Congratulations to Parsee Gymkhana on lifting the 1886 Trophy match at the Oval, London, this August (Parsiana, September 21- October 6, 2019). In 1986 the Australian Zoroastrian Association in Sydney had staged a play, Aapri Cricket — Hastovari (Our cricket, of course), to celebrate the centenary of the 1886 tour by the pioneering Parsi cricket team to England. During the natak, cricket was played on stage using a red tennis ball to recreate the scene a hundred years ago.
It brought the house down when a bearded Noshir Sachinwalla — acting as the legendary English cricketer Dr W. G. Grace — bowled on stage to me, acting as Dr Dhanjishaw Patel, captain of the 1886 Parsi team. The play and the accompanying booklet by the same title were reviewed in Parsiana of July 1986 and in the bible of cricket, Wisden 1987 (UK).
KERSI MEHER-HOMJI
Sydney, Australia
kersi5@bigpond.com
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