Club History
1990 To The Present Day
Part III
Review of the seasons
Early games and the first full social season did not meet with much (any, if the truth be told) success, but we persevered,
encouraged by a love of the game and the undeniable realisation that we could do no worse. As players improved and new ones
joined the squad we began to win games, with the most successful social season being 1994-95. During that season we won
every social game and reached the quarter final of the Saturday Cup before losing by one run to the eventual Cup winners.
A further reduction in grounds in 1995 meant fewer opportunities to play that season. However, to keep the Club focused, we built our own cricket net along the Yung Shue Wan harbourfront. It lasted long enough for Lamma C.C. to achieve admission to the Saturday League in September 1996, just in time for the 1996–97 season.
Jun 1996: The Lamma Net — Ed Johnson bowls to Derek Wintle. The net helped keep Lamma C.C. focused on a few social games during the season, before we were accepted into the Saturday League in October of that year.
The Club remained firmly at the foot of the table during that season, but we were learning fast and won the Craigengower CC Invitational Sixes Tournament at the Kowloon Cricket Club. Not bad for supposed wooden-spooners!
Jan 1997: The Lamma C.C. team at P.T.S. — one of the few victories during the 1996–97 season, this one against the Police. The black armbands were out of respect for Jes Dane who had died a week earlier. Back row: Mike Duggan, Mark Burns (captain), Russell Tyre, Derek Wintle, Chris Evans, John Fox, James Monks and Paul Hutchinson. Front row: Troy McLachlan, Paul Duggan, Grant Hume and Brad Tarr.
May 1997: The Craigengower C.C. Invitational Sixes at the K.C.C. — The Champions! No one expected our victory, and this win made Lamma C.C. a team to be reckoned with in the Saturday League. Back row: Derek Wintle, Paul Hutchinson, John Gaffney, Chris Agar and a fan. Front row: Brad Tarr, Mark Burns (captain) and Troy McLachlan.
Oct 1997: An Intra-Lamma at H.K.U. This event was a doubles competition. The Pairs Champions are holding the bats. Best Bowler went to David Norris and Best Fielder went to Troy McLachlan. Back row: Mike Duggan, Chris Evans, John Gaffney, Paul Hutchinson, Troy McLachlan, Todd Johnsen, Tom Hobson and Binny Kumar. Front row: Chris Agar, Kevin Jones, Brad Tarr, Ian Harling and David Norris.
We did better in the Saturday League the following season, 1997–98, finishing joint 10th and progressing to the quarter final of the Saturday Cup, again going out closely to the eventual Cup winners. During the summer of 1998, Lamma C.C. entered two teams in the Summer Eights competition and won the league, having competed against some of Hong Kong’s leading clubs.
Dec 1998: Fine supporters — Claudia Tarr, Kim Leung, Keiko Hume, Katie & Julia Harling and Sue Brooks
Further success followed in the shorter form of the game a year later when in 1999 Lamma C.C. won the HKU Invitational Sixes and reached the final of the Saturday Cup.
HKU Invitational Sixes Cup Winners, 1999.
Back row: Paul Duggan, Shaun Nicholson, Tom Hobson. Front row: Ian Harling, Brad Tarr and John Gaffney.
Apr 1999: After a convincing win against the Mainlanders at D.B.S. Going where no Lamma team had gone before — on to the Semi-Finals before reaching the Final of the Saturday Cup. Foster’s all round! Back row: Paul Duggan, Chris Agar, Justin Hall, Paul Hutchinson, John Fox, Kim Leung (scorer), John Gaffney, Saleem Malik, Russell Tyre and Mark Smith. Front row: Mark Burns, Brad Tarr, Ian Harling and Derek Wintle.
The 1998–99 season saw the team end with a highly creditable 4th place in the Saturday League — a vastly improved season that earned Brad Tarr the accolade “Captain of the Year” from the Hong Kong Cricket Association and showed Lamma C.C. had become a team more used to winning than losing. The 1999–2000 season went relatively well, with Lamma C.C. finishing 6th in the league but unfortunately not proving to be as competitive in the other cup games.
Season 2000–01 brought a reversal of fortunes as Lamma C.C. struggled a little with squad and injuries, ending up mid-table. We still, however, made the finals of the HKU Invitational Sixes, although this time we failed to defend the title successfully, losing a battle in the dark. We also made it through to the finals of the Summer Eights competition and lost in quite atrocious pitch conditions after having two previous finals ruined by poor weather.
Summer Eights Cup Final 2000–01
The Cup Final had already been washed out on two previous
occasions and it now came to the point where it was either play the match or share the Cup. We made
the pitch as playable as possible but the conditions were not to suit our style of play and we lost
to Subcont CC.
Julia Harling, Alysha Tarr and Ryan Harling relish the conditions
saying it was “a fielders’ paradise”.
The season of 2001–02 saw Lamma C.C. gain their then highest position on the ladder, finishing 3rd in the Saturday League, but even that was a little disappointing as during the season we had a record-breaking string of eight wins in a row and were in a position to mount a serious bid for top spot.
2002–03 — League Champions! We got our reward for consistently playing good cricket with a solid squad in a season that went very well. We competed well in other competitions too by winning the Plate in Shanghai in a sixes competition, reaching the quarter-finals of the Chiang Mai Sixes competition and the semi-finals of the Summer Eights.
Aiming to defend our title for the 2003–04 season, the team got off to a sluggish start before getting into gear and was always in contention to make a successful defence until the final few weeks. In the end it was a disappointing 4th place in a very tight finish. We again defended the Plate in Shanghai and reached the quarter-finals in Chiang Mai, becoming the only team to beat the eventual tournament champions.
September 2004 saw the start of the new Saturday League season and a tour to Shanghai for their International Sixes Event, which guest-starred Viv Richards and Doug Walters. Having won the Plate for the last two years we felt it is now time we won the Cup. However, it was not to be as we fell at the final hurdle. See Latest News for a full report of this event. Other tournaments we will be competing in are the HK Cricket Club Sixes, HK Invitational Cricket Festival Sixes, HK University Sixes, Chiang Mai International Sixes, Summer Eights and Saturday Cup. It may culminate in a tour to England to catch The Ashes.
Poster for Century Hotel Ball (click to enlarge)
Strictly ballroom
The summer of 1999 saw the inaugural Lamma C.C.’s black tie Dinner & Dance, which was held at Oscar’s in Causeway
Bay. This was a time for award presentations, dressing up and having a good time. It proved to be a big event and went so well
that it would become a yearly Lamma “event”.
The second Lamma C.C. Dinner & Dance was held at the Century Hotel in Wanchai, a bigger venue this time to accommodate the increasingly popular event, and included a buffet dinner and award presentations followed by performances from three bands.
By the way
Even though Lamma C.C. does not have the attraction of its own ground, it has a large and keen membership and it is the only Club
without a ground to field both a League Team and a Social Team. At least once a year an Intra-Lamma match is played in which
everyone involved with the Club takes the field.
Lamma C.C. is the grateful beneficiary of sponsorship from HK Electric and is well supported by the Island Bar.
This website was launched in September 2004 with the efforts of Kevin Bishop, Ian Harling, Derek Wintle, John Fox, Kim Leung and Clive Brook-Fox to help all members easily access information about their Cricket Club. It was relaunched, after a major facelift, at the end of December 2004.
The team “bus” home. Daryl, Cath, Kim, Nigel, John, Sandy, Stuart and Ian returning to Lamma by sampan from Aberdeen, long after the normal ferry schedule has ended, after beating HKU. A few beers and good company for the journey before stopping off at the Island Bar to cap the night off. Win or lose, we like to make a night of it!
