Bryan G. Hemshall, 1937-2010
By Graham Fletcher
It was early in the 1967/69 cricket season. A wiry figure, sporting a crew-cut and pushing an infant in a stroller, appeared on the boundary during an Indian Recreation Club v. Centaurs match at IRC. I recognized him at once, having worked alongside and played with him in the UK some time earlier. Just seconded to the HK Government for three years, and having been in town less than 72 hours, Bryan Hemshall had arrived on the Hong Kong Cricket Scene.
Almost immediately , his employer, most likely in the form of Alan Bailey - an HKCC Stalwart and Wanderer - would have taken him to lunch (HK $3.50 per head at that time) at the Club's Chater Road pavilion. While suggesting that Bryan should apply for membership of HKCC, he also encouraged him to join the Centaurs (the Civil Service team, with no waiting list for suitable candidates) as Alan would be playing in their next match. Hence Bryan's first appearance at IRC.
Within weeks, perhaps as a result of his immediate impact with the Saturday side - 'BG' was to take 47 wickets at 7.02 and average 30 with the bat during that first season - he was given membership of the HKCC. Thus began his playing career with the Wanderers, and an association with the Club which endured beyond his playing days - and well beyond the three years he originally envisaged staying here.
Bryan's on-the-field exploits are well documented, playing for and captaining his Sunday and Saturday sides to many a league and cup success, including Wanderers' historic double (Sunday League and Rothman's Cup) in 1987/88, and representing the HKCA President's XI against Sabah. He was a consistent performer with both bat and ball, and an excellent fielder at gully, a position to which he habitually marched as if by right.
But he believed strongly in giving to the game, as well as taking from it, and his contribution on the management side were second to none. At different times and over a period of many years, he was a member, Secretary and Chairman of the HKCA Executive Committee, devoting his time and energy to administering the game locally and making arrangement for hosting visiting sides at all levels. (The nickname 'Hemshali' arose from correspondence with a team from India who were proposing to visit HK. They appeared to believe that 'BG' was of Asian descent!)
His committee involvement often necessitated working late into the night, fortified by the odd whisky dry, at a time when the HKCA was run wholly by volunteers, with no administrative support. He toured overseas with Club and full HK sides, often as manager, and represented the territory at ICC meetings, where he did much to raise the profile of HK cricket on the international stage. He was fittingly elected HKCC's Captain of Cricket from 1989 to 1992, which he regarded with great pride.
I was fortunate to sit on the HKCA committee with him for many years, and to have played cricket alongside him throughout, witnessing at close quarters the determination, adaptability and sense of fair play which he brought to everything he tackled. He was a most methodical man, going about business with precision, one for detail where detail was, in his view, important. As an aside, I recall that, when he ceased playing league cricket, the Centaurs presented him a souvenir bat inscribed with his career Saturday batting and bowling averages. He accepted it cheerfully, thanked the captain of the day, then read aloud the inscription. Arriving at 'Total runs scored', he paused and said "Oh, really?" in a way which left no-one in any doubt that he thought we'd got it wrong, that his personal records showed he's scored two or three more runs over those almost 30 seasons! But he said nothing further about it, softly whistled a few notes of a tune known only to him, took a sip from his glass, and continued on.
Whistling was an idiosyncrasy. Always a fierce competitor - he was a keen squash player, an occasional footballer and enjoyed a regular tennis doubles - he was gracious in victory and in defeat. But if things didn't quite go his way during a game, instead of hurling his bat at the changing room wall of smashing his racket into the ground (as some might!) he would simply begin to whistle quietly to himself and get on with things. And at the end of the day, whatever the results, he never failed to stay around and chat with the opposition.
After retirement in 1997, Bryan went to live in northern Luzon, returning to HK, often at Christmas, to spend time with his son, Keith (the infant in the stroller) and his family. as Keith said, "Having spent most of his life in and around the Club, it was somehow fitting that, after watching the day's play at the MCG on TV on the 28th December and having dinner with us in the Willow Room, he went to the top bar to see some of his old pals, went onto the verandah for a quick smoke, and passed away there, overlooking the cricket field."
Over the years, Bryan accomplished a great deal for HK cricket - more, I suspect, than many realize, and more, perhaps, than he himself realized. Cricket has lost a fine servant, and we, a great friend.
Graham Fletcher
Almost immediately , his employer, most likely in the form of Alan Bailey - an HKCC Stalwart and Wanderer - would have taken him to lunch (HK $3.50 per head at that time) at the Club's Chater Road pavilion. While suggesting that Bryan should apply for membership of HKCC, he also encouraged him to join the Centaurs (the Civil Service team, with no waiting list for suitable candidates) as Alan would be playing in their next match. Hence Bryan's first appearance at IRC.
Within weeks, perhaps as a result of his immediate impact with the Saturday side - 'BG' was to take 47 wickets at 7.02 and average 30 with the bat during that first season - he was given membership of the HKCC. Thus began his playing career with the Wanderers, and an association with the Club which endured beyond his playing days - and well beyond the three years he originally envisaged staying here.
Bryan's on-the-field exploits are well documented, playing for and captaining his Sunday and Saturday sides to many a league and cup success, including Wanderers' historic double (Sunday League and Rothman's Cup) in 1987/88, and representing the HKCA President's XI against Sabah. He was a consistent performer with both bat and ball, and an excellent fielder at gully, a position to which he habitually marched as if by right.
But he believed strongly in giving to the game, as well as taking from it, and his contribution on the management side were second to none. At different times and over a period of many years, he was a member, Secretary and Chairman of the HKCA Executive Committee, devoting his time and energy to administering the game locally and making arrangement for hosting visiting sides at all levels. (The nickname 'Hemshali' arose from correspondence with a team from India who were proposing to visit HK. They appeared to believe that 'BG' was of Asian descent!)
His committee involvement often necessitated working late into the night, fortified by the odd whisky dry, at a time when the HKCA was run wholly by volunteers, with no administrative support. He toured overseas with Club and full HK sides, often as manager, and represented the territory at ICC meetings, where he did much to raise the profile of HK cricket on the international stage. He was fittingly elected HKCC's Captain of Cricket from 1989 to 1992, which he regarded with great pride.
I was fortunate to sit on the HKCA committee with him for many years, and to have played cricket alongside him throughout, witnessing at close quarters the determination, adaptability and sense of fair play which he brought to everything he tackled. He was a most methodical man, going about business with precision, one for detail where detail was, in his view, important. As an aside, I recall that, when he ceased playing league cricket, the Centaurs presented him a souvenir bat inscribed with his career Saturday batting and bowling averages. He accepted it cheerfully, thanked the captain of the day, then read aloud the inscription. Arriving at 'Total runs scored', he paused and said "Oh, really?" in a way which left no-one in any doubt that he thought we'd got it wrong, that his personal records showed he's scored two or three more runs over those almost 30 seasons! But he said nothing further about it, softly whistled a few notes of a tune known only to him, took a sip from his glass, and continued on.
Whistling was an idiosyncrasy. Always a fierce competitor - he was a keen squash player, an occasional footballer and enjoyed a regular tennis doubles - he was gracious in victory and in defeat. But if things didn't quite go his way during a game, instead of hurling his bat at the changing room wall of smashing his racket into the ground (as some might!) he would simply begin to whistle quietly to himself and get on with things. And at the end of the day, whatever the results, he never failed to stay around and chat with the opposition.
After retirement in 1997, Bryan went to live in northern Luzon, returning to HK, often at Christmas, to spend time with his son, Keith (the infant in the stroller) and his family. as Keith said, "Having spent most of his life in and around the Club, it was somehow fitting that, after watching the day's play at the MCG on TV on the 28th December and having dinner with us in the Willow Room, he went to the top bar to see some of his old pals, went onto the verandah for a quick smoke, and passed away there, overlooking the cricket field."
Over the years, Bryan accomplished a great deal for HK cricket - more, I suspect, than many realize, and more, perhaps, than he himself realized. Cricket has lost a fine servant, and we, a great friend.
Graham Fletcher