Two former St.George's Cup Match players were honoured during a special ceremony at Wellington Oval on Saturday.

Wicketkeeper Dennis Wainwright Sr. and Sam Paynter were both saluted between innings of last Saturday's final Cup Match trial in the East End.

St. George's expressed their appreciation to the two players for years of service by presenting each with commemorative plaques.

Wainwright still holds the record for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in Cup Match - 37 - and the Eastern Counties competition - 31.

During a Cup Match career spanning exactly two decades, Wainwright held 26 catches behind the stumps and executed 11 stumpings from 1957 to 1977.

“It's always nice to receive your bouquet while you can still smell them,” said Wainwright afterwards.

“I will never forget the year we (St. George's) won in 1960 - we almost won in 1959. It was a very memorable occasion and I was never on a team that lost the cup.

“When I came (into Cup Match) St. George's didn't have the cup and to win it in 1960 was really something special because Somerset were strong at the time. But we had finally arrived.”

Paynter represented St.George's in the summer classic from 1946 to 1956 and remains twelfth on the all-time Cup Match batting average list with an average of 32.09 runs per innings.

The grandfather of current St.David's fast bowler George O'Brien Jr, Paynter is fondly remembered for his match saving innings in 1949 as a colt, during which he surpassed the previous highest score by a colt (53) held by former St.George's skipper Clarence Smith.

“That was one of my greatest moments (in Cup Match) and in the same game my team were down at 33 for six in the second innings at around 3 p.m. and the late Clarence Simmons and I managed to bat to about 6 p.m. in the evening. We carried the team to safety . . . we couldn't lose the match,” recalled Paynter.

“It's nice to have somebody think of you after a while because lots of times a lot of good things are said about you but you are no longer around to hear them.

I thought it (presentation) was very touching and it is something that has been going on in the club every year.”