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Club History

Sunday League - Title Winners

1975-76, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1999-2000

Saturday League - Title Winners

1977-78, 1992-93, 1994-95

1972-73 Col Metcalf, 1975-76 David Clinton, 1978-79 Tony Turner, 1981-82 Gordon Bacon, 1989-90 Salaudin Tariq, 1999-2000 Mohammed Zubair

LSWCC Players Represented HK

Jim Rhodes, Col Metcalf, David Clinton, 'Tug' Willson, Peter Smith, Tony Turner, Peter Anderson, Gordon Bacon, Alan Scott, Gopal Lalchandani, Ram Lalchandani, Rizwan Farouq, Elias Ismail, Roger Vergelius, Nanda Perrira, John Hawkesly, Salaudin Tariq, Riaz Farcy, Kamran Raza, Manoj Cheruparambil, Mohanna Marzook, Roy Lamsam, Tabarak Dar, Tarun Sawney, Maurice Ling, Mohammed Jamshaid, Mohammed Zubair

Officials

The Little Sai Wan Cricket Club (LSWCC) was established in 1964. The initial playing talent came from the British Ministry of Defence, who operated a 'China Listening Post' at a former RAF base, called 'Little Sai Wan', situated on the eastern seashore of Hong Kong Island. These players were supplemented by a few servicemen from the Royal Australian Air Force, who were seconded to the base, and by school teachers working at British Military Schools. A club insignia of a "Lion and Kangaroo" standing each side of a set of stumps' was chosen as an appropriate design or this new club. The cricket facilities were housed in a colonial style two storey verandahed building, raised on a grass embankment, known as 'The Hill', which overlooked the playing field, and had extensive views out to the sea lanes which approached the Lei Ye Mun channel separating Hong Kong island from Kowloon. A fine sunny January day would bring the  hole family out to enjoy the expansive grounds which touched the shore,  cupped by the surrounding hills.

From the outset LSWCC was known as one of the most hospitable clubs in the league. Long bar sessions were mandatory for visiting teams. How you got home was another matter. It was also a 'do it yourself' club, with the outfield and pitch being prepared by team members. A grass wicket was played on during the first seven or eight years; however, due to the unpredictability of 'high tides', a matting wicket was used from the early 1970s. LSWCC performed with limited success in its formative years, despite the talents of such players as John Ackroyd, Ted Birch, Peter verett, Vic Johnson, Col Metcalf, Jim Rhodes, Alan Swift and Geoff ells. LSWCC's fortunes changed in the early 1970s with the introduction of a 'guest' player policy. Members' acceptance of this policy was far from universal, but success on the playing field overcame early objections. The persons instrumental in both ensuring that this policy was tactfully implemented and that the ground was in a fit condition for play, were Bill Conway and Bert Mellowes. Their names are synonymous with the name LSWCC Bert was controversial, not always the most placid of individuals n or off the field, and he succeeded in incurring the wrath of players, officials, and the media alike on various occasions.' His involvement with LSWCC, especially in its early years, will not be forgotten by others who were there, whilst his pioneering work with umpiring in Hong Kong has been expanded in the section under league cricket. Bill Conway served as club mentor and President in the early 1970s, as well as general factotum and scorer.  Bill's charm and diplomacy held the club together during difficult times. On his retirement from the Defence Ministry, he became the Manager of The Hong Kong Cricket Club, a job he conducted with  istinction for several years, until his final departure from Hong Kong.

LSWCC's first major success came in the 1975-76 season, when after 10 years of endeavour, the club won the Sunday league title. This was achieved under the astute captaincy of 'Tug' Willson. In his late 30s when he joined LSWCC, he proved to be one of the club's and Hong Kong's most outstanding cricketers in the 1970s. He and David Clinton, a school teacher and talented cricketer, were the mainstays of the batting, ensuring high scores were achieved with several prolific opening partnerships. They were ably supported by Les Stenner and Peter Smith, who provided an outstanding swing and pace attack. In 1977-78, the Saturday League Cup  trophy was shared with KCC Saracens when the final was abandoned at KCC due to adverse weather conditions. A 'golden era' had started for LSWCC, who went on to win the Sunday league in 1980-81 and 1982-83 and the Rothman's Cup in 1977-78, 1980-81, 1981-82 and 1983-84. The  highlight of the club's history was in 1980-81, when under the 'inspired' captaincy  of Tony Turner, they became the first team to  achieve the double, winning the Sunday league title by defeating KCC Infidels in the rain at Mission Road and then the HKCC Taverners in the Rothman's Cup final. During this 'golden era', LSWCC was ably served by Peter Anderson, Gordon Bacon, David Clinton, Elias Ismail, Gopal and Ram Lalchandani, Alan Scott, Peter Smith, Tony Turner, Roger Vergelius and 'Tug' Willson, all of whom had represented Hong Kong, coupled with the names of Richard Flood, Malcolm Grubb, Keith Johnston, Geoff Lever, Robert Muirhead and Chris Wrigglesworth, to name a few.

After the relocation of the Ministry of Defence facilities to Chung Hom Kok, on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, in the early 1980s, the Sai Wan  ground was earmarked by Government to be developed for residential and light industrial use. LSWCC continued to operate out of an abandoned yacht club on the Sai Wan seashore for two seasons, until finally forced into a nomadic existence in 1985. The survival of the club after 1985 owed much to the drive and determination of a few devoted members, who continued to ensure the right spirit was maintained despite the lack of any clubhouse facilities. One such rallying point has been the end of season, lively/presentation evenings held at the Deep Water Bay Golf Club, when 'special' guests were invited to sample LSWCC's hospitality. Other occasions not to be missed were the 'home' matches at DBS with the very tasty and spicy lunchtime 'Indian takeaways', organized when Gopal Lalchandani was captain. The team continued to be competitive, with notable contributions in recent years from Rizwan Farouq, Andy Medhurst, Mike Mehaffey and Salaudin Tariq, but major titles had become elusive, except for the Gillette Plate Final in 1984-85. Finally in the 1992-93 season, came LSW's first ever success in the 20-year-old Saturday league competition. The ever-popular independent club, led by Rizwan Farouq, edged out defending champions HKCC Nomads by two points to win the Saturday league title. In 1993-94, the senior side came second to the powerful KCC Templars in the Sunday league. Riaz Farcy with over 700 runs including three centuries, being the main strength of the side. In the following season, under the captaincy of Monty Noble, Saiwan recaptured the Saturday league title. Unfortunately, they played their last Saturday league season in 1995-96. However, in the 1997-98 season under Mohanna Marzook, Saiwan were runners-up in the Sunday League. Tony Turner is the Chairman. The current Sunday team is captained by Adnan Butt. The President is Mr Javed Iqbal; Vice President,Mr T. Balakriskhan; Hon Secretary, Tabarak Dar and Hon Treasurer Azhar Illahi. Club Representitive Ghulam Saqlain

Much of this text has been taken from "150 Years of Hong Kong Cricket', written by Peter Hall. It can be purchased from website http//www.hkca.cricket.org or from www.amazon.com.