The Parsee Gymkhana (PG) seniors cricket team, playing against Charles Alcock Surrey XI in Guilford, UK, emerged victorious giving the members another reason to celebrate Khordad Sal on August 21, 2022. They were playing the fourth edition of the 1886 Trophy instituted six years ago as a tribute to the gutsy Parsi team that toured England in 1886 to get their first taste of international cricket.
After losing the toss, the PG team was put in to bat first on a chilly morning. Under skipper Maneck Daruwala they managed to score 135 for nine in 30 overs on August 21. At 111 for nine, Burzin Mehta and Mehernosh Chhor added a valuable partnership of 24 runs for the last wicket. Wicketkeeper Kayan Ranina of UK who, playing for PG for the first time was presented the PG cap by veteran Fredun Devitre. So impressed was erstwhile Indian wicket keeper Farokh Engineer who was seated in the stands that he remarked that Kayan had the potential to be a wicket keeper for England. Star bowlers, Vispy Mehta, Khushru Irani and Reshad Dotivala helped defeat Alcock’s XI by 11 runs.
Top: Parsee Gymkhana seniors cricket team with the 1886 Trophy;
above: Farokh Engineer (far l) receives memento from Fredun Devitre
Instituted in 2016 in memory of the first Parsi team that played against the English in 1886, the winners of a friendly match between the PG team and Charles Alcock Surrey XI lift the 1886 Trophy. It has since become a recurring event when sponsorships are forthcoming. Tata Sons, Shapoorji Pallonji, SI Capital and other well-wishers supported the 2022 tour when they played five matches between August 11 and 25 in England. Fourteen Parsi cricketers went from Bombay, the eldest being 70-year-old Devitre, followed by Vispy and Chhor, both 69 years old.
Besides Engineer, cheering the PG team on August 21 were Zerbanoo Gifford, founder of Asha Centre and her husband Richard Gifford, Dastur (Dr) Jamasp JamaspAsa, high priest of the Anjuman Atash Behram and chairman of a cricket club in Kent, along with his sister Dr Shirin. JamaspAsa reportedly regularly plays cricket on weekends as a top order batsman.
In the evening, the PG team was invited by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) to their Khordad Sal function when Dorab Mistry, past president of ZTFE and director of Godrej International Ltd conducted a chat session with Engineer. Later, mementoes were presented to Engineer, the ZTFE leaders and to the logistics and hospitality partners for the PG team, Zarir Shroff and Jesmin Sorab of Red Tours. The memento, a glass piece mounted on a wooden frame, bore the image of the 1886 Parsi team with Alcock, then secretary of the Surrey County Cricket Club, who was a mentor for the team and assisted them with finance and logistics. Unfortunately, several of the mementoes carried from Bombay broke on the flight! On behalf of the PG president Mehli Golvala and the managing committee, vice president Khodadad Yazdegardi conferred honorary life membership of PG to Sir Rohinton Kalifa and Lord Karan Bilimoria. The following day, team PG visited the UK Parliament and were given a tour of the Westminster Hall, the House of Lords and House of Commons Chambers and the Royal Gallery.
Earlier in August, the PG team had played against The Forty Club, East Midlands at the Plumtree Cricket Club, the Stroud Cricket Club in Gloucestershire, Chiddingfold Cricket Club in Surrey. While they lost these three keenly contested matches, they won against the Chiswick Cricket Club in West London.