to widen the field of selection in order to avoid monotony, and thus it came to pass that Ireland beat America on one occasion; that a good team using broomsticks “took on” another with bats, and won. But it is evident that the pitch is not what it is now, or else “shooters” born of underhand and round arm were too deadly, for it was not until 1879 that the first century was recorded. That was a not out innings by a Mr R.C. Hodder. In the early eighties Mr Lester gave a bat to every batsman who scored a fifty or over, and in ’83 a dozen of them had already been won. About that time “names familiar in our mouths as household words” began to appear. Arthur Anderson makes a century, W Dunman makes another and in the celebrated ’86 England – Scotland match won by Scotland,  Bell-Irving piled up 110 and A Ross his playing partner, 93. Arthur Moule appears in ’87. He was the first man in our record to hit a ball out of the ground over the old Pavilion, W.J Tyack was the other, but that was later and to our knowledge the feat has never been repeated.

The two teams in the photo are my company Swire (Taikoo) and HSBC (Wayfoong). For just over 60 years they played an annual fixture in Shanghai until 1949 which to this day probably still makes it one of the longest running local cricket fixtures.  Also the first annual rugby match between these two “Hongs”  was played in 1912. So guess what….. as next year is 2012 it is time to mark the centenary of their first rugby game with both a rugby and cricket match between the latest generation of Taikoo and Wayfoong including what will need to be a few ringers (any Marco Polo Club members out there?).

I have also been given a lengthy press article from 1914 which gives a detailed history of the first 50 years of Shanghai cricket. When I get the time I’ll transcribe it and post it. I could not help noticing that a certain Major Turner was also a prominent figure in the early years of cricket in Shanghai, another Turner between the Wars and a Turner after the 2nd World War so clearly there has been a Shrek  or two before Basher #1

.

It seems that the first all Chinese cricket match took place in 1901 between the Rest of China and the politically incorrectly named SCC “Coolies” ……although unforunately the article does not provide clarity as to whether the SCC Coolies were the forerunners of the Hot Dogs.  One suspects they might have been.

The Dragons represent the best cricketers in the SCC and are selected based on ability and as such the Dragons are the top team we can put out on the field.

The Pirates are selected to represent as many of the different clubs as possible with the intention of including players that have contributed to the SCC with their time, efforts and enthusiasm and whom may otherwise not get a chance to play for the SCC rep teams.

As mentioned earlier, it would be great if we could get as many supporters down to the SRFC to support your SCC teammates. They are representing everyone single one of us that plays cricket across the the seven clubs and three leagues. Buses depart from the Camel around 10:30 am on Saturday and 9:30 am on Sunday.