{"id":113339,"date":"2021-04-07T16:26:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T23:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113339"},"modified":"2021-04-07T16:26:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T23:26:19","slug":"the-story-of-cricket-in-the-paradise-then-ceylon-now-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/07\/the-story-of-cricket-in-the-paradise-then-ceylon-now-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"THE STORY OF CRICKET IN THE PARADISE \u2013 THEN CEYLON NOW SRI LANKA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rohan Abeygunawardena<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

“These Sri Lankans are giving the Aussies a real\nhiding.” This was how Tony Greig described his favourite \u2018\u2019little Sri\nLankans\u2019\u2019 when their captain Ranatunga’s six cleared the fence at World Cup\n1996. Yes, 17th<\/sup> March 1996 was the \u2018\u2019Red Letter Day\u2019\u2019 of Sri Lanka\ncricket. Sri Lanka beat mighty Aussies at 1996 final in Lahore, Pakistan. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of how a proud island nation overcame bombings,\nboycotts and near-bankruptcy at its cricket board to reach the top of the world\n25 years ago was vividly described in an article published by Sam Sheringham\nand Matt Davies of BBC Sport on 27th of 2021 under the caption \u2018\u2019Sri Lanka’s\n1996 Cricket World Cup success – the inside story.\u2019\u2019 The silver jubilee of this\nvictory was celebrated with much fanfare few weeks ago by the cricketers and\nthe cricket lovers of Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, cricket has become second religion of all Sri Lankans\nirrespective of sex, caste, creed, race or economic status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of Cricket in General<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was said\nthat cricket was started by the children living in the Weald during Saxon or\nNorman times. At the beginning cricket was played with a hockey stick type of a\nbat and then introduced a straight bat after 1860. A dictionary published in\n1611 defined cricket as a boys’ game. In the same year the cricket became an\nadult\u2019s game and it was mostly confined to the royals in Lords, Earl and the\nDukes in England. However by middle of eighteenth century cricket was the most\npopular sport in London and the south-eastern counties of England. Cricket\nbecame so popular and a women\u2019s Cricket match was played in Surrey in 1745. A\ndocumented set of cricket rules was established in 1744 and subsequently\namended in 1774. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord’s was formed by Thomas\nLord and some enthusiasts in 1787. MCC built the Lord\u2019s cricket grounds in 1814\nand named after Thomas Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First\nofficial test match was played between England and Australia on 15 March\n1877   at the famous Melbourne\nCricket Ground (MCG). Aussis won the game by 45 runs in front of a large crowd\nof 12,000 spectators on 19th March. England won the second Test and leveled the\nseries. Later this rivalry between England and Australia came to be known as\nthe Ashes with the competition beginning in 1882.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cricket was\nintroduced to North America and West Indies via the English colonies as early\nas the 17th century and in the 18th century it arrived in other parts of the\nglobe.  British East India Company\nmariners introduced cricket to the most influential cricketing nation today,\nIndia, in the 18th century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MCC became\nthe governing body and custodian of the Laws and has made revisions ever since\nthen till a world governing body for cricket, Imperial Cricket\nConference (ImpCC) was formed by Australia, England and South Africa in 1909 as\nthey were the only recognized test playing nations at the time. Later West\nIndies, India, New Zealand and Pakistan were admitted as test playing nations.\nImpCC took over making and revision of cricket laws but the copyrights are\nstill with MCC. ImpCC agreed to introduce a category call \u2018\u2019Associate\nMembers.\u2019\u2019 In 1965 USA, Ceylon and Fiji were admitted under\nthe new category and renamed the governing body as International Cricket\nConference (ICC). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of Cricket in\nSri Lanka<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

British\nintroduced cricket to their crown colony Ceylon (Sri Lanka now) and first match\nsupposed to have been played in 1800, but the first recorded match was in 1832\naccording to a report published in the Colombo Journal of 5th September 1832.\nCricket was initially played by the British officials in Ceylon, both in the\ngovernment and armed forces, and the British businessmen. The first cricket\nclub to be formed in Ceylon was the Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) in\n1863. CCC was exclusively for the British and the other Europeans. Nine\nyears later with the blessings of the British, the Malay Cricket Club (now\nColombo Malay Cricket Club-CMCC) was formed in 1872 by the Malay troops of the\nDutch Colonial Army who were absorbed into the Rifle Regiment formed by the\nBritish. CMCC could be considered as the oldest Ceylonese cricket club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game\nbegan to attract the attention and fascination of the Ceylonese who were often\ncalled up to augment the numbers in the teams when the British played afternoon\ncricket during weekends. It became popular among local folks mainly after\nRoyal-Thomian annual cricket match was introduced in 1879 between Royal\nCollege, Colombo and S.Thomas\u2019 College, Mount Lavinia. Thereafter several\nbig matches commenced among the schools throughout the island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the\nlatter part of 19th<\/sup> century Cricket was the most popular sport among\nthe islanders and many a club were formed mainly on ethnic basis. The Singhalese Sports\nClub (SSC) and Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club were\nformed in 1899. Burgher Recreation Club (BRC) was established in 1896 with\nthe membership restricted to the Burgher community and Moors Sports\nClub in 1908 for the Moors. Colts Cricket Club (1873), Nondescripts Cricket\nClub (1888) and Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club (1892) were\nestablished and membership was opened to all irrespective of ethnicity. Teams consisted\nof young school leavers who had played cricket at school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1882, an\nEnglish team en route<\/em> to Australia\nplayed a game in Colombo against an all European team. An English team led\nby George Vernon toured Ceylon and India in 1888\/89, and played an\n11-a-side game against All-Ceylon at Kandy. An Australian team en\nroute to England played in Colombo in 1890. As a practice, English and\nAustralian teams en route<\/em> to each\nother\u2019s country for \u2018\u2019Ashes\u201d started playing a warm-up game in Ceylon. Colombo\nbecame a popular place for stopover games for test playing nations during\ntravel by sea days.  As a result Ceylonese\nwere exposed to international cricket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr John\nRajathurai Rockwood, one time commanding officer of Ceylon Medical Corps and a\nleading administrator and a patron of Ceylonese cricket since 1914 instrumental\nin founding Ceylon Cricket Association (CCA) in July 1922. Ceylon won the\ninaugural first-class match played on 12\u201313 February 1926 between\nRockwood’s Ceylon XI and W. E. Lucas’ Bombay XI. This match was played at\nthe Nondescripts Cricket Club grounds in Colombo. In 1931 a\nCCA team easily defeated a touring European team proving that Ceylonese players\nwere equal or if not better than their counterparts from Europe. Cricket\nlover Rockwood organised 47 cricket matches in Ceylon, including five of\nCeylon’s first nine first-class matches. He gained nothing but donated the\nproceeds to charity or to the CCA. Due to the efforts of Rockwood and other\ncricket lovers the game formally took root in Ceylon by first half of twentieth\ncentury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name of\nthe CCA was changed to Board of Control for Cricket in Ceylon (BCCC) in 1948\nwhen the island nation got independence. In 1972 it was changed as Board of\nControl for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCS) when the country became a republic\nand changed the name to Sri Lanka. During the tenure of Thilanga\nSumathipala as the President of BCCS, name was again changed as Sri Lanka\nCricket (SLC) in 2003. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert\nSenanayake (President of BCCC from 1956 to 1972) worked hard to obtain\nassociate membership for Ceylon in 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gamini\nDisanayake (GD) was elected President of BCCS in 1981 and due to his unstinting\nefforts the country received \u2018\u2019Test status\u2019\u2019 in 1982. His first move was to\nbring most popular and greatest all-rounder in cricket in sixties, Sir Garry\nSobers to coach the team before Sri Lanka played its inaugural test match\nagainst England at the P Sara Oval in February 1982. Arjuna Ranatunga who was a\n15 year old school boy from Ananda College was discovered by Garry, and GD\nprotected him against socio-political environment prevailing in the country at\nthat time. One of the greatest cricketers Sri Lanka has ever produced\nKumar Sangakkara vividly presented the socio-political culture prevailed in\ncricket at that time when he delivered his famous 2011 Cowdrey Lecture. The\nfamous former cricket captain of Ceylon who called Arjuna a \u2018sarong Johnny\u2019\ndidn\u2019t realise that this young man was the much awaited messiah to change the\nentire history of Sri Lankan cricketing heritage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Kumar Sangakkara rightly said, it was Arjuna\nwho understood most clearly why we needed to break free from the shackles of\nour colonial past and forge a new identity, an identity forged exclusively from\nSri Lankan values, an identity that fed from the passion, vibrancy and emotion\nof normal Sri Lankans.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nrather unfortunate that GD, who laid the foundation for a transformation of cricket from an elite sport to a\ngame for the masses, could not\nlive to watch Sri Lankan cricketers reaching its point\nof culmination in 1996 when Sri Lanka became World Champions under\nthe leadership of Arjuna. However returning grateful members of the champion\nteam led by its captain went straight away to GD\u2019s residence and presented the\nworld cup trophy to Mrs. Srima Disanayake (wife of GD) as a mark of\nrespect to the statesmen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During pre-champion era only the dedicated cricket lovers\ncame forward to hold positions in the BCCS. Some of them have to be persuaded\nto be an office-bearer and provide their expertise to run the board. They did\nthat for the love of cricket and sometime pocketed out their own money for the\nbenefit of the game.   In fact when Ana\nPunchihewa became the president in 1995 his main problem was the poor financial\nsituation. The board had only three lakhs of rupees. He had to appeal to many\nSri Lankans abroad for help and Cricket Australia supported with funds to pay\nthe International Coach Dave Watmore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Greig\u2019s little Sri Lankans also had a tough time. Some\nmembers from outstation were accommodated by the senior players living in and\naround Colombo at their residences, to enable them to attend practices on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Post champion period was a different story. With the\nsuccess at the World Cup 1996 entire population became cricket fans overnight.\nBCCS started earning good money through TV and other media rights, match grants\netc. Some years its income surpassed the turnover of some of the blue-chip\ncompanies in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result chronic capitalism set in and the matches\nstarted to be governed by commerce.  Many\naccusation of match fixing, corruption, bribery tarnished the sport. A sex\nscandal was also reported few months ago. Our cricket is at a low ebb right\nnow, and ICC ranking wise we were at 7th,<\/sup> 8th<\/sup> and 9th<\/sup>\nposition under test, ODI and T20 respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many former cricketers, administrators and Sri Lankan\ncricket lovers feel that cricket in Sri Lanka deteriorated in the recent past\ndue to the weakness of the constitution of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A<\/strong> writ\npetition was filed by 12 civil activist and former cricketers seeking the\ncreation of a new constitution for Sri Lanka Cricket before the next SLC\nelection. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petitioners were Muttiah Muralitharan, Sidath Wettimuny,\nMichael Tissera, Vijaya Malalasekera, Kushil Gunasekera, Somasundaram\nSkandakumar, Ana Punchihewa, Rienzie Wijetilleke, Dinal Phillips PC, Hon Justice\n(Retd) Saleem Marsoof PC, Dr. Palitha Kohona, and Thilan Wijesinghe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have mentioned that they would like the Sri Lankan\njudiciary to order the Government of Sri Lanka to invoke provisions in the\nSports Act of Sri Lanka to form an independent committee of governance experts\nto draft a brand new Constitution for SLC with input from the International\nCricket Council (ICC). They have also requested that the new Constitution\npassed as an Act of Parliament to avoid any dilution or compromises at the\nhands of those who have vested interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The respondents named\nin the petition were Minister of Sports Namal Rajapaksa, Chairman of SLC Shammi\nSilva, Deputy Chairman Ravin Wickramaratne, Jayantha Dharmadasa, Thilak\nWattuhewa and Secretary Mohan De Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few days ago young sports minister Namal Rajapaksa appointed\na five-member Management Committee (MC) presided by Prof. Arjuna de Silva to\ncarry out the administration activities at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) until\nelections are conducted on May 20. However if the court decide in favour of the\npetitioners, term of the MC may have to be extended or an interim committee to\nbe appointed to take over the administration, of course with the blessings of\nICC till a new constitution is drawn up and established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Cricket lovers of Sri Lanka all over the world\nare awaiting the outcome of this court case and to cue the sick patient\n\u2018\u2019SLC.\u2019\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rohan Abeygunawardena<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rohan Abeygunawardena “These Sri Lankans are giving the Aussies a real hiding.” This was how Tony Greig described his favourite \u2018\u2019little Sri Lankans\u2019\u2019 when their captain Ranatunga’s six cleared the fence at World Cup 1996. Yes, 17th March 1996 was the \u2018\u2019Red Letter Day\u2019\u2019 of Sri Lanka cricket. Sri Lanka beat mighty Aussies at 1996 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}