Gerald Aste (30 July 1900 – 17 September 1961) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er based in India for many years, whose first-class career spanned the 1921/22 to 1935/36 Indian seasons. He played for various teams but mainly the

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

. In that respect, he was unusual as he played for them in both the Madras Presidency Match and the Bombay Quadrangular.

Career

Born in Beckenham, Kent, Aste was educated at Felsted School near Great Dunmow, in Essex. He played for his school team several times in 1915 and 1916.Miscellaneous matches played by Gerald Aste
CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 November 2023. On 22 August 1917, he played at

Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

, in St John's Wood, for a Public Schools team against one representing the Grenadier Guards. This was a one-day single-innings match which the Guards won by 34 runs after scoring 245/4 declared and bowling out Schools for 211. Aste did not take any wickets and he scored 13 runs, batting no. 6 for the Schools. Aste was 18 soon after leaving school in July 1918. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force under service number 180867. This was only three months before the end of the First World War. Aste was demobilised in 1919 and became a bank clerk. By the end of 1921, Aste had relocated to India where he made his first-class debut in January 1922, playing for the

against the

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

in the annual Madras Presidency Match at

Chepauk Stadium M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, commonly known as the Chepauk Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1916, it is the second oldest cricket stadium in the country after Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Formerly known as Ma ...

.First-class matches played by Gerald Aste
CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 November 2023. He made five successive appearances in the match to January 1926, and was twice on the winning team. His best performances in the fixture were in 1925 and 1926. In the first of those matches, he took six wickets and two catches, helping the Europeans to win by 125 runs. In 1926, he opened the bowling and achieved his career-best figures of 5/90. He also took two catches as Indians were dismissed for 250 in answer to Europeans' score of 379. Europeans were bowled out for only 88 in their second innings but still won the match by 66 runs after Indians scored 151. Aste took 2/68 in the second innings while

Alexander Penfold Alexander George Penfold (14 May 1901 – 28 September 1982) was an English first-class cricketer active 1924–30 who played for Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater Lond ...

, who later played for

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, took 8/43.Europeans v Indians, Madras Presidency Match, January 1926
CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 November 2023. In September 1926, Aste played for the Europeans in the Bombay Quadrangular for the first time. He played in the final of that tournament in 1927. Aste moved to Malaya, where he played twice for the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

against the

Federated Malay States )Under God's Protection , capital = Kuala Lumpur1 , religion = Islam , legislature = Federal Legislative Council , type_house1 = State level , common_languages = , title_leader = Monarch , leader1 ...

in 1929 and 1931. He then returned to India and played for Sind against Marylebone Cricket Club in 1933. In 1936, he played for the Cricket Club of India against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and, in his final match, for Delhi in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

References

1900 births 1961 deaths British people in British Malaya British people in colonial India Cricketers from Beckenham Delhi cricketers English cricketers Europeans cricketers Sindh cricketers Straits Settlements cricketers {{India-cricket-bio-1900s-stub