The Bokhara Bell Trophy 2016

Not sure if there is an official lumberjack, but Cassius and Angel got a write up in the Gazette here, and below:

From Saltburn to Shanghai – how cricketing brothers played their part in historic match
Far East fixture for ex-Saltburn cricketers Kevin and Gary Wright, and they came up against a former Durham cricketer
By Dave Robson

It may be December but brothers from Teesside have teamed up for a cricket match – in Shanghai [actually the game was played at the HKCC in Hong Kong]. And playing for the opposition was a lad who once played for Middlesbrough.

Kevin and Gary Wright are originally from Saltburn and played for the town’s cricket club, as well as the Cleveland county and North Yorkshire South Durham League teams. Both now live in China and on Saturday, they played for Shanghai in the annual match with Hong Kong CC.

The teams compete for the Bokhara Cup, which is named after the SS Bokhara which sank in 1872, killing 125 people – including 11 members of the Hong Kong cricket team making their way home after a game against Shanghai.

It’s always a poignant but keenly contested fixture – and Kevin says he and Gary were honoured to play their part.

Not only that but playing for Hong Kong was former Durham cricketer Ryan Buckley, who previously played for Darlington RA and Middlesbrough cricket teams. And despite the Wright brothers’ best efforts, Hong Kong won by one wicket – with Ryan, on 10 not out, hitting the winning runs and taking two wickets, including having Kevin caught and bowled for 12.

Earlier, Gary scored 60 off 76 balls before being bowled by Isaac Poole.

Kevin first moved to China to work at a university in Harbin teaching English before switching to Shanghai to teach history to Y7 and 8 students at an international school. Gary has worked at the same school for the past year and a half teaching English and geography to Y6 students.

Kevin said of the cricket game: “It was a great honour to captain Shanghai in this very historic cricket match, which was very competitive and played in a great spirit. We hope that when Hong Kong travel to Shanghai for the return fixture next season, we can get the victory we were very close to achieving.”

“Cricket is definitely expanding here in Asia. We just recently beat the Japanese national team in a three game 20:20 series in Japan, and we also play Beijing, Kowloon, and Hong Kong every year.

“To be able to live in a place like China and still play cricket is a great experience.”