By Charles Randall
15 July 2014
Sachin Tendulkar's recent visit to Hampstead CC on a children's day to do some batting, coaching and autograph signing at Lymington Road seemed to galvanise the first team's form in the Middlesex County League.
As champions, Hampstead were watching their title slip away after a slow start to the season, but successive wins over second-placed Twickenham and leaders Teddington – an extraordinary nine-wicket victory – reignited their hopes.
Teddington, clear at the top of the table, must have expected to make a strong showing at Bushy Park, but they were bundled out for 66 before lunch, their last nine wickets falling for 26. Mubasher Hassan, the former MCC Young Cricketer, did the damage by taking 6-13 with his medium left-armers as first change, turning the match on its head. Opener James Wade offered the only resistance with 40.
Tendulkar's surprise visit marked part of the launch of a limited edition gold coin by the East India Company. The Indian maestro batted on the outfield and put one of these legal tender coins, worth £5,000 in metal alone, on a stump and challenged the delighted children to knock it off. "When I was a kid, my cricket coach used to put rupees on the stumps and challenge me to bowl them off,” he said. “They were only rupees, but worth more than all the money in the world to me.”
The issue of 210 commemorative 24-carat coins was approved by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, bearing the Queen's head in a 200 New Zealand dollar denomination. The design with a Mumbai and cricket theme was made one of the world’s most renowned coin designers, Joaquin Jimenez, currently the chief engraver at Monnaie de Paris. In the past the boxer Muhammad Ali and the racing driver Nigel Mansell have been similarly honoured by such issues.
Hampstead hauled themselves into the middle of the table still 19 points behind Teddington, but with eight games to go and 10 points per win their chances were much better than impossible.
Hassan, 23, a high quality all-rounder, had not been enjoying an especially productive season before his stunning six-wicket intervention. Until then his most memorable game this summer, for the wrong reason, had probably been the Club Cricket Conference match against Essex 2nd XI when the CCC scored 343-3 in their 50 overs and lost by 100 runs. Needless to recall, the Billericay pitch was a 'road' and the Wanstead CC batsman Kishen Velani exploited it by smashing 134 off 88 balls for Essex. Among the group of damaged CCC bowlers stood Hassan with 0-88, and even the Brentwood CC batsman Aaron West's run-a-ball 127 could not stave off a heavy defeat.
Each 200g East India coin was put up for sale in a presentation box, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a cricket bat autographed by Tendulkar. The asking price was £12,000.
www.eicgold.com.