Category: History

Rewind 1892: The Bokhara Year

In this article, we look back 122 years to the infamous SS Bokhara year of 1892 and the Interport match against Hong Kong in Shanghai. After a pause of 22 years following the win by Shanghai in 1867, the Interport matches between Hong Kong and Shanghai were played regularly during the early 1890s. Hong Kong had been victorious by an innings and 123 runs early in 1892 in Hong Kong, on the back of an excellent 107 by their captain, J. Dunn, and destructive bowling spells of 6/56, from Dr. J.A. Lowson, and 8/60, by E.J.D. Coxon. However, Shanghai managed to regroup to win the return match in October by 157 runs, and the Hong Kong captain, J. Dunn, conceded that "they were outplayed in batting, bowling and fielding." The umpire accompanying the team up to Shanghai, Major Turner, had been instrumental in arranging the first Interport match back in 1866.

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Shanghai Cricket Club’s Greatest Batsman

Greatest Batsman
Edward I.M. Barrett

Considered “one of the finest and hardest hitters of his day,” Edward Ivo Medhurst Barrett captained the Shanghai cricket team in the early part of the 20th century, becoming the club’s top scorer with 857 runs from 14 matches.

Barrett was a right-handed batsman known for a “sound defence with well-timed ground strokes all round the wicket.” He played his first match for Shanghai on October 22nd and 23rd, 1908, where he scored 29 runs over two innings (27, 2*) in a match between the SCC and the Hong Kong Cricket Club.

His highest individual score came in Shanghai in 1921 against the Hong Kong Cricket Club where he scored 165 runs in one innings as Shanghai beat Hong Kong by an innings and 160 runs. Continue reading “Shanghai Cricket Club’s Greatest Batsman”

The Shanghai Cricket Club Blazer

A cricket club’s blazer is an important item of clothing – its colours and pattern instantly identify the wearer as a part of an exclusive membership. It is as much a part of cricket as the bat and balls, the wickets and whites.

With the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Shanghai Cricket Club entered a long phase of dormancy. With almost all foreigners leaving Shanghai in 1948, the cricket club effectively closed. It was not until the late 1990s that cricket was once again played in Shanghai. Continue reading “The Shanghai Cricket Club Blazer”