Grayburn sent Tak-Wing to bat opposite Selby Hancock between teatime and cocktail hour, that dead period in the afternoon when everyone was tired and no one was paying much attention. This was a great relief to Cheung, who did not want Noma to notice his only remaining son. But this slight really bugged Tak-Wing. He played like a fiend, batting into the most unexpected places, way out in third-man space for one play, and then barely onto the pitch the next. He and Selby were still accumulating runs when cocktail hour hit, and everyone was restless, except the Japanese bowler, Harada Goro, who was just irritated.

Noma approached Cheung. “Do you think you could convince your show-off son to lighten up a bit? He’s becoming a bit of a pill.”

So much for evading Noma’s notice.

In the end, the Japanese team switched bowlers, putting Tanaka, formerly one of Izzy Davis Wong’s Cosmopolitan Elites, into the position.

Unnerved at having to face one of his wife’s dearest friends, Tak-Wing was soon bowled out.

Finally, everyone could leave the stands to drink Colonel Noma’s syllabub, though most were grateful when Cheung began to offer gin and tonic, fruit punch, and EWO beer in addition.

It took the whole of the first day, and half the next for the Japanese team to bowl the British team out.

The Japanese team did well in its first innings, which took the rest of the second day and most of the third. More cucumber sandwiches and shrimp cocktail were devoured. Thanks to Horace, the syllabub flowed. Everyone got into it, remarking that the rum was unusually good, and asking how Cheung had managed to procure Madeira under the current conditions. At the end of the Japanese team’s first innings, the score was Japan 256, Britain 254. The teams were practically neck and neck.