Upton’s annual President’s Day will this year be a celebration of the life of a local cricket legend.

Tony Perrin, who died aged 84 in May, played 646 games for the Wirral club, taking 1,046 wickets and scoring 5,516 runs.

But his legacy goes far beyond mere numbers, which is why club president Pete Clark is keen that the event, on Sunday, August 3, be an occasion for people who knew him to come together.

“He was a phenomenal character,” said Clark, who shared the field with Perrin on many occasions.

“I remember one game where he got so bored, he was telling the batsman what ball he was going to bowl, and then he bowled them to order.

“It was quite phenomenal to watch – he’d just call out ‘leg cutter’ and he’d bowl this perfect leg cutter, and ‘inswing’ and he’d bowl his brilliant inswinger to them.

“He genuinely was a very, very talented bowler and a very, very good guy.

“He played the game with a smile on his face and he was a very well-liked character.”

At last year’s President’s Day, Clark was delighted to see dozens of old friends and rivals from across the region, some of whom hadn’t shared a pint together in decades.

And he hopes the sad news of Perrin’s passing can be another excuse for a get-together.

He said: “We’re trying to encourage people who knew Tony to come down and share stories.

“It will be the first chance people will have had to come together in his name.

“There was no church service and no cremation or anything like that.

“His son Andrew will be there from about 12.30pm, and we’re having a game that starts at 1pm. 

“It’s a lot of older guys trying to play cricket, with some younger guys in there to help them out.

“We try to use it to rekindle friendships and just appreciate all the things that were good about when we played.

“We’ve had a tremendous crowd for the last two or three years, it’s been quite surprising how many we’ve had.

“We just have a nice gentle game of cricket with a few beers and remind ourselves of how good we used to be in our own minds.”