The Shanghai cricket team was a

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 str ...

team that played various international matches between 1866 and 1948. The team was organised by the Shanghai Cricket Club. With cricket in the rest of China almost non-existent, for that period they were the

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

Chinese national side.Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy Morgan, SportsBooks publishing, 2007

History

The first recorded match in Shanghai took place in April 1858. The Shanghai team travelled to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

in 1866 to play against the

Hong Kong cricket team The Hong Kong national cricket team is the team that represents independent Hong Kong in international competition. It played its first match in 1866 and has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1969.

, the first in a series of

Interport matches Interport matches refer to a series of cricket matches which took place in Asia from 1866 to 1987, between Ceylon, the Federated Malay States, Hong Kong, Malaya, Malaysia, Shanghai, Singapore and the Straits Settlements. In February 2020, ...

that lasted until 1948. In 1893, occasional matches against Kobe,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

and

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...

began. Home matches were played on the grounds encircled by the racecourse of the Shanghai Race Club (today

People's Square People's Square is a large public square in the Huangpu District, Shanghai, Huangpu District of Shanghai. It is south of Nanjing Road (West) and north of Huaihai Road (East). People's Square is the site of Shanghai's municipal government head ...

and People's Park). In addition to the matches mentioned in the previous paragraph, regular matches were also played against the Straits Settlements and Malaya. Following the last match against Hong Kong in 1948, political unrest meant that the cricket playing community dwindled, and cricket disappeared for around thirty years. Recently China has become a member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

and the government is investing in the sport. Today, the reformed Shanghai Cricket Club hosts the Shanghai International Cricket Sixes, a Sixes tournament involving teams from around the world.

Players

The following players played for Shanghai and also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

: *

Howard Parkes Howard Roderick Parkes (31 May 1877 – 28 May 1920) was an English cricketer and athlete. A right-handed batsman, he played first-class cricket for London County and Warwickshire. Career Howard Parkes' first recorded senior match was for th ...

- played for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

in 1898 and for London County in 1900. * Edward Barrett - played for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

between 1896 and 1925 * John Mayhew - played for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

between 1929 and 1931 * Robert Melsome - played for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

between 1925 and 1934 * Livingstone Walker - played for London County and Surrey between 1900 and 1904 *

Leslie Crockwell Leslie Horace William Crockwell (1887 – 29 April 1961) was an English cricketer. He was born in Newton Abbot, Devon to auctioneer George and Louisa Crockwell. Crockwell first played for Devon in the 1908 Minor Counties Championship against ...

- played for the Europeans in India in 1920Leslie Crockwell
at CricketArchive

References

{{reflist Cricket teams in China Sports teams in Shanghai

History

Players

See also

References