Lives in Cricket No 36 - WE Astill

105 The Tour of India 2013 prices! Play was held up while his batting partner Maurice Tate went down on hands and knees in a vain search until it was discovered in the netting of the maharaja’s beard. 200 It is perhaps surprising that the MCC players, thrust into so exotic a world, were able to concentrate on cricket; yet of the 34 matches they won eleven, drew 23 and lost not a single one. Three days after their arrival in Bombay at the hot and sticky end of the monsoon season Astill found himself playing in the opening match of the tour at the Gymkhana Club 201 in Karachi in Sindh with its Tudor-style buildings dating from 1870. The pitch was matting on a ground ‘brown as Demerara sugar’. 202 Astill did not distinguish himself, scoring just 18 and taking only two fairly expensive wickets against a team of Parsis and Moslems who batted out time fairly comfortably for a draw. But, opening with Tate against the Hindus and the Rest in the next match, he showed his usefulness and stamina in the heat by taking four for 86 when seven other bowlers, apart from Tate, managed only one for 142 between them. He did not play against the Europeans but was selected for the first three-day match of the tour, against All-Karachi, which ended in a very comfortable innings victory; but his contributions of 29 runs and two wickets were minor. There followed a long and dusty journey to Rawalpindi, the largest cantonment of the British Raj. Prince Christian Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria, had once run the cricket here, averaging 68 and scoring four centuries in 1893 with a highest score of 205 when ‘he purposely got himself out in order to win the match’ in pre-declaration days. The Army Sports Ground was small and had a good wicket, so that tall scores were expected. 203 Astill was, however, dismissed for just eight by the Europeans while trying to force the pace in MCC’s 431 for eight, but then shared six wickets with his Leicestershire colleague in disposing of the opposition for 145, although two days were not sufficient to bring the game to a conclusion. A further three wickets and 18 not out against Rawalpindi and District and his dismissals of the two highest scorers in the Army’s second innings at Lahore showed that he was becoming accustomed to the conditions. A shorter journey took the party to Lahore, probably the only place in India where cricket was played every weekend throughout the year. Four matches were played here at the Lawrence Gardens (officially the Agri- and Horticultural Gardens), a very beautiful ground whose trees nevertheless made sighting the ball difficult in the long field at both ends. Astill took three wickets again and was run out for 30 against The Army, but then took to bed with a cold and returned only for the fourth match, still clearly not properly fit for he bowled only three overs, did not bat and so probably 200 Tate, My Cricketing Reminiscences , p 103. 201 Gymkhana is an Anglo-Indian term derived from Hindi and Persian words meaning in combination ‘ball-house’. Nearly all gymkhanas were associated with a gentlemen’s club where the MCC players were regularly entertained. 202 Tate, op cit, p 96. 203 The previous year two lieutenants had put on 347 for the fifth wicket in the final of the Jamasjee Cup. Much of my information on the grounds in the Punjab is taken from Newham’s The M.C.C. in Northern India .